Palestinian group attacks West Bank government
( 2003-07-20 10:41) (Agencies)
Palestinian militants beat and held the governor of a West Bank town for five hours on Saturday, raising tensions with Palestinian authorities under heavy Israeli pressure to crack down on armed groups.
The attack on Haider Irsheid by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade in Jenin came ahead of an expected meeting Sunday between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Premier Mahmoud Abbas to work on a U.S.-backed peace plan, which is stalled despite a 3-week-old truce declared by militant groups.
Al Aqsa's leader in Jenin, Zakariye Zubeydi, accused Irsheid of collaborating with Israel and demanded the Palestinian Authority send a mediator to question Irsheid and take him to be put on trial. Irsheid is the governor of Jenin.
But the militants freed Irsheid about five hours later after a call from an unidentified official at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's office. Al Aqsa is loosely affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement.
"For me, Arafat's order is not up for negotiation, so I released him immediately," Zubeydi said, adding that he would leave the responsibility for judging Irsheid to Arafat.
Zubeydi also accused Irsheid of involvement in a failed attempt to kill an Al Aqsa member Friday.
Shortly after the governor's release, the office of Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan issued a statement saying the government had started "a large-scale campaign" to bring law and order to the Gaza Strip.
The statement gave no specifics on what had been done or what was planned, but the militant Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said Palestinian police arrested two of its members in Gaza on Saturday.
Al Aqsa has been blamed for several small-scale attacks on Israelis since the main Palestinian militant groups declared the temporary cease-fire June 29. Although Fatah joined the truce, leaders of some Al Aqsa branches refused to honor it.
The attack on Irsheid follows months of tensions between militants and the governor.
Witnesses said gunmen pulled Irsheid, 50, from his van and beat him with their fists and gun butts before bundling him into another vehicle and driving off toward the city's refugee camp. He suffered bruises on his face and neck, witnesses said.
There is practically no Palestinian police presence in Jenin or the adjacent refugee camp, a militant stronghold. Israel has effectively controlled Jenin and most other West Bank towns for more than a year as part of efforts to end suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis. But the Israelis do not maintain a constant presence in the town or the camp, keeping troops just outside.
The release illustrated the authority Arafat still wields despite a power-sharing agreement with Abbas. The two have wrangled over how to proceed in negotiations with Israel, and Arafat has worked to limit Abbas' influence.
Israel refuses to deal with Arafat, blaming him for the violence of the past three years, but has worked openly with Abbas. In addition to the expected meeting with Sharon, Abbas will travel to Washington for a July 25 meeting with President Bush. Sharon will also meet Bush on July 29.
The kidnapping comes as Israel demands Palestinian authorities disarm militant groups responsible for suicide bombings and shootings that have killed hundreds of Israelis in 33 months of violence. Palestinians fear that could spark civil war and have said they would try to persuade the militants to disarm.
Before Irsheid's release, however, Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr condemned the abduction and said action would be taken.
"It will be solved, and this type of behavior will not be allowed," Amr said.
The attack comes ahead of a week of diplomatic activity on behalf of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which calls for an end to violence and steps leading to the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
The truce called by militant groups on June 29 has substantially reduced the violence, but progress on the road map has been blocked by disagreement over what steps to take next.
Israel pulled troops out of parts of Gaza and the West Bank town of Bethlehem two weeks ago, but conditions further pullbacks on a crackdown on militants. A senior official in Sharon's office said Saturday that Arafat's enduring influence with Palestinian security forces was stalling moves against the militants.
In the meeting with Sharon, Abbas was expected to push for a mass release of Palestinian prisoners, further Israeli withdrawals from West Bank towns and dismantlement of illegal Israeli settlement outposts.
There have been some signs of flexibility in recent days. Israel had previously said it would release only some 400 militants, but Israeli officials now say they are considering releasing more. Amr, for his part, said Saturday that he understood the prisoner releases would take time.
Still, Amr insisted the aim should be the release of all the Palestinian prisoners, whose number is put by the International Committee of the Red Cross at 7,700.
"We expect serious and convincing proposals" on the prisoners issue in the upcoming meeting with Sharon, Amr said.
Israel argues that they cannot release large numbers of militants until the Palestinians dismantle the armed groups that would otherwise benefit from the fresh manpower.
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