GAZA CITY, 28 July 2004 — Around 7,000 children took to the streets here yesterday to demonstrate against the Israeli Army’s offensive in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun and against corruption among Palestinian officials. Boys and girls, aged 10 to 14, took part in the demonstration that was organized by a local charity running summer camps in the city, with ties to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.
“Sharon the coward, the Palestinian people despise you”, “no to the occupation of Beit Hanun and no the occupation of Palestinian lands,” some of the banners read. The Israeli Army launched a massive operation in Beit Hanun late last month in a bid to stop militants firing rockets over the border into southern Israel, first sealing off all entrances and then moving into the town center. The operation began shortly after a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the nearby town of Sderot, during which a rocket landed in the area.
Armor and bulldozers have since torn up agricultural fields used as cover by militants and imposed strict curfews on the town. Other banners denounced the corruption within the Palestinian Authority and its security services. “No to corruption, yes to political and security reforms,” they said. The Gaza Strip was recently rocked by a string of kidnappings, including of its police chief, as well as violent protests against Arafat’s subsequent revamp of the security services.
In another development, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said yesterday international efforts were needed to put an end to the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories. “The condition has reached a level of difficulty that it is no longer possible for the Spanish government and the world to wait more. The situation needs more international intervention,” said Moratinos.
The Spanish foreign minister was speaking during a news conference following a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmad Abul Gheit in Cairo. Moratinos later met with President Hosni Mubarak at his Cairo residence but made no statement afterward.
The Spanish foreign minister said his government supported Egypt’s efforts to reactivate the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis, expressing hope that Israel’s “disengagement plan” from the Gaza Strip proceeds. Egypt has stated it would take responsibility for security in Gaza and for retraining Palestinian police to maintain order after Israel withdraws. However, with the deteriorating security situation in Gaza, Egypt has suspended taking action.
Meanwhile, Arafat’s revamp of the myriad Palestinian security services has failed to clear confusion over fundamental questions such as who is at their helm and the scope of their powers. Bowing to international pressure and domestic anger over corruption, the Palestinian leader agreed on July 17 to slash the number of security services from eight to three — general security, police and military intelligence.
But the move failed to prevent his Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei from submitting his resignation, leading to a standoff between the two men which ended yesterday after Qorei agreed to stay on his post. A key factor behind Qorei’s change of heart was the securing of a commitment by a committee of MPs, who held talks with Arafat in Ramallah late Monday, that he would clarify the division of powers and authority. Qorei’s standoff with Arafat had echoes of a dispute between the Palestinian leader and former Premier Mahmoud Abbas who quit after losing a battle for control of the security services.
In another development, Israel’s Likud party rebels opposed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to abandon the Gaza Strip are stepping up a campaign to stop him building a coalition that could push through the initiative, officials said yesterday.
The plan to evacuate Jewish settlers from occupied Gaza next year has stirred tumult in Likud, which for many years would not consider ceding land to Palestinians. It has also set the stage for one of the toughest political battles of Sharon’s career.
Hardliners say around half of Likud’s 40 parliamentarians oppose a coalition with the dovish Labour Party, which favors giving up Gaza and has begun talks with Sharon on shoring up his shaky coalition. “Sharon’s basic problem has been and is that he does not enjoy full support of the party anymore and if you are the prime minister this is a problem,” said Likud party insider and political analyst Yossi Olmert.
Weakened by the departure of far-right allies over the Gaza plan, Sharon is seeking new partners. But if Labour is kept out, it could force him into a union with ultra-Orthodox parties less likely to back a pullout or ensure a stable coalition. “I would like to see a coalition that doesn’t go along with the disengagement plan,” said Uzi Landau, a Cabinet minister and outspoken opponent of Sharon’s plan to “disengage” from the Gaza Strip next year.
Technically Sharon has enough votes in the 120-seat Parliament to push ahead with the Gaza withdrawal and pass the necessary legislation even without Labour. But without Labour in his coalition, he is uncertain of winning Cabinet backing in a decisive vote early next year on the plan to evacuate all 21 settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank. So far Cabinet has approved the plan in principle.
Likud rebels received an important boost this week when they won the support of Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, whose job might be at risk to veteran statesman and opposition leader Shimon Peres if Labour joins the coalition.
Political analysts said Shalom’s stand could make it much harder for Sharon to build a coalition with Labour and the secular, centrist Shinui, seen as his ideal government to push through what will be a highly charged evacuation from Gaza.
“Shalom’s veto ... means Sharon cannot win parliamentary approval for a government with Likud, Shinui and Labour, a government that has a big majority for disengagement,” said political analyst Hanan Crystal. At the moment, the former general appears to be employing delaying tactics until Parliament begins a two-month recess in early August, analysts say. That could allow Sharon to finalize negotiations with Labour and win over some Likud rebels.
Polls show that most Israelis would be happy to give up Gaza, captured in the 1967 Middle East War, seeing it as too costly in money and blood. But many Likud members say that withdrawing would “reward Palestinian terror”. Likud insider and analyst Yossi Olmert emphasized, though, that Sharon — one of the wiliest politicians on the Israeli political scene — might still be able to outwit his Likud opponents and establish a more left-leaning coalition. “Sharon has more options than others,” he said. “That gives him more room to maneuver and better leverage against rivals.”
