RAMALLAH/GAZA CITY, 1 July 2007 — The deposed Hamas prime minister toured the house of Yasser Arafat yesterday and said he phoned the wife of the late Palestinian leader to assure her the property was not damaged during Gaza’s civil war.
The tour by Ismail Haniyeh was an attempt to counter allegations by the rival Fatah movement that Hamas gunmen had broken into Arafat’s Gaza City home two days after the end of fighting.
Arafat led Fatah for four decades, until his death in 2004. He enjoys iconic status among the Palestinians and the looting allegations badly harmed Hamas’ image.
During the visit, Haniyeh placed a phone call, and aides said it was to Arafat’s widow, Suha, in Tunisia. “I will send a video of my tour for you to be sure the house is safe and under protection,” Haniyeh said on the phone, with reporters watching. “The house of Abu Ammar is one of the national symbols in Gaza ... and will remain under protection.”
Fatah spokesman Ahmed Abdel Rahman alleged that on June 17, two days after Hamas took control of Gaza, Hamas gunmen broke into the house, trampled on Arafat’s photo and military fatigues, and damaged gifts from world leaders and the Nobel Peace Prize he won in 1994, along with Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. In the upstairs bedrooms, the gunmen stole women’s clothing, the statement said at the time.
During yesterday’s tour, there was no apparent sign of damage. One of Arafat’s green military fatigues was spread on his bed on the ground floor. Furniture was pushed together in the middle of the room and covered with sheets. A rifle, presumably belonging to Arafat, was visible in a display case.
In Arafat’s office, a computer and office equipment were neatly organized on his wooden desk. Haniyeh reached inside another display case and inspected Arafat’s dark brown glasses, waving them to the cameras.
An Arafat aide said the house was not inspected by its former custodian since it was looted. It was not clear if any of the Palestinian leader’s belongings were missing.
In his tour, Haniyeh tried to harness Arafat’s continued popularity, suggesting Arafat and Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin shared the same views. In fact, the two were political rivals. “We will follow the same path of President Arafat and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin to protect the unity of Palestinian people,” Haniyeh said in the phone call. “We will protect this heritage.”
