GAZA CITY, 19 July 2004 — Gunmen burned down the local offices of the Palestinian Authority in Khan Younis and fought a gunbattle with forces loyal to the newly appointed security chief in Rafah yesterday, as anger spread over Yasser Arafat’s overhaul of his security forces.
Dozens of militants belonging to an extreme offshoot of Arafat’s Fatah movement stormed an office building in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis shortly after midnight to protest Arafat’s appointment of his cousin, Moussa Arafat, as chief of security.
One security guard was wounded in a gunbattle with the militants, who seized control of the building, stole weapons, and burned two offices and several cars parked nearby.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said in a statement: “We have dissolved the military intelligence service in Khan Younis and our fighters now control the building.
“This is a clear message to the corrupt Moussa Arafat that we will not allow his appointment to pass and that he should resign.”
In Rafah, hundreds of gunmen, many of them masked, exchanged heavy fire with forces loyal to Moussa Arafat.
A statement from the office of the military intelligence service chief Gen. Amin Al-Hindi condemned the violence. “What we are seeing is a result of the continuing frustration in the face of Israeli aggression,” it said.
Moussa Arafat’s appointment was part of Arafat’s reforms to his security forces, as demanded in the road map sponsored by the United States and supported by Egypt. However, members of Arafat’s own Fatah movement were infuriated, accusing Moussa Arafat of symbolizing the corruption and cronyism of the Palestinian Authority.
Dissent also spread to the security forces when navy chief Gomma Ghali, a strong Arafat supporter, handed in his resignation in protest over Moussa Arafat’s appointment. His resignation, and those of two other senior security officers on Friday, have not been accepted, however.
Despite the unhappiness at the appointment, Moussa Arafat took control of the security forces at a handover ceremony in Gaza City yesterday, saying he was prepared to fight all “potential enemies,” and would ignore the protests.
“I take my orders from His Excellency President Arafat. The one who appointed me is the only one who can ask me to quit my job,” the new security chief said.
Moussa Arafat — previously the head of the Palestinian intelligence services — is known as a fierce commander, and completely loyal to Yasser Arafat. He was among the founders of Fatah in 1965.
In 1996, during a mass roundup of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, Moussa Arafat shaved the heads and beards of the men he imprisoned to humiliate them. Human rights groups accused him of torture.
In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Arafat met his prime minister, Ahmed Qorei, over the political crisis that erupted over the continuing violence in Gaza and Qorei’s attempt to resign as head of the Palestinian government.
“I totally reject your resignation and consider it nonexistent,” Arafat told Qorei during the meeting, according to Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat. Qorei told his Cabinet on Saturday he was firm in his decision to quit.
Dissatisfaction with Arafat’s reforms spread throughout the Palestinian territories, though violence was confined to the Gaza Strip.
“Arafat now is at a crossroads. Either he makes a revolution inside his authority or the Palestinian people will make a revolution against him,” said Ahmed Jamous, a student at Ramallah’s Bir Zeit University.
— Additional input from agencies
