Arafat: free but increasingly isolated

Likud's decision to reject Palestinian statehood coincided with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's attempts to reassert his failing authority. Khaled Amayreh reports from occupied Jerusalem
Palestinians reacted angrily when Israel's ruling Likud Party decided on Sunday to reject Palestinian statehood and self-determination, describing the ruling as further proof that Israeli society and its representative institutions are drifting ever-closer to a more authoritarian and extremist posture.
"This decision shows that the ongoing Israeli terrorist rampage in our towns is aimed at consolidating the occupation, expanding the settlements and consolidating the apartheid structure," said PA Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat.
He termed the decision -- voted and adopted by an overwhelming majority and in spite of tactical opposition from Sharon -- an "affront" and an "insult" to President Bush and moderate Arab states, especially as it came less than 36 hours after the Sharm El-Sheikh mini-Arab summit in which Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria condemned violence and reaffirmed their commitment to peace with Israel.
"Israel responded to the Beirut summit by invading Palestinian towns and now the Likud is responding to the Sharm El-Sheikh overtures by rejecting Palestinian statehood and proposing open-ended apartheid for the Palestinians," said Erekat in an interview with Al-Jazeera Television.
Hamas leaders termed the Likud decision as "showing Israel's real face." Ismael Abu Shanab, a Gaza-based Hamas official believes that "This decision reflects the real face of Israel and Zionism. It shows that all their claims about wanting peace are public relations lies intended to obscure that all they are interested in is the perpetuation of their occupation of our land and the subjugation of our people."
Abu Shanab argued that the Likud resolution against Palestinian statehood and self- determination is a vindication and justification of the Palestinian struggle.
"The matter is very clear. Israel is telling us and the world that the military occupation of our land will continue, as will the murderous oppression of our people and the apartheid mentality. This [ruling] only gives added legitimacy to our struggle."
Abu Shanab believes that "We have two choices -- either to accept perpetual enslavement by the Zionists or to continue the struggle for freedom."
Earlier this week, Arafat strongly condemned the latest suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and ordered a clampdown on Hamas in the Gaza Strip while accusing "foreign forces" of abetting bomb-attacks on Israel, in a move that was interpreted as being an indirect reference to Iran and Iraq.
Arafat argued that his battered and cash- strapped authority was incapable of exerting any control over "extremist groups," even as it becomes increasingly clear that Arafat's efforts to meet US demands that he crack down on "terror" are seriously provoking an indignant Palestinian public. Outraged by Israel's atrocities and the destruction of the civilian infrastructure in most Palestinian towns, Palestinians are now turning against Arafat and protesting his inability to shield them from the incursions.
Public displeasure with Arafat was evident in the lukewarm reception he received upon his visit to Bethlehem, Jenin and Nablus on 13 May, all battered and ransacked by the recent occupation.
In Bethlehem, the last Palestinian town in the West Bank to be left by Israeli tanks, Arafat visited the Church of the Nativity and condemned Israel's actions there as an "unforgivable crime."
He also visited the nearby Omar Ibn Al- Khattab Mosque, which was also ransacked and partially destroyed by Israeli artillery shelling.
At Manger Square, a woman asked Arafat why he agreed that the 13 Palestinian resistance fighters who had been holed up inside the church be deported to Europe.
Arafat, worn and exhausted, did not respond to the woman but reiterated the usual Palestinian Authority slogans about the inevitability of establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The US-mediated deal which facilitated the end of Israel's six-week siege of the church, Jesus' traditional birthplace, generated much dismay and anger among Palestinians, especially in Bethlehem where most of the 13 deportees lived.
Most political movements, including Arafat's Fatah, have condemned the deal, with some people terming it a betrayal. Much of the public indignation over the deal has stemmed from the widespread fear that the deportation will play into the hands of Israeli fascists advocating mass deportation of the Palestinian people from their ancestral homeland.
The PA defended the deal, implemented on 10 May, by arguing that it had to make a tough choice between surrendering the fighters to Israel -- where they will most likely be tortured and maltreated -- or sending them abroad.
From Bethlehem, Arafat flew to Jenin aboard a Jordanian-donated helicopter, his two private helicopters having been destroyed earlier this year by Israeli warplanes.
However, the Palestinian president surprised everyone when he skipped his most widely anticipated stop at the devastated Jenin refugee camp, the scene of a devastating Israeli operation in which the Israeli army was accused of committing war crimes and reducing much of the camp to rubble.
Arafat did approach the camp, stepping gingerly onto the rubble, but then turned and departed without approaching the stage and the 3,000 residents that awaited him there.
PA spokesmen said the cancellation of the visit to the camp was effected by "security reasons", an explanation most camp residents found unconvincing.
It was clear that Arafat didn't want to be seen heckled or jeered by the camp's angry residents who are seething with anger at the way in which their president is addressing their plight. Some even accused the Palestinian leader of "sacrificing" the people and the national cause for his own good.
The residents expressed their fury at Arafat's refusal to meet with them and share their grief. "I'm very angry and very disappointed because Arafat didn't visit the camp. He didn't talk to normal people and he did not want to meet the people who lost their sons. If he is not interested in us, then we are also not interested in him," said camp resident Mohamed Abu Ghalyon.
"He must visit the camp. We've lost our sons, we've lost our houses, and we've got nothing left. We hoped that he would have come so we could show him our problems," said another. Other residents uttered stronger and far more scathing words about Arafat, indicating that perhaps Arafat's concerns over his personal safety were well-founded. The Palestinian president's problems are likely to increase as growing divisions sharpen within his security establishment.
Last week, West Bank Preventive Security Chief Jebril Rajoub accused his Gaza counterpart, Mohamed Dahlan, and Arafat's chief economic adviser, Mohamed Rashid, of plotting to oust him.
Both Dahlan and Rashid have become increasingly prominent in the past few weeks, especially during the siege of Arafat's offices in Ramallah. Dahlan is rumoured to be the Americans' choice to head a proposed unified police force that would replace the various PA security agencies.
The main obstacle to this is that Dahlan lacks popularity in the West Bank and is often perceived as too conciliatory, especially vis- à-vis the Palestinian refugees' right to return.
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