Palestinian activists have nervously decided to hand in their arms in exchange for an amnesty from Israel. But are they correct in trusting the Israelis not to assassinate them in future? Not according to seasoned Israeli commentators, writes Saleh Al-Naami Mohsen Sherim, a 42-year-old fish merchant from Qalqilia in the north of the West Bank, never imagined that his home, shop and car would be raided and searched for weapons. This followed a decree issued by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, following an agreement with Israel, which banned the militias and ordered them to hand in their weapons as part of a security clampdown on the armed groups. According to Mustafa Sabri, a journalist residing in Qalqilia, Palestinian security forces rounded up dozens of Hamas members for interrogation regarding arms possession. Ashraf Al-Ajrami the Minister of Youth, Sports and Prisoners in Salam Fayyad's emergency government felt confident that Abu Mazen's (Abbas) decree and the measures it set into motion were, "in the higher national interests of the Palestinian people." Al-Ajrami told Al-Weekly , "We have to attempt to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by diplomatic means." Unfortunately, Al-Ajrami had a tough time convincing Paletinians that such a settlement was remotely possible in view of the absence of an Israeli partner prepared to show the necessary flexibility to reach a solution. So he backtracked a little and held that it was imperative to ban the militias in order, "to put an end to the breakdown of law and order in the West Bank." He further charged that many of the armed groups were bullying and intimidating people, for which reason, "rectifying the internal situation" had to take priority over resistance against the occupation. Dr. Abdel-Sattar Qasem, a professor of political science at Al-Najah National University in Nablus, agreed that a number of armed men were responsible for the breakdown in security in the West Bank. At the same time, however, he questioned the motives behind Abu Mazen's decree, which, he feared, would play into Israel's hands. In an interview with the Weekly, Qasem said, "after Hamas took control of Gaza, Abu Mazen was desperate to rally Israel behind him in his fight against Hamas. The banning of militias is his down payment." He then asked, "if the purpose of this decree was really to put an end to the security breakdown, then why are Palestinian security forces homing in on Hamas activists in particular. Everybody knows that these activists had nothing to do with the security breakdown." He even went so far as to say, "if anybody's going to put a stop to the chaos, they're going to have to disband the security forces themselves because they are directly responsible for it." It appears from developments in the West Bank that Abu Mazen is using the carrot-and-stick approach to put his decree into effect. Depending on who is being targeted ensures which approach is first used. Hamas activists have been singled out for the rough treatment: they are rounded up, interrogated and sternly cautioned. The members of other militias, particularly Fatah activists, are handled more gently. Abu Mazen appealed to them to voluntarily lay down their arms in exchange for a pledge from the government that Israel would cease pursuing them. Indeed, the Palestinian emergency government reached an agreement with Israel in which it would call off its hunt for 180 Fatah activists in exchange for their pledge to halt resistance activities. One of those on the list was Alaa Sanakrah, 30, an Al-Aqsa leader from the Balata refugee camp outside Nablus. In a telephone interview, Sanakrah appeared to have conflicting emotions when asked about the developments. He said he had taken a great risk in coming out from hiding because it was possible that the Israelis might still try to assassinate him as undercover units had tried to kill him on six occasions in the last five years. However, he would abide by the directives of Abbas, "who wants to give the diplomatic process a chance." But was still distrustful of the Israelis who had abducted Ahmed Saadat, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, from a Jericho prison two years ago in spite of a Palestinian-British- American-Israeli agreement to leave him. But Sanakrah expressed fears for his younger brother Ahmed who is currently on Israel's wanted list and whose name was not included on the list of the 180 activists whom Israel had agreed to grant amnesty. "How will I feel when they assassinate my brother, Ahmed, or any of my other friends?" Sankarah asked in a trembling voice. Apart from Fatah, the other armed Palestinian factions concurred that Abu Mazen's decree ordering them to lay down their weapons was handing Israel a gift on a silver platter. Khaled Al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, described the decree as a bid to strip the resistance of its legitimacy and an enormous service for the Zionist enterprise. He hoped that the Palestinian president would retract this decision, which, he said, was taken in the context of, "retaliatory and vengeful measures" against Hamas following its seizure of control in Gaza. He added, "while we can understand Abu Mazen's anger at Hamas's actions, we can not condone any step he takes which jeopardises the option of armed resistance against the occupation. With this policy, Abu Mazen is doing more harm to the Palestinian people and their cause than he is to Hamas. To ask resistance activists to lay down their arms is an insult to all the Palestinian people and to their history and the history of their struggle." He then asked, "how can we lay down our arms at a time when Israel is expanding its settlements, taking control over the whole of Jerusalem, continuing construction of the racist separation wall and still openly refusing to recognise the rights of our people?" Other resistance leaders were of a similar frame of mind. Sheikh Walid Al-Obeidi, leader of the Al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad's armed wing in the West Bank, rejected the deal, presented to him by Minister of the Interior Abdel-Razzaq Al-Yayha, to disarm in exchange for having his fighters taken off Israel's wanted list. Abu Mujahid, spokesperson for the Popular Resistance Committees, vowed that the factions would maintain their right to resist the occupation and denounced Abu Mazen's decree as part of, "a conspiracy against organised Palestinian resistance." Israeli officials are naturally pleased with Abu Mazen's policy. In a statement on Israeli radio, the deputy defence minister, General Matan Vilnai declared that Abu Mazen's actions indicated that the Palestinian president was, "a true and serious partner in the war against terrorism" and that, "Israel would be doing itself a favour by backing him up." However, some Israeli commentators believe that the Palestinian factions' suspicions are not ungrounded and have cautioned against the folly of trusting the promises made by the Israeli government and its security establishment. Alex Fishman, a military commentator for Yediot Aharanot, observed that all the Palestinian activists that Israel said it would take off its wanted list would remain under surveillance by Israeli intelligence so that they could be easily nabbed whenever security officials in Tel Aviv deemed it necessary. Israeli Channel 2 defence correspondent, Ronny Daniel was amused by Fatah activists' talking about "retiring" from the fight. He quipped that the Israeli security services would never be satisfied until the activists were "retired from the face of this earth."
