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MER FlashBack to 2 Years Ago:
NOW THE "PA" IS THE ENEMY
"They are a mafia! They want to use the
present situation to get rich. They hear
only the symphony of dollars."
MER - Washington - 6/17:
Life for Palestinians is much worse now with the Arafat Regime than
before. There is today a "double occupation", and the days of the
"Intifada" with just the Israeli occupation to worry about are often
reflected on as the "good old days".
The standard of living for the Palestinians has fallen by nearly 50%
since
Arafat's coming; and repression is up many times over and still rising.
And it was planned this way. Forgotten by many, "crush their bones"
was
the slogan of Yitzhak Rabin when he was Defense Minister in the Likud
Government of Yitzhak Shamir during the initial years of the Intifada.
The
Oslo agreement was Rabin's way of continuing his policies by other
more
crafty and duplicitous means -- and indeed it has worked brilliantly
but for
the unexpected assassination of the architect by Israeli extremists.
Wherever Yasser Arafat and cronies go massive corruption and
repression follow. In Washington, for instance, Arafat continues to
be
represented by Hassan Rahman -- a petty and shallow man who has
squandered and taken for himself many millions and is widely despised.
Even the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) refused
to
let Rahman speak at its recent convention, not even letting him sit
at the
head table for the luncheon panel where two founding members of the
PLO spoke (and essentially called for Arafat's resignation and the
end of
the miserable "peace process"). Said Shafik al-Hout, when asked about
Rahman, "I don't want anything to do with him. He is not on my payroll!"
This unusually insightful article about how leaders of the "PA" are
considered the "Mafia" in Nablus is by Patrick Cockburn of "The
Independent" in London.
A THORN IN THE SIDE OF THE PALESTINE'S "MAFIA"
A week in the Life Husam Khader in Nablus, Palestine
Husam Khader, a political militant from Balata refugee camp on the
outskirts of the West Bank town of Nablus, is jubilant because he has
just organised a successful strike. Arrested 23 times by Israel during
the
Palestinian Intifada, he is now leading 20,000 people from Balata against
the local representatives of the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Khader, 36, a lively man with a quick smile, modest but confident,
does not like the rulers of this Palestinian enclave, surrounded by
Israeli-controlled territory.
"They are a mafia!" he says. "They want to use the present situation
to
get rich. They hear only the symphony of dollars."
A member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Mr Khader explains
that
the strike was sparked off by the decision of Ghassan Shaka, mayor
of
Nablus, to double the price of electricity and water for the impoverished
refugees in Balata. Mr Khader sees that as a symbol of the greed and
corruption of the officials of the Palestinian Authority.
His two small daughters rush in and out of his office at the entrance
to
Balata as he outlines the events of the week leading up to the strike.
Other Palestinian politicians mutter about corruption in Yasser Arafat's
Palestinian Authority. But few do anything about it. Mr Khader is also
different from other critics in that he has clear popular support.
People
in Balata obviously think he can help.
The local municipal authority does not cut much ice in the camp. "We
haven't allowed them to cut anybody's electricity for nine months,"
he
says. "They even came to my office, but I sent a message to the mayor,
saying: 'Don't you dare'." Mr Khader details the events that led up
to
the strike:
On Monday, he holds a meeting of "the Committee for the Defence of
Palestinian Refugees Rights". "We heard a senior official of the
Palestinian Authority was coming to Balata to open a water project
on
Saturday. We decided to hold a strike and demonstration to greet him,"
he says.
"People are paying one-third of their salaries for electricity and water.
The municipality buys it from Israel, doubles the price and sells it
to us.
"It is even demanding back payment for the electricity bills we refused
to
pay the Israelis during the Intifada. We spoke to Arafat who promised
not
to take money from the refugee camps, but he did nothing.
"The mayor even sent a letter to the family of Saad Sael, a Palestinian
martyr killed in the siege of Beirut in 1983, saying he would cut off
their
electricity unless they pay the money [the equivalent of #24] in 15
days.
Part of the money goes to Arafat."
That evening Mr Khader addresses a meeting of 300 students from
al-Najaa university. He says: "It was shameful for me. I had to duck
a lot
of questions about how al-Sharif died."
Mohiedin al-Sharif was the bombmaker the Palestinian Authority says
was killed by fellow members of Hamas. Critics say he died at the hands
of the Authority or the Israelis. [MER Note - There is substantial
evidence,
some previously published by MER, that al-Sharif was killed the
Palestinian Authority secret police under the direct control of Jabril
Rajoub, chief enforcer of Yasser Arafat and the main point of contact
between the PA and the CIA].
Husam Khader and his committee are making posters and slogans for
their strike.
It is going to be the first in Nablus since the Israelis departed in
1995.
The local committee of Fatah, Mr Arafat's organisation, in Balata has
a
slogan:
"We shall resist the [Israeli] occupation as if there is no [Palestinian]
Authority; And we shall fight against the corruption of the Authority
as if
there was no occupation."
Mr Khader thinks this is brave of them. He refused join the official
list
for Fatah in the 1995 elections, and was elected as an independent
Fatah
candidate.
A stream of people comes to Mr Khader's office for help.
One woman needs to pay for her daughter's eye operation. She has
talked to Jibril Rajoub, head of Preventive Security on the West Bank.
He
will talk to Mr Arafat. Mr Khader laughs when asked if such a detail
as
this had to be decided by the Palestinian leader. He lifts up a glass
of
water, saying: "You don't even drink from this without his permission,"
he
says.
In the evening Mr Khader addresses a woman's social club in Nablus.
They are well-educated and middle class. He speaks of the bad
relationship between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine
Legislative Council (PLC).
"I think the PA asks God every night to let it wake up one day without
the
PLC." Asked why the Authority is so authoritarian, he replies: "They
got
used to leading the PLO without sharing authority."
He himself spent three years in exile in Tunis with Mr Arafat. He supports
a motion of no-confidence in the PLC on 15 June against the Palestinian
government. In Nablus, he says, the local government is spending the
money it raises in hotels and at receptions.
Thursday dawns and Mr Khader is leading a demonstration to the borders
of Israel at Tulkarm to commemorate 50 years since al-Nabka, the
Catastrophe, as the Palestinians call the loss of their homes in what
is
now Israel.
The people of Balata, a half square kilometre of ramshackle concrete
houses separated by narrow alleys, come originally from 60 villages
and
towns between Jaffa and Lod. After 1948 they were not allowed to return.
Husam asks his four-year-old daughter Amira where she comes from.
She says: "I live in Balata, but I come from Jaffa."
A middle-aged woman in a pink dress comes to see him. She shows her
refugee identity card, which has the names of 12 family members on
it.
Her husband has died and somehow she is no longer on the right list
to
get support from UNWRA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency).
Husam makes a phone call to the local UNWRA director to explain her
problem.
Husam Khader goes to the mosque in Balata on Friday and addresses
1,000 people, calling on them to support the strike. Given that half
the
6,000 people who could work in the camp are unemployed, the strike
will
most obviously affect the shopkeepers.
He is somewhat contemptuous of people in Nablus itself, who are also
badly hit by the high price of electricity and water, but do nothing.
"There are no men in Nablus," he says. Then he looks embarrassed and
softens the phrase.
At 10am on Saturday he goes to the market place with other committee
members. The shopkeepers say they are waiting to close at 11am, as
instructed by the strike committee. When the hour comes the strike
is
total.
The visiting dignitaries are met by a large demonstration. Mr Khader
is
pleased. "Would anybody deny water and electricity to people as poor
as
this, unless they were at war with them?" he asks.
The price rises remain in place. Now he plans to cut the main road to
Jerusalem.
Patrick Cockburn in "The Independent", 6/13/98
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