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Palestinian leadership faces crisis

An injured Palestinian boy is rushed to hospital yesterday following an incursion by elite Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopters into the southern Gaza Strip city's Rafah refugee camp. PHOTO: AFP

Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians in a Gaza refugee camp battle yesterday while Palestinian mediators tried to end a leadership crisis prompted by Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia's threat to quit.

Citing what it called plans by Palestinian militants to obtain anti-aircraft missiles, the army sent dozens of armored vehicles, including tanks, and infantry into the Rafah camp on the Gaza-Egypt border to search for weapons-smuggling tunnels.

Palestinian medics said five Palestinians were killed, including two gunmen, and some 35 people -- among them eight children -- were wounded during clashes between troops and militants as Israeli helicopter gunships flew overhead.

On the stormy Palestinian political front, Qureia maintained his public silence in what appeared to be a dispute with President Yasser Arafat over security powers key to a revival of Middle East peacema-king.

Palestinian officials said Qureia threatened to resign from his post after a session of parliament, called on Thursday to ratify an emergency government, was cancelled amid opposition from a number of lawmakers to the idea of forming a crisis cabinet.

"Mediation efforts will continue to narrow differences between Abu Ala and President Arafat," a Palestinian official said, using Qureia's nom de guerre.

He said members of the Central Committee of Arafat's Fatah faction were engaged in "telephone diplomacy" with Qureia.

Qureia and Arafat were at odds, officials said, over the president's decision to dismiss Interior Minister Nasser Youssef, who would have security powers crucial to a US-backed peace "road map" stalled by violence.

Youssef angered Arafat by boycotting a cabinet swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday.

Palestinian sources said Youssef had not wanted to take up his duties without a parliamentary vote to lend legitimacy to any security measures he might implement.

Arafat's reluctance to yield security control was a major factor behind the decision by Qureia's predecessor, Mahmoud Abbas, to resign as prime minister last month.

Israel has demanded that Qureia's government crack down on Islamic militants behind a wave of suicide bombings against Israelis in a three-year-old uprising for statehood.

Palestinian officials, accusing Israel of failing to live up to its commitments under the road map, say a crackdown on militants could lead to civil war.

Arafat, who is confined to his West Bank headquarters by Israel, declared a state of emergency on Sunday after Israeli ministers renewed calls to "remove" him following a suicide bombing that killed 20 people in Israel.

Arafat kept a low profile and did not appear in public at all on Thursday.

Commenting on the Rafah raid, an Israeli commander said troops were searching for about a dozen cross-border tunnels.

The officer, who was identified by Israel Radio only as Brigadier-General Ofer, said his men met "tough resistance" from Palestinians firing anti-tank rockets and hurling grenades.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed wing of Arafat's Fatah faction, said its fighters detonated several land mines beneath armored vehicles and bulldozers. An Israeli field commander said one soldier was wounded by shrapnel.
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