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Gaza chaos claims Arafat aide

The daughter of Palestinian journalist Khalil al-Zaben arrives at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after his killing yesterday. PHOTO: EPA

Unidentified gunmen killed an adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in a street ambush early yesterday, feeding fears of growing lawlessness and chaos ahead of a possible Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Arafat denounced the killing of Khalil al-Zaben, 59, as a "dirty assassination" and convened his Cabinet and national security council yesterday to discuss what was seen as one of the most serious challenges yet to the Palestinian Authority.

Al-Zaben, who was also a local publisher and headed a human rights group, was hit by 12 bullets as he left his Gaza City office. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and security officials said they had no suspects.

Al-Zaben had recently criticized the growing chaos and spoken out against the armed gangs roaming Gaza. He was the best-known Palestinian to be killed in the internal fighting and power struggles in Gaza City.

Last week, al-Zaben had distributed a leaflet denouncing what he said were "gangs of professional killers and assassins" whom he held responsible for a recent shooting attack on a politician from Arafat's Fatah movement. It was not immediately clear whether the leaflet prompted the killing of al-Zaben.

The Palestinian Authority has been weakened by more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, and armed gangs, including gunmen with ties to Arafat's Fatah movement, are increasingly controlling the streets.

The Palestinian Cabinet and national security council were to discuss the killing yesterday, minister Saeb Erekat said.

"This chaos will not be tolerated. I believe the Palestinian government and security forces must take all action to end this chaos," he said.

"It is really undermining the Palestinian struggle to establish an independent state," he said.

Al-Zaben joined forces with Arafat in the 1960s and held a number of positions, including media adviser and personal secretary. He returned to Gaza along with Arafat and other exiled Palestinian leaders in 1994, under the terms of Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accords.

More recently, he published a weekly magazine on Palestinian affairs and human rights.

Two of his brothers are Palestinian ambassadors in South America, and his son works as an airline pilot there. He is also survived by his wife and three daughters.

The Gaza journalists' association condemned the killing and called for the Palestinian attorney general to resign for his "failure" to protect civilians. The group urged Arafat to bring the attackers to justice.

"Everyone will remember March 1 as a black day in the history of freedom and democracy," said Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a militant group, also condemned the killing.

"We hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for the continuation of attacks against journalists and other sectors of the Palestinian civil society," the group said.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed an unarmed Palestinian man during an arrest operation in the West Bank village of Yatta, an army spokeswoman said.
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