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Challenger Dahlan says Arafat `sitting on corpses'

Militants from the Al-Aqsa brigade, an armed faction loyal to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, patrol an area in Nablus on Sunday where a meeting of Arafat's Fatah faction was being held. PHOTO: AFP

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat received the strongest challenge yet from a protege when Mohammad Dahlan, a former interior minister, accused him of squandering US$5 billion and "sitting on the corpses" of Palestinians.

He said that if Arafat did not begin to reform the Palestinian Authority there would be massive demonstrations on Aug. 10 in Gaza City.

In an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Watan, he said: "Arafat is sitting on the corpses and destruction of the Palestinians at a time when they're desperately in need of a new mentality."

All of the funds which foreign countries had donated to the Palestinian Authority, a total of US$5 billion, "have gone down the drain, and we don't know to where," he added.

Arafat's policies had brought about a situation in which Palestinian lives were in ruin, Dahlan said.

"The Palestinian situation is not putting up with any more corruption, and there is no escape aside from reforms that Arafat himself has authorized," he said.

Dahlan is rumored to have instigated a series of incidents against Gaza security chiefs appointed by Arafat and accused of corruption.

But this is the first time he has publicly attacked him and placed himself at the head of an emerging reform movement.

Dahlan, 43, has broad support in the Gaza Strip and is respected by Israel and the US. Like all critics of Arafat, he believes it is vital that he should remain leader of the Palestinians but more efficient managers should handle Palestinian affairs.

Israel's proposal to withdraw from settlements in the Gaza Strip has created a sense of urgency about reforming the authority and removing a generation of bureaucrats appointed by Arafat and seen as corrupt and incompetent.

On Sunday, gunmen loyal to Arafat broke up a conference attended by Palestinian legislators in Ramallah, saying the meeting was part of a conspiracy against him.

Seventy members of Fatah, Arafat's faction, were meeting to discuss reform and growing anarchy in the Palestinian territories when the 20 men burst in and fired into the ceiling.

The meeting was ended, but not before a letter was drafted to Arafat denouncing the lawlessness and corruption in the authority.

"President Arafat, this may be the last chance for reforming our situation before reaching the end. We need a revolution within our Fatah movement," it said.

Last month militants kidnapped Ghazi Jabali, the chief of police, and demanded his dismissal.

Arafat's proposed replacement, his relative Moussa Arafat, was seen as even more corrupt and he was forced to withdraw the appointment.

Since Arafat returned to the Palestinian territories in 1994 he has been accused of presiding over an almost feudal regime in which his appointees grow rich on public funds in return for their loyalty.

Since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proposed withdrawing from the Gaza settlements, Palestinian leaders appear to have had no strategy to improve the position of their people.

Israeli intelligence officers say they believe Arafat is hoping for a Democratic victory in the US presidential election to give him more room to maneuver.
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