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New arafat support { September 24 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57315-2002Sep23.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57315-2002Sep23.html
Palestinians Offer Arafat New Support
By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, September 24, 2002; Page A15
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept. 23 -- Maher Abu Radwan walked to Manara Square today with a limp.
Two nights ago, defying a strict Israeli army curfew to protest in support of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, he was wounded when the Israelis opened fire at demonstrators, he said. But he returned today, a bandage across his back, flouting the curfew in defense of Arafat, who remains besieged inside his Ramallah compound.
"I wanted to go to protect the president, to keep them from demolishing his headquarters," said Radwan, 16, clutching the stones he was preparing to throw at the Israeli soldiers positioned nearby. "All the Palestinian people are with Yasser Arafat -- men, women, children, everyone."
That kind of public outpouring of support, with Palestinians defying Israeli tanks and sharpshooters to demonstrate in the streets, would have seemed unlikely just a week ago, when Arafat appeared to be at his weakest, facing widespread disillusionment with his leadership and an internal revolt from the parliament and from within his own Fatah faction.
But then, after a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv killed six people, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered tanks and bulldozers to lay siege to Arafat's compound, demolishing every structure around the Palestinian leader's already damaged office building.
The siege, and the threat to Arafat's safety, prompted a show of popular support on the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip that Israelis and Palestinians said had no recent precedent.
In late March and throughout April, when Arafat was surrounded in his compound by Israeli armor, there were no such demonstrations of support for him. This time, the protests have brought together Palestinians from various political factions, including some who have not been enamored of Arafat. In Gaza City today, members of the radical Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, marched alongside uniformed members of Arafat's personal security unit, Force 17, and other Palestinian security groups, brandishing weapons.
"Despite the different views between us and Mr. Arafat, Mr. Arafat is the president of the Palestinians," Abdel Aziz Rantissi, chief spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, said in a telephone interview. "All Palestinians are united on this issue, because we feel that attacking the president of the Palestinians is attacking all Palestinians."
In Ramallah, youths began gathering at Manara Square in defiance of the Israeli troops and the curfew that has turned the main city in the West Bank into a ghost town.
"No one threatens our president," said Ali, 18, in jeans and a green T-shirt. "Our president was elected by us, and we protect him."
After initially clashing with the protesters, shooting dead four people during the first night of demonstrations Saturday and early Sunday, the Israeli military today seemed to take a more restrained approach, allowing people to gather on the streets. An army spokesperson said: "The curfew is not off. But sometimes they enforce it more, sometimes they enforce it less."
Arafat, according to those who have spoken with him, has been heartened by the spontaneous display of support in the streets. "When they started to bulldoze everything around him, he got a little nervous," said Ghassan Khattib, a Palestinian cabinet minister. "But on the third day, he got in a really high mood after the demonstrations."
Negotiations today to try to end the stalemate at the compound appear to have stalled. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, met with Israeli military commanders, who said they wanted a list of everyone holed up with Arafat inside the compound's last remaining office building. But after meeting with Arafat, Erekat said no such list would be handed over.
Meanwhile on the West Bank tonight, an Israeli man was killed and three of his children, ages 9, 12 and 18, were wounded by Palestinian gunfire in Hebron. The four had traveled from Jerusalem and were visiting the Tomb of the Patriarchs for the holiday of Sukkot.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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