[Lt_Apple]

Palestinian areas falling into chaos
Officials protest loss of control to armed gangs
3/11/04

By Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

NABLUS, West Bank -- Ghassan Shaka paints a frightening portrait of the conditions that he says have turned this once-thriving Palestinian business hub into a gun-crazy den of lawlessness.

Gangs rule the streets of the West Bank's largest city -- shooting rivals, strong-arming merchants and carrying out beatings and kidnappings. Residents have no faith in the toothless police force, which shows little stomach for stopping the disorder. The courts are a joke.

Nablus, Shaka says, is a hopeless mess.

And he's the city's mayor.

Shaka, joined by the rest of the 14-member City Council, resigned late last month to protest mounting impunity and the Palestinian Authority's inability to bring order to the streets.

"We are losing control," Shaka said during an interview in his office, surrounded by a half-dozen city officials who also tendered resignations, effective May 1. "We are about to collapse." ..."

http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stori...010286,00.html

[tgs]

Of course one could believe it's all just stagecraft too. Just another reason for Arafat to plea for 'international intervention' e.g. UN troops shooting Jews to death. Let's not forget that these guys threaten to resign if their tea is cold. It doesn't always mean anything, all this arab honor nonsense.

[doctorzlo]

Are we to believe Arafat isn't a dictator now? Maybe we need to look at it this way, the PA is dissolving into various regional factions with their own totalitarian control. In the past it was widely thought amongst the Pro-Israel crowd that Arafat could reel them all in when needed, and excersised some control. So is this still true? How do we explain what's happening to those who believed all the staged in-fighting between pupper prime ministers and such ?

[brraverishhh]

Arafat, Qurei Face Growing Fatah Rebellion

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, February 27, 2004

The deepening crisis at the heart of the Palestinian Authority leadership broke into the open Thursday evening when PA leader Yasser Arafat angrily stormed out of a meeting in his Ramallah compound when charged with resisting reform. The walkout occurred only hours after dissident members from PA’s governing Fatah movement circulated a leaflet accusing PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei of "high treason."

The Revolutionary Council, a key decision making body in the PA’s governing Fatah movement will meet for the third and final day of its closed gathering Friday, despite the verbal clash which broke out after senior security aide Nasser Yusouf accused Arafat of doing nothing to reform the security services to tackle the prevailing anarchy on the streets.

The outburst incensed Arafat who hurled a microphone at Yusouf, cursed him and left the room.

The three-day emergency session is the first time the Council has met in three years. It was called in the wake of mass rank-and-file resignations over the alleged corruption of Arafat loyalists and the worsening lawlessness in Palestinian towns and cities at the hands of Fatah-linked paramilitary gangs.

Most of the 130 Revolutionary Council members arrived demanding elections be held to replace an elite around Arafat that has dominated the movement for decades. Although a ballot should take place every five years, and despite repeated promises from Arafat, there has not been one for 15 years, according to Ha’aretz.

Earlier Thursday one of the Fatah movement’s increasingly disparate factions distributed an anonymous pamphlet charging Qurei with "high treason," for his alleged involvement in supplying Israeli contractors with cement used to build the controversial security barrier outside Jerusalem...."

http://www.truthnews.net/month/2004020060.htm

[Paul Bunyan]

Just too early to say. The PA is in a state of near anarchy for many years now, and it seems that can be in anarchy for many more years. The Arabs exist, with their terror organizations selling terror services to the Syrians, Europeans, Iranians ans Saudies. Murdering Jews for money. It won't change in the near future.

I even doubt in what degree will it increase Arab emigration.