War of the weak

[Gimel]

Top-ranking Palestinians describe the current crisis in various ways. Hussein al Sheikh, considered one of Mohammed Dahlan's people in the West Bank, said last Saturday on Al Jazeera TV that the violence in Jenin and Nablus, where Palestinian Authority offices were torched and three foreigners briefly kidnapped, shows that the crisis in the PA and Fatah leadership is serious and far from over.

Yasser Arafat, on the other hand, is trying to play down the severity of the crisis. One of the PA chairman's visitors this week heard him say over the weekend that "Ariel Sharon is pouring out millions to create havoc in Gaza." Arafat thinks the crisis is artificial and not at all terrible, and that the Israeli government is trying to fan the flames.

What's the truth? The split between the two camps in Gaza appears impossible to bridge. Dahlan, who meanwhile is overseas, has rallied around him loyalists with power bases in the Preventive Security force (Rashid Abu Shbak) and the Fatah movement (Samir Mashrawi). He also has a known strong-arm on the ground, Nabi Tamus, who gets involved in violence. But no less important, as far as Dahlan is concerned, is the political backing he's getting from other Fatah leaders, especially Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

{link:www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/459334.html|Continued here..]