Radicals blast Hebron deal, warn Palestinian police
Radicals blast Hebron deal, warn Palestinian police
DAMASCUS (Reuter): Radical Palestinian guerrilla groups condemned yesterday the PLO-Israel security deal for Hebron and warned Palestinian police, who will deploy in Gaza and Jericho, not to block their attacks against Israel.
Spokesmen in Syria for a 10-member radical Palestinian alliance, which opposes last September's agreement on Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho, said measures agreed by the PLO and Israel for Hebron would not prevent more killings of Palestinians.
"We find it strange how (PLO chief Yasser) Arafat approves the accord only a few days after six of his own people were killed by the Israelis in the occupied territories," an Islamic Jihad leader said.
Fathi Shukaki, secretary-general of the Islamic Jihad, told Reuters the accord would not provide the minimum security for Palestinians and the international presence would be meaningless because they have no police role.
Under the agreement, signed by the PLO and Israel in Cairo on Thursday, Palestinian police will start moving into Gaza and Jericho next week and some 160 Norwegians, Danes and Italians will go to Hebron to monitor the security situation.
The agreement paved the way for resumption of talks on self- rule for Palestinians in Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho. The talks broke down in February when a Jewish settler slaughtered about 30 Palestinians in a Hebron mosque.
Shukaki said the Israelis wanted the Palestinian police to deploy quickly to put an end to the Palestinian uprising and to "turn the conflict into a Palestinian-Palestinian clash."
"Our Jihad (holy war) against the Zionists in all parts of occupied Palestine will continue. We will adopt new tactics to avoid any clash with the Palestinian police who would be deployed only on two percent of the Palestinian land but if they block us we will defend ourselves," Shukaki said.
Shukaki, whose group is active in attacking Israel's presence in the West Bank and Gaza, urged the Palestinian police to facilitate resistance against Israel.
"The Palestinian police are Palestinians like us. We urge them to help us fight the enemy and not to block our operations," Shukaki said.
A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) led by George Habash said Arafat had "fully ignored all demands by Palestinians for removal of all Israeli settlements from Hebron. He did not care for having a UN presence to protect Palestinians."