(Boston Globe) - Charles Radin and Sa'id Ghazali Yasser Arafat and his followers are supplying financial and political support to armed groups that reject the current cease-fire and the leadership of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas, according to PA and local officials. The groups include units of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a military affiliate of Arafat's Fatah movement that is listed as a terrorist group by the State Department. With the support of Arafat, Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades members are in control of the streets of Jenin, the fourth-largest Palestinian city, and the Brigades and other Fatah splinter groups have initiated a wave of car-torchings, extortions, and abductions in Nablus, the third-largest city. The governor of Jenin, Haider Irsheid, 49, was abducted from his home last Saturday, publicly beaten, marched barefoot through the Jenin refugee camp, and thrown into a cave, where he was beaten again. Irsheid said Fatah had given $10,000 to Brigades members from the Jenin camp on July 12.
2003-07-23 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive