 |  |
Click for Contents
|
P.O. Box 1805,Jerusalem 91017 Tel. 972-2-531-5440, Fax: 972-2-537-9489 Advertising Fax: 972-2-531-5425, Email Editorial: [email protected] Subscriptions: [email protected] Web site: http://www.jrep.com |
Militia King
Khaled Abu Toameh
 ARAFAT'S 'ERRANT CHILD'?:
Tanzim head Marwan Barghouti is said to be one of the few Palestinians who dare challenge Arafat to his face |
Marwan Barghoutti, the head of the Tanzim armed militia, is being hailed by the Palestinian masses as the hero of the �Al-Aqsa Intifada.� He is also scared for his life. Fearing assassination by Israelis, he now sleeps away from his home and moves around Ramallah flanked by six bodyguards.
A member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Barghouti, 41, is the leader of the Tanzim, which is affiliated with the PLO�s main Fatah faction headed by Yasser Arafat himself. Israeli security forces hold the Tanzim, which means �organization,� responsible for most of the recent shootings at soldiers and Jewish settlements.
Ironically, though, Barghouti may constitute more of a threat to Arafat and his top officials than to Israel. Many Palestinians even see him as a potential successor.
The events of the last weeks have established Barghouti as the undisputed king of the largest Palestinian militia. Made up of thousands of Fatah activists, graduates of the 1987 Intifada and Israeli prisons, the Tanzim has branches in nearly every village, town and refugee camp in the West Bank and Gaza. Some of its weapons come from the Palestinian Authority, others through underground means.
Barghouti was one of the orchestrators of the 1987 Intifada and was deported by Israel in 1988. He went to work at the PLO headquarters in Tunis as an advisor to Arafat, returning with him in 1994. His peers describe him as a hard-liner who supports the Oslo Accords but is skeptical about Israel�s willingness to compromise.
Palestinian officials say Barghouti met secretly with Arafat and got a green light from him before sending his men out to shoot at Israeli soldiers after the violent Temple Mount clashes of late September. He got a similar go-ahead for instigating the �Al-Nakba� riots last May.
At the same time, Barghouti is reputed to be one of the few Palestinians who dares to challenge Arafat to his face. A colleague says he witnessed Barghouti shouting at Arafat during a stormy meeting last year.
�He knows that he enjoys the support of the street and that�s why he isn�t afraid of anyone, even Arafat,� explains Imad Nasser, a Tanzim activist. �However, we are not against Arafat, who is our leader and symbol. We are against all those corrupt officials who surround him, and who are taking a ride on the back of the revolution.�
Though Barghouti goes by the title of secretary general of the High Committee of Fatah in the West Bank, PA officials insist Arafat stripped him of his powers over a year ago because of his outspoken criticism. Nevertheless, sources say, Arafat has generally tried to maintain good relations with Barghouti and his followers. One PA official describes the relationship between the two men as �love-hate.�
While some Tanzim members serve in the PA�s security branches, their first loyalty is to the organization. As a grassroots �insider� group, the Tanzim has tapped into the resentment felt by large segments of the Palestinian public against the �outsider� PLO veterans who came back with Arafat after long decades abroad. The �outsiders� hold all the senior officer and command positions in the PA security forces. The local Fatah cadres feel particularly bitter at being excluded from the PA�s �foreign� leadership club. Barghouti and his comrades attribute what they call the tyranny and corruption in the PA to the �outsiders.�
IN THE PAST, THE TANZIM HAStaken action against the PA. In 1998, for example, the Tanzim launched the �Intifada of the Prisoners� calling for the release of security prisoners from Israeli jails. When PA police prevented Tanzim activists of the Balata refugee camp in Nablus from marching on the nearby yeshivah at Joseph�s Tomb in support of the prisoners, enraged militants stormed the PA�s Nablus police headquarters and tried to set it on fire. Officers fired on them, leaving dozens injured.
In the Wye River Memorandum signed between Israel and the PA in October 1998, Arafat promised to confiscate all illegal weapons. On returning to Gaza, he put the PA�s Military Intelligence chief, Gen. Musa Arafat, a relative and an �outsider,� in charge of disarming the Tanzim. Musa Arafat�s men raided the Tanzim HQ in Ramallah searching for illegal arms. In response, Barghouti and thousands of his supporters demonstrated outside the Military Intelligence headquarters in town. When they threw stones and empty bottles, security agents opened fire, killing 18-year-old Wasim al-Tarifi. In the end, no weapons were confiscated.
Other attempts to confiscate the Tanzim�s weapons have been similarly ill-fated. A stand-off with activists in Balata last year also ended in failure for Arafat. The militants kept their weapons.
Now, Israel is again calling on the PA to disarm the Tanzim.
�We act as an organized military force,� says Jihad Alami, 26, a Tanzim activist from Nablus. �We will never agree to lay down our arms. These are legitimate weapons used to defend our people against Israeli aggression.�
So far, Tanzim leaders have been careful not to attack Arafat personally. And the Tanzim is sometimes described as Arafat�s errant child. But some Palestinians warn that the organization is beginning to raise its head too much. Arafat, they note, will soon have to decide what to do about it.
Palestinian Affairs
|
 |
|
© The Jerusalem Report 1999-2001 |  |