OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Electronic-Intifada: The men who are selling Palestine
David Hirst, the veteran correspondent for The Guardian, reported in 1996 on fears in Yasser Arafat's entourage that the Israelis would turn the Palestinian security forces against the Palestinian leader. According to Hirst, a Palestinian official said that the Israelis had so "penetrated" the security forces "that some of its leaders now depend on them at least as much as they do on Arafat. The time is coming when the Israelis decide that Arafat - who argues too much - has served his purpose." The official told Hirst that, "the Israelis are grooming Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas], one of the secret negotiators of the Oslo accord, to take Mr. Arafat's place, and that they will count on Muhammad Dahlan, head of Preventative Security in Gaza, to lead the putsch."


Spiegel: Arafat und Abbas einigen sich im letzten Moment
Die Krise um die Bildung einer neuen Palästinenser-Regierung wurde in letzter Sekunde entschärft. Präsident Jassir Arafat und der designierte Ministerpräsident Mahmud Abbas haben sich nach wochenlangem Machtkampf auf ein Kabinett geeinigt.