Despite threats, and sometimes worse, against Arafat's critics, more voices are joining the chorus calling for the aging terrorist to step aside.
A conference of senior Fatah officials discussing reforms in the P.A., such as holding the first parliamentary elections in 15 year, was interrupted when pro-Arafat gunmen supporting burst in and opened fire toward the stage. Nobody was injured, but the meeting's participants disbanded.
Former Commander of the P.A.'s Gaza Preventative Security Forces Mohammad Dahlan is the latest to come out against Arafat, his former boss. "Yasser Arafat is stepping on the corpses of the Palestinians," Dahlan told a group of Jordanian magazine editors yesterday. Dahlan also told the Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan that the millions of dollars in international aid given to the PA was squandered and that "no one knew where it had all gone."
Israel Radio reported that Arafat's bureau was "shocked" at Dahlan's statements.
Journalists criticizing Arafat have come under attack recently. Adli Sadek, a columnist for the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, said he received death threats at his home in Khan Yunis after calling for an end to corruption in the PA. The publisher of that same newspaper, Nabil Amr, formerly a prominent PA official, was shot and wounded in Ramallah two weeks ago after he criticized Arafat in a television appearance.
In a related development, Arab terrorists kidnapped three volunteers from Ireland, Great Britain and the U.S. in Shechem (Nablus) yesterday. The captives, members of the US-based Union Church, were engaged in teaching English to Arab students. They were released after two hours, when Arafat reportedly promised the kidnappers that they would receive support for themselves and jailed members of their terror group. Two weeks ago, four French citizens were kidnapped in Gaza and later released after Ahmed Qurei withdrew his resignation as Prime Minister.
In Jenin yesterday, members of the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade destroyed the inside of the building housing the office of freshly-appointed mayor, Kadura Moussa. Local Al Aksa chief Zakaria Zubeidi publicly claimed responsibility for the ransacking of the office, claiming that the Arafat-appointee refused to pay members of his terror group their salaries. Moussa, who was appointed Tuesday, said that supporting the members of the Al Aksa Brigades was not part of his job.
The spurt of attacks on PA offices and officials is reportedly due to the fact that the PA has not been issuing the unofficial payments it has been providing to terrorists wanted by Israel for some time.
A conference of senior Fatah officials discussing reforms in the P.A., such as holding the first parliamentary elections in 15 year, was interrupted when pro-Arafat gunmen supporting burst in and opened fire toward the stage. Nobody was injured, but the meeting's participants disbanded.
Former Commander of the P.A.'s Gaza Preventative Security Forces Mohammad Dahlan is the latest to come out against Arafat, his former boss. "Yasser Arafat is stepping on the corpses of the Palestinians," Dahlan told a group of Jordanian magazine editors yesterday. Dahlan also told the Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan that the millions of dollars in international aid given to the PA was squandered and that "no one knew where it had all gone."
Israel Radio reported that Arafat's bureau was "shocked" at Dahlan's statements.
Journalists criticizing Arafat have come under attack recently. Adli Sadek, a columnist for the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, said he received death threats at his home in Khan Yunis after calling for an end to corruption in the PA. The publisher of that same newspaper, Nabil Amr, formerly a prominent PA official, was shot and wounded in Ramallah two weeks ago after he criticized Arafat in a television appearance.
In a related development, Arab terrorists kidnapped three volunteers from Ireland, Great Britain and the U.S. in Shechem (Nablus) yesterday. The captives, members of the US-based Union Church, were engaged in teaching English to Arab students. They were released after two hours, when Arafat reportedly promised the kidnappers that they would receive support for themselves and jailed members of their terror group. Two weeks ago, four French citizens were kidnapped in Gaza and later released after Ahmed Qurei withdrew his resignation as Prime Minister.
In Jenin yesterday, members of the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade destroyed the inside of the building housing the office of freshly-appointed mayor, Kadura Moussa. Local Al Aksa chief Zakaria Zubeidi publicly claimed responsibility for the ransacking of the office, claiming that the Arafat-appointee refused to pay members of his terror group their salaries. Moussa, who was appointed Tuesday, said that supporting the members of the Al Aksa Brigades was not part of his job.
The spurt of attacks on PA offices and officials is reportedly due to the fact that the PA has not been issuing the unofficial payments it has been providing to terrorists wanted by Israel for some time.