Jenin camp is angry as Arafat turns away

By Charles M. Sennott, Globe Staff, 5/14/2002

JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank - A crowd of several thousand Palestinians stood in the burning midday sun here yesterday atop the acres of rubble left by the recent Israeli invasion and waited for their leader, Yasser Arafat, who never came.

Arafat turned away from the camp at the last moment, after his advisers sensed a potential political ambush in a place that last month was seen as a militant stronghold. Yesterday, the mood was one of rising dissatisfaction with Arafat's leadership.

It was a day of mixed reviews for Arafat, as he set out in a helicopter supplied by the Jordanian government for his first tour of the West Bank, following the lifting of a six-month siege of his compound that left him under virtual house arrest by Israeli forces. Arafat received warmer receptions from smaller crowds in Bethlehem and Nablus, but faced his toughest audience in Jenin.

Accompanied by aides who appeared to be propping up the 73-year-old leader, Arafat stepped gingerly onto the mountain of broken concrete slabs, twisted reinforcing rods, and shattered homes at the edge of the refugee camp, only to turn back and depart.

A waiting crowd of about 3,000 residents surrounded a wooden stage that had been hastily built for his visit to the site of some of the heaviest fighting in the 19-month-old Palestinian uprising. Human rights workers have said that at least 30 fighters and 20 civilians were killed here during last month's Israeli assault.

Arafat's aides said he left because of the large crowds and the threat of unexploded bombs left around the camp, but critics said the leader cut short his stop because he didn't want to face criticism over his leadership.

"A president who cannot protect his people should not rule," said Abdullah Nasharte, 42, an electrical engineer. "The people around him are corrupt thieves. And now he doesn't even dare set foot here."

The disappointment at Arafat's sudden departure could be felt everywhere through the camp.

"I am very angry," said Abdullah Issaid, 34, a construction worker whose house was destroyed by Israeli bulldozers during a brutal battle here. "As a leader he should have come here and put his feet on the ground with us, here where we were pounded by bombs. It's not enough that all the Arab leaders abandon us, now he, too, is abandoning us."

The siege around Arafat's headquarters appeared to boost his popularity among many Palestinians, who viewed the Israeli action as part of a larger attempt to dismantle the Palestinian leadership and undermine their aspirations for statehood. On May 2, Arafat regained his freedom after he agreed to hand over six Palestinians to US and British supervision.

The Jenin refugee camp is home to about 15,000 residents. Most of the families arrived here while fleeing Israeli troops during the 1948 war. A UN official at the scene said that at least 500 homes were destroyed during last month's Israeli assault that also left about 2,000 people homeless.

The Palestinian leader, who is often referred to by his nom de guerre " Abu Amr, " Arabic for "Father of Construction," is still widely seen by Palestinians, even those who criticize his leadership, as the embodiment of their long struggle. The criticism in the camp was often tempered with support.

Karima Bakleezey, 64, a mother of eight children and 24 grandchildren and a refugee from 1948, leaned on a wooden cane waiting for Arafat to arrive and angrily banged it against a broken slab of concrete as she spoke.

"The Israelis destroyed our homes with their bombs and helicopters," said Bakleezey. "But we remained steadfast. They destroy us, and we rebuild. ... Abu Amr knows this; he knows our struggle."

Asked why Arafat did not attend the rally, Fayez Arafat, commander of the Palestinian National Security Police in Jenin, said: "He is an old man. He cannot walk in the ruins. It is unsafe because there are mines and explosives in the rubble." Then he added, "He is also exhausted."

Some of Arafat's aides acknowledged that he feared a political backlash from the crowd. As news spread that Arafat was not coming, two camouflaged helicopters rose in the sky carrying Arafat and his aides. They made one circle around the camp surveying the damage.

"You lied to us," a man shouted at the sky, calling Arafat by an obscene name.

When a reporter approached, an armed Palestinian Authority police officer grabbed the man by the arm and escorted him from the crowd, saying, "He has no name."

Another man, Ibrahim Mustafa, angrily rolled up a banner that read, "Our Battle Continues Until Victory" and left it in the trash. He stomped away from the gathering. "I have no banner; it flew away with that helicopter," he said.

A more violent episode reflected the deep divisions that some observers believe are developing within Palestinian society over Arafat's leadership. Two armed members of Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia loyal to Arafat, sought out a man in the crowd and publicly berated him for criticizing Arafat.

One of the militamen, who camp residents said was named Nidal al-Bedoui, suddenly pulled out a handgun and shot the unarmed man, Hassan Hamdan, in the leg and then fired at least six more shots in the rubble and in the air, sending the crowd scurrying for cover. Hamdan was taken to a nearby hospital.

During his West Bank tour, Arafat stressed the emergence of a Palestinian state, only hours after the central committee of Israel's right-wing Likud party voted never to accept such an idea, a move that drew Arab condemnation and threatened to derail US-brokered peace talks.

Arafat began his tour with a visit to Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, where a five-week armed standoff ended last week. That visit was followed by a stop in Nablus.

"To Jerusalem we are headed," a defiant Arafat told a crowd in Nablus, in the northern West Bank. "Jerusalem is the capital of our independent state of Palestine, never mind who agrees or does not."

Arafat's decision last week to end the siege in Bethlehem by agreeing to the deportation of 13 Palestinian militants to Europe and the exile of 26 other fighters to the Gaza Strip was seen by critics as an unforgivable concession.

"He has less support after agreeing to the deportation," said Saher Saadi, 40, a community leader in Jenin. "We should be demanding the right of return, not expelling people. It is a big mistake, what he did in Bethlehem. I don't think he realizes how angry people are."

This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 5/14/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.