26 get job offers, not jail, in Gaza


By Dan Ephron, Globe Correspondent, 5/13/2002

GAZA CITY - The Palestinian Authority, in a move likely to infuriate Israel, has told the 26 Palestinians transferred last week from the Church of the Nativity to the Gaza Strip that they could have jobs in any government bureau, including the police and security agencies, members of the group and officials said.

The secretary general of Fatah in the Gaza Strip, Ahmed Hellis, also told the men - accused by Israel of taking part in attacks on the Jewish state - that they could serve as salaried fighters in Gaza's Tanzim militia.

Since the men's arrival Friday from a 39-day siege in Bethlehem, Palestinian officials have lodged them in two seaside hotels, taken them to shop for new clothes at the authority's expense, and given them each a cellphone.

Over the weekend, large delegations from each government ministry visited the hotels to welcome the group and hear about the ordeal in Bethlehem. Dozens of uniformed police and armed security officers roam the hotels and mingle with the men.

''We feel like heroes,'' said Zaid Mahmoud, a 20-year-old member of the group from the Dahaishe refugee camp, sitting in the dimly lit lobby of the al-Quds hotel in Gaza.

''They all offered us jobs, each of the security chiefs we met. The other officials said we could work at whatever ministry we choose,'' Mahmoud said.

Four other members of the group confirmed the offers, as did a Palestinian security official. Another veteran of the church siege, Moussa Shaabat, said the group had made a collective decision to stay together, whether as employees in one of the ministries or as security officers.

Most of the men are residents of Bethlehem and its environs who took refuge in the church on April 2, the fifth day of Israel's West Bank invasion. Israeli soldiers besieged the Church of the Nativity for 51/2 weeks, saying the group inside included wanted fugitives and insisting they come out and face trial in Israel.

Under a deal brokered last week by American and European mediators, including CIA officers, 13 of the men were sent abroad, initially to Cyprus, and 26 were exiled to the Gaza Strip.

An official in Jerusalem said late yesterday that the deal did not require Palestinians to put the 26 on trial but that Israel did expect them to be incarcerated. The main points of the agreement published on the Israeli army's official Web site said the men made a commitment not to return to violence.

''We were expecting them to put these guys in custody. It wasn't demanded but this is what was expected,'' said Raanan Gissin, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's media adviser, adding that Israel would seek their extradition.

''This just proves the Palestinian security agencies are completely contaminated by terrorism,'' he said.

Israel has produced no evidence linking either the 13 exiles or the 26 men sent to Gaza to attacks on the Jewish state. Army statements released during the siege mentioned some of them in connection with specific bombings or shootings without disclosing the source of the information.

Some of the men in Gaza made thinly veiled references to their involvement in attacks.

Mohammed Khlif said he belonged to the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade in the Bethlehem area, a Fatah offshoot behind many of the suicide bombings. He described his activity with the militia only as ''military in nature'' but others in the group said Khlif was among the gunmen who fired regularly on Gilo, a neighborhood of Jerusalem that extends entirely into the West Bank.

Khlif, 24, has not seen his wife and two young children since the siege began. He said he hoped Israel would allow his family to leave the West Bank and live with him in Gaza.

''That's my biggest concern right now. I'm not worried about work,'' he said.

Khlif said it was his first time in Gaza, which is separated from the West Bank by Israeli territory. Palestinians need Israeli permission to cross from the West Bank to Gaza but permits have been scarce since fighting erupted 19 months ago.

Mahmoud, dressed in new black jeans and a black dress shirt, was also a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade. ''I carried a gun and I was involved in the resistance,'' he said. ''The Fatah leader here told us we could join the group here as full-time fighters.''

Mahmoud, who is not married, said he was trying to persuade his parents to move to Gaza, if Israel would allow it. He said he was surprised by Gazan hospitality.

Gaza, a coastal strip of land that Israel captured from Egypt in the 1967 Six-Day War, is smaller and poorer than the mostly hilly West Bank. Home to more than a million Palestinians, it is among the most crowded strips of land on earth.

Gazans poured out of their homes Friday to cheer for the 26 men as they made their way by bus from the border with Israel to Gaza City. Since then, their hosts have provided a constant supply of food and cigarettes.

This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 5/13/2002.
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