ARAFAT ARRESTS TOP HAMAS LEADERS, MEETS WITH CIA.Byline: Ron Kampeas Ron Kampeas is the Washington, D.C. bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), "responsible for coordinating coverage in the U.S. capital and analyzing political developments that affect the Jewish world. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. With top Hamas leaders under arrest and consultations with the CIA CIA: see Central Intelligence Agency. (1) (Confidentiality Integrity Authentication) The three important concerns with regards to information security. Encryption is used to provide confidentiality (privacy, secrecy). under way, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appeared Saturday to be making the hard choices the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and Israel have been demanding. Arafat met with a delegation of senior CIA officials who arrived in Gaza to discuss ways to boost security measures Noun 1. security measures - measures taken as a precaution against theft or espionage or sabotage etc.; "military security has been stepped up since the recent uprising" security against Muslim militants. The militant Islamic group Noun 1. Islamic Group - a clandestine group of southeast Asian terrorists organized in 1993 and trained by al-Qaeda; supports militant Muslims in Indonesia and the Philippines and has cells in Singapore and Malaysia and Indonesia Hamas has claimed responsibility for four suicide bombings since Feb. 25 in Israel that have claimed the lives of 57 victims and threatened the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords. The CIA visit comes ahead of the international anti-terrorism summit planned Wednesday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. President Clinton, his Russian counterpart Boris Yeltsin and numerous European and Middle Eastern heads of state will attend. In a leaflet, Hamas said that it had "decided to resume the martyrdom attacks against the Zionists" and that a crackdown by Arafat would "destroy completely any understanding or future agreement" between Hamas and the PLO PLO abbr. Palestine Liberation Organization PLO Palestine Liberation Organization Noun 1. PLO . The leaflet, circulated Saturday in Gaza, condemned the summit as "an international conspiracy against the struggle of the people and an attempt to save the Zionists from defeat." Arafat had been seeking political accommodation with Hamas until the recent spate of bombings, hoping they would become a legitimate opposition party and would abandon their aim of destroying Israel. Since the bombings, however, he has accused Hamas of trying to "kill the Palestinian dream" and promised tougher action. That came Friday night with the arrest of 12 Hamas activists in Gaza, including one of its founders, Ibrahim Yazouri, and another leader, Mohsen Abu Aita. These were the first such arrests since Arafat consolidated his leadership in January elections. In addition, Palestinian security boss Jibril Rajoub was forced to resign Friday because he refused to carry out Arafat's orders to arrest Hamas leaders, a well-placed Palestinian source said. Israel Army radio Israel Army Radio (Hebrew: גלי צה"ל, Galey Tzahal, lit. IDF Waves), commonly known in Israel by its acronym Galatz ( said Arafat was unhappy about Rajoub's intelligence-gathering activities following the attacks in Israel. His supposed successor, Hussein Sheik, confirmed the report, but Rajoub denied it. Arafat's office was not immediately available for comment. "I received an order from Yasser Arafat to hold the job instead of Jibril Rajoub," Sheik told the Associated Press. But Rajoub said, "I am still in charge of preventive security in the West Bank and I have no problems whatsoever with Arafat." Sheikh sheikh or shaykh Among Arabic-speaking tribes, especially Bedouin, the male head of the family, as well as of each successively larger social unit making up the tribal structure. The sheikh is generally assisted by an informal tribal council of male elders. is the security head in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He was described by an Israeli security source as a moderate. Rajoub, deported in 1988 as a key organizer of the Palestinian uprising, was closely identified with Arafat's triumphal return to the Gaza Strip in July 1994. He also has maintained close ties with the Hamas leadership, and has a brother who is a Hamas leader in the West Bank city of Hebron. Arafat was left little choice but to act, with Israel promising to take up the slack if he didn't, observers said. |
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