Skip to main content /WORLD
CNN.com /WORLD
SERVICES
CNN TV
EDITIONS



Sharon says he doubts PFLP leader's arrest

Radical Palestinian groups react with anger

Sa'adat
A Palestinian stands in front of a poster of Ahmad Sa'adat at Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah on Wednesday.  


JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday he had seen no proof the Palestinian Authority had actually arrested a man Israel believes is behind the killing of a Cabinet minister in October.

The Palestinian Authority said it had arrested Ahmad Sa'adat, the secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Tuesday night near Bethlehem.

In reaction to the arrest, the radical Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced they would no longer honor a cease-fire called by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on December 16. In statements sent to news agencies, both vowed to launch new attacks on Israel.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Arafat's Fatah organization, called for renewed attacks on Israel because of Sa'adat's arrest as well as in retaliation for the death Monday of popular Fatah leader Raed al-Karmi.

Israel Radio reported more than 1,000 Palestinians demonstrated against the arrest in Ramallah.

Israeli security officials said there had been an upsurge in reports of planned terror attacks.

VIDEO
CNN's Mike Hanna reports on the the tension between Palestinians and Israelis following the death of a Fatah leader (January 15)

Play video
(QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)
 
EXTRA INFORMATION
In-Depth: Mideast struggle for peace 
 

Israel has pressed for Sa'adat's arrest, blaming him for planning the assassination of Rechavam Ze'evi, a Cabinet minister gunned down at an East Jerusalem hotel in October. The PFLP said it assassinated Ze'evi in retaliation for the killing of a PFLP leader by Israel.

Sharon cast doubts on the report of the arrest, saying the Palestinian Authority had continually failed to make arrests and to dismantle terrorist organizations in the Palestinian territories.

"Right now we have not seen any arrests whatsoever," said Sharon. "We have not seen those arrests, and that is one of the major problems, because if they would arrest and [do] interrogation, and if the terrorist organization would have been dismantled and the weapons would have been confiscated and serious steps [had been taken] to implementation, that would have changed the situation."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said if the Palestinian Authority had arrested Sa'adat, it is doubtful they would hold him.

"As far as the so-called arrest of the leader of the PFLP in Ramallah, the Palestinians have shown over the last several months that they are using arrest or so-called arrests as a revolving door policy," said Mekel.

"These arrests are not serious and it will take a lot more than a Palestinian press release to convince us or to convince anybody else in the world that this terrorist is indeed under arrest."

Since early December, the Israelis have prevented Arafat from leaving his compound in Ramallah until he ordered Sa'adat's arrest and three others they said were involved in Ze'evi's death. In one high-profile incident, Israel refused to allow Arafat to attend Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem.

Arafat's confinement came after Israel retaliated for Palestinian suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Haifa and destroyed Arafat's helicopters.

Arafat has come under increasing pressure from the United States, Israel and Europe to crack down on terrorists in territory under Palestinian control since a string of attacks last month that killed more than 30 Israelis. The terror bombings prompted the Israeli Cabinet to cut ties with Arafat and sanction retaliatory strikes.

On Tuesday, the Izz Eddin al-Kasam Martyrs Brigades, the militant wing of the Islamic group Hamas, threatened to launch new attacks inside Israel if the travel restrictions on Arafat were not lifted.

Soldier
A soldier guards an ambulance carrying the body of an Israeli killed Tuesday in the West Bank.  

After al-Karmi's death Monday in a Tulkarem explosion, four Israelis have been shot to death in the West Bank.

In the latest incident, an Israeli Arab was found dead in his bullet-riddled car Wednesday morning near the West Bank settlement of Sanur.

The man was identified as Shadeh Dades, 30, who lived in Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighborhood and was delivering medical supplies.

Israel Radio quoted security sources as saying Dades' killers probably believed he was Jewish because he had yellow Israeli license plates on his car.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the killing of an Israeli soldier Monday afternoon.

It was also suspected in the killings of an elderly settler shot to death near Bethlehem and an Israeli woman shot and killed Tuesday on her way to a wedding north of Jerusalem.



 
 
 
 


RELATED STORIES:
RELATED SITES:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

WORLD TOP STORIES:

 Search   

Back to the top