Widlanski/Media Line: ARAFAT INSISTS DFLP LEADER AND ARMS DEALER NOT IN
CUSTODY

By Michael Widlanski Friday, May 03, 2002

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Friday that two senior Palestinian
officials who had been besieged with in his office have now been released
from British custody in Jericho where they had been taken with four men who
carried out the murder of an Israeli cabinet minister.

"They are sitting in an office like me and you-honored and respected-and
they have complete freedom of movement," said Arafat in an exclusive
interview with Arab Satellite television channel Al-Jazeera.

Arafat was referring to Fouad Shoubaki, the primary arms purchaser of the
Palestinian Authority (PA) and Ahmad Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine, the organization which carried out the
assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehav'am Ze'evi last year.

Shoubaki engineered several major arms shipments to the PA including the
transfer from Iran of the Karinne A arms ship-with explosives, grendades and
missiles-that Israel seized on the high seas several months ago. Arafat at
the time denied any involvement, but granted Shoubaki safe refuge in his
office.

The four DFLP men who had carried out the murder of Minister Ze'evi in
Jerusalem became the target of a massive Israeli man hunt, and they fled
north to Ramallah where they hid inside Arafat's headquarters along with
arms dealer Shoubaki and DFLP head Sa'adat.

Israel had placed Arafat himself under house arrest, demanding that all six
be turned over to Israel. As part of a complicated diplomatic deal, the four
murderers were "tried and convicted" in a short show trial inside Arafat's
offices.

They, along with Shoubaki and Sa'adat, were transferred under British
custody to a Palestinian jail in Jericho this week. Israel subsequently
removed its siege of Arafat.

Arafat sentenced the four murderers to terms ranging from one to 18 years
"for offenses against the interests of the Palestinian people" but Shoubaki
and Sa'adat were never tried or convicted, though Sa'adat freely admitted to
planning Ze'evi's murder.

"These two men have not been convicted. One is the leader of the second
organization inside the PLO," said Arafat referring to Sa'adat.

"Let's get this clear: there are not six men under arrest," said Arafat.
"There are four and two. The two are free and respected."

An official in the Israeli prime minister's office said that he doubted that
Arafat's statement was true. "I can't believe it's true," he said, and he
hinted that Arafat was trying to cover up the embarrassing handover of the
six men to British custody.

"The letter from Powell sets out all six by name and does not refer to a
differentiation of status," said the Israeli official, referring to the
letter from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that sealed the deal
removing the siege on Arafat's office and the jailing of the six
Palestinians.

The Media Line made several attempts to get an official response from Prime
Minister Sharon's office to Arafat's comments, but officials declined to
make themselves available for comment.

© 2002 Michael Widlanski
Michael Widlanski is senior analyst at The Media Line and lecturer at The
Rothberg School of the Hebrew University. Fuller versions of his articles
are available at www.themedialine.org