[With thanks to Aaron Lerner of IMRA for posting the enclosed article]

12 September 2002

The Fatah faction, President Yasser Arafat’s movement, denied last Tuesday that it had approved a draft document calling for a halt to attacks on Israeli civilians which was published in full in the Ha’aretz newspaper. According to media reports the draft was achieved during talks with European Union mediators.

West Bank Fatah leader, Hussein al-Sheikh, said his organization had reservations about the draft and explained that the document had not yet been finalized. Sheikh said the statement on a possible cease-fire had been worked out in lengthy talks with the EU but there was as yet no final agreement between the various wings of Fatah.

“We have not agreed on a final status for the statement but negotiations are continuing,” he told AFP. “We told the Europeans that we had reservations about the document and we had to finalise internal debate before reaching concensus,” he added.

“No date was set for the release of the document” Sheikh said. He said any halt to attacks on Israeli civilians would only be implemented “on the condition that Israel stops its assassinations and its assaults on our lands and people.”

Hani el Hassan, Fatah’s newly appointed General Secretary in the West Bank and Gaza, said “Fatah will continue its legitimate resistance against Israeli occupation until we achieve our independence.” However, we reject attacks against the civilians he added.

The Details of the document, the latest in a series of EU mediated truces drafted over the past few months, was leaked on Tuesday, a day after Arafat said he opposed attacks against civilians. However the document did not express opposition to attacks against Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers living in the lands occupied in the 1967 war -the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Fatah said last month it was opposed to all such attacks in accordance with the higher interests of the Palestinian people and with their moral values. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group within Fatah, has attacked Israeli targets since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000. It has rejected previous attempts by moderate Fatah officials to end its attacks.

Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razaq al-Yehya, who is in charge of the Palestinian security forces, has publicly called for all Palestinian factions to halt all attacks against Israelis, saying they undermined the Palestinian cause. A Western diplomat said: “This text corresponds to what the majority of Fatah members think, including the Al-Aqsa Martyrs, but it’s true that it has been released too early. www.jerusalem-times.net/article/news/details/detail.asp?id=1994

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