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Palestinians call for people's congress
Palestinian groups have called for people's congresses to be held in all areas of the occupied Gaza Strip to end the unrest that has shaken the region in recent weeks.
The congresses should be set up with the aim of democratic reform of institutions to fight corruption and "enforce respect for the law," said the Committee of Nationalist and Islamist Forces, which links Palestinian President Yasir Arafat's Fatah and the Hamas resistance group.
The congresses would "put an end to the absurd conflict between the forces and relevant services of the Palestinian Authority," said a Committee statement released on Saturday.
The Committee also appealed for free and democratic elections, which would be the first since 1995, in advance of the prospect of a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza next year.
Last Monday the Committee called for democratic reforms, an end to anarchy and corruption and for corrupt officials to be prosecuted.
Official building stormed
Arafat faced a new challenge in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after activists from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades took over the governor's office in the town of Khan Yunis demanding the veteran Palestinian leader should sack his cousin Musa as Gaza security chief and reinstate officers who had been fired.
The police station in al-Zawaida, a village near Dir al-Balah, was burned to the ground by unidentified assailants. There were no reports of casualties and no immediate claim of responsibility.
The Brigades, an armed wing of Arafat's Fatah, have been spearheading protests in Gaza for the past two weeks against Arafat's appointment of Musa, accused of being corrupt, as the territory's security chief. The unrest started with a string of kidnappings, followed by subsequently resignations.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Quraya, who has been battling Arafat for control of the security services, also tendered his resignation last Saturday after a spate of kidnappings, but Arafat had refused to accept it.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BA2A6AA4-772D-45C5-92B0-31600BB4E179.htm
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RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat says he will accept any government changes proposed by his prime minister, as militants demanding anti-corruption reforms keep up a campaign of unrest.
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, widely viewed as a moderate voice in the Palestinian Authority, has led calls for reform and submitted his resignation to Arafat last week over the issue.
"I accept anything he presents and I have high confidence in him," Arafat, who has rejected Qurie's resignation, told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Arafat, who dismissed reports of problems between Qurie and himself, said he also welcomed a proposal by Palestinian lawmakers to replace some ministers.
Pressure has mounted on the veteran Palestinian leader since gunmen sparked chaos in Gaza late last week by kidnapping a number of Palestinian officials and foreigners and demanding Arafat reform his Palestinian Authority and security forces.
A power struggle has been brewing in Gaza in anticipation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw troops and settlers from the occupied territory by the end of 2005.
FRESH UNREST
In the latest unrest, gunmen seized a security building in the Gaza town of Khan Younis, demanding Arafat reinstate dismissed comrades and that he fire his nephew, Moussa Arafat, whom he appointed to a top Gaza security post last week.
The militants later dispersed after announcing a deal under which 11 colleagues who they said had been dismissed from security jobs by Moussa Arafat would be reinstated.
The gunmen were from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction.
Hours earlier, unidentified Palestinians torched a two-storey police station in the nearby village of al-Zawaida.
Last week, gunbattles erupted in Gaza between militants and forces loyal to Moussa Arafat, wounding 12 Palestinians.
In a sign the Gaza chaos was spreading to the West Bank this week, unidentified gunmen shot a Palestinian legislator who criticised Arafat's performance and gunmen stormed an Interior Ministry office and expelled its director.
In the latest Israeli-Palestinian violence, a Palestinian teenager was shot dead while standing on the roof of his house in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, where the Israeli army has been operating for the past few weeks in search of militants.
Palestinian security sources said he was killed when clashes erupted between gunmen and Israeli soldiers.
Israeli military sources said troops had been shot at by Palestinians but did not return fire as they could not identify the gunmen's position.
Sharon designed his Gaza pullout plan because a U.S.-backed peace "road map" has been stalled by the Israeli-Palestinian violence.
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/WireFeed/WireFeed&c=WireFeed&cid=1090429708690
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, widely viewed as a moderate voice in the Palestinian Authority, has led calls for reform and submitted his resignation to Arafat last week over the issue.
"I accept anything he presents and I have high confidence in him," Arafat, who has rejected Qurie's resignation, told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Arafat, who dismissed reports of problems between Qurie and himself, said he also welcomed a proposal by Palestinian lawmakers to replace some ministers.
Pressure has mounted on the veteran Palestinian leader since gunmen sparked chaos in Gaza late last week by kidnapping a number of Palestinian officials and foreigners and demanding Arafat reform his Palestinian Authority and security forces.
A power struggle has been brewing in Gaza in anticipation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw troops and settlers from the occupied territory by the end of 2005.
FRESH UNREST
In the latest unrest, gunmen seized a security building in the Gaza town of Khan Younis, demanding Arafat reinstate dismissed comrades and that he fire his nephew, Moussa Arafat, whom he appointed to a top Gaza security post last week.
The militants later dispersed after announcing a deal under which 11 colleagues who they said had been dismissed from security jobs by Moussa Arafat would be reinstated.
The gunmen were from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction.
Hours earlier, unidentified Palestinians torched a two-storey police station in the nearby village of al-Zawaida.
Last week, gunbattles erupted in Gaza between militants and forces loyal to Moussa Arafat, wounding 12 Palestinians.
In a sign the Gaza chaos was spreading to the West Bank this week, unidentified gunmen shot a Palestinian legislator who criticised Arafat's performance and gunmen stormed an Interior Ministry office and expelled its director.
In the latest Israeli-Palestinian violence, a Palestinian teenager was shot dead while standing on the roof of his house in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, where the Israeli army has been operating for the past few weeks in search of militants.
Palestinian security sources said he was killed when clashes erupted between gunmen and Israeli soldiers.
Israeli military sources said troops had been shot at by Palestinians but did not return fire as they could not identify the gunmen's position.
Sharon designed his Gaza pullout plan because a U.S.-backed peace "road map" has been stalled by the Israeli-Palestinian violence.
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/WireFeed/WireFeed&c=WireFeed&cid=1090429708690
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