Amnesty demands PFLP chief's release; new PA cabinet meets
AMIRA HASS and AMOS HAREL
Ha'aretz, 14 June 2002
The Palestinian Authority must release the leader of a radical Palestinian faction that claimed responsibility for the killing of cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi in October, the human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement Thursday.
Ahmed Sa'adat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian, was imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority as part of a U.S.-brokered deal that ended a 34-day Israeli siege on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters on May 1.
As part of the agreement, Sa'adat and five other Palestinians have been confined to a jail in the West Bank town of Jericho since then, under supervision of U.S. and British wardens.
Last week, a Palestinian court in Gaza ruled Sa'adat must be released, because no charges had been brought against him. The Palestinian Cabinet overrode the court decision the same day.
In its statement, Amnesty called on the Palestinian Authority to abide by the court's decision to release Sa'adat immediately. It also called on Israel to "publicly guarantee that Ahmed Sa'adat will not be subjected to any extra-judicial measures, including assassination."
Because of their involvement in the arrangement, Britain and the United States should "ensure that the Palestinian Authority and Israel respect Ahmed Sa'adat's rights," Amnesty said in the statement.
New PA cabinet meets
Arafat held the first meeting of his reshuffled cabinet Thursday, one day after Israel lifted its latest military siege of his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
In a speech at the opening of the cabinet session, Arafat
said he was committed to pursuing Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking despite more than 20 months of bloodshed between the sides.
Arafat said that the new cabinet must "guarantee the restructure of the ministries and institutions of the Palestinian Authority to be more efficient." Second, he said, is to "rebuild the damages caused by Israel's escalating aggression."
He also said that that Palestinian election date will be set within the next few days. "The municipal elections will be held as soon as possible and legislative and presidential elections will be held in either December or January," Arafat said.
The meeting was preceded by a ceremonial swearing-in of the five new ministers in the cabinet, who each approached Arafat, who was seated at the head table, put their hands on a copy of the Koran and swore allegiance to the Palestinian Authority.
Arafat has pledged to consolidate at least nine Palestinian security services and to hold new elections by early 2003 as part of the reforms called for by Palestinian lawmakers, the United States and Israel.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades behind Herzliya bombing
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades on Thursday claimed responsibility for Tuesday's suicide bombing in Herzliya in which an Israeli teenager was killed.
The organization, a military wing of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, said in a statement that Tuesday's attack was "in retaliation for the daily incursions by the occupation forces against the cities, towns, villages and refugee camps".
It identified the suicide bomber behind the attack as 30-year-old Omar Zayadeh, who is married with a young daughter.
Zayadeh killed 15-year-old schoolgirl Hadar Hershkowitz and wounded eight people when he blew himself up after ordering a bottle of water at the fast food restaurant.