Arafat Apologizes for Police Raid on Arab University

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat apologized Friday for a police raid of a West Bank university campus that set off widespread protests against his government.

“This was a mistake and I hope you will forgive it,” Arafat told 500 people in the courtyard of An Najah University, standing in the same spot where his security forces fired tear gas and clubbed students last weekend.

“The Palestinian Authority supports the sanctity of the universities,” Arafat said. “Perhaps mistakes were made here and there, but we all make mistakes.”

The raid was part of a crackdown on Islamic militants during which Palestinian police arrested more than 900 followers of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups. The arrests were in response to a recent wave of suicide bombings in Israel.

Arafat fired the Nablus police chief Thursday and promised to set up special security guards for universities in an apparent attempt to avoid further friction.

Islamic Jihad members said Friday that police arrested their leader in the Gaza Strip, Sheik Nafez Azzam, a physician from the Rafah refugee camp. Azzam was summoned to police headquarters Thursday night and had not returned, the group said.

While continuing the crackdown, Arafat renewed his contacts with Hamas in hopes of persuading the group to stop its attacks on Israel, said Riad Malki, a Palestinian opposition figure.

Hamas’ military wing, Iziddin al-Qassam, said in a leaflet Friday that it will not begin talks until all prisoners have been released and Arafat publicly apologized “for his ugly crimes.”

Talks were suspended after the Jan. 5 assassination of the chief Hamas bomb maker, Yehiya Ayash, in an operation widely attributed to Israel.