Arafat Chafes Under the Yoke of Democracy

Never known to have a great stomach for democracy, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat looked downright bilious at the Palestinian Legislative Council meeting Wednesday as he lashed out at members who dared to challenge him publicly.

Arafat accused four of the elected legislators of belonging to the militant Islamic group Hamas and of participating in a secret plan to destroy his government. He threatened to withdraw their congressional immunity, and when another legislator came to the defense of his four colleagues, Arafat threatened him too.

“Our immunity was not lifted and will not be lifted,” said Imad Falougi, one of the four council members whom Arafat accused. “There is no legal basis for it. I do not want to read too much into what the president said, but this is a dangerous precedent.”

Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority, has pressures of his own, including concern about the future of his fledgling government in a pseudo-state under lockup.

Israel and the United States have been pushing him to crush the Hamas political movement, including its military wing, in retaliation for a series of suicide bombings that began Feb. 25 and left more than 60 dead.

Since rounding up more than 800 suspected Hamas activists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the last six weeks, Arafat has come under increasing criticism from Palestinians who say he is too heavy-handed and risks civil strife.

Now Arafat says he has discovered that Hamas secretly declared war on the Palestinian Authority a year ago from Jordan, a country supposedly at peace with Israel and the Palestinians.

None of this is increasing Arafat’s enthusiasm for the open and often prickly exercise of democracy.

Since the 88-member council began meeting with him in February, Arafat has stormed out of one session in disgust, closed the doors to the press during another and, on Wednesday, threatened the legislators.

The flap began when a letter from Arafat’s prosecutor general, Khaled Kidra, was read at the council meeting.

It accuses the four members of incitement for having assailed Palestinian security services at a news conference in Gaza on Tuesday.

At the news conference, the legislators criticized the sweeping arrests and accused the police of torturing prisoners and keeping them under inhumane conditions.

The four legislators are considered to be close to Hamas. Falougi is a former member of Hamas who ran for the council on the slate of Arafat’s Fatah organization--a slate that was handpicked by Arafat.

Hamas reportedly distributed a leaflet at the news conference urging Palestinian police to disobey their commanders’ orders to crack down on the group.

Kidra said that the legislators had acted irresponsibly in their denunciation and that such actions should not go unpunished.

In response, a fifth council member, Abdel Jawad Saleh of Ramallah, said Kidra’s letter was inappropriate and should be withdrawn from the minutes of the meeting. After many members raised their hands in support, Arafat blew up.

“Why should it be withdrawn? They acted wrongfully and should be made accountable for their action,” Arafat said.

“Who is going to make them accountable? You?” Saleh responded.

In a fit, Arafat answered: “Me. And I will you make you accountable.”

Arafat then read from what he said was an April 19, 1995, Hamas document aimed at killing peace negotiations between Israel and Arafat and replacing them with direct talks between the Jewish state and “the new authority”--Hamas.

“This is a declaration of war,” Arafat said, noting that it called the Palestinian Authority the “foe.”

“This is written in the document, and we have it from confessions. . . . There is a complete, detailed military plan with mechanisms of implementation of the confrontation,” he said.

Turning his anger on Jordan’s King Hussein, Arafat added: “The leadership of Hamas is in Amman, and orders come from Amman. . . . It arrived from Amman--from Amman!”

Then he asked rhetorically: “Do I have the right to incite against the Jordanian peace treaty” with Israel?

Hussein insists that Hamas representatives living in his country are political leaders unconnected to military activities.

Palestinian intellectuals are meeting with some of those Hamas representatives in Jordan this week to try to get the group to resume negotiations with Arafat over ending its military campaign.

The council members whom Arafat denounced, meanwhile, denied that they belong to Hamas or that they had acted against the Palestinian Authority.

“We are not members of Hamas,” one of them, Wajih Yaghi, shouted at Arafat during the council meeting.

“Yes, you are,” Arafat yelled back.

On the Voice of Palestine radio, Yusif Shanti said: “I did not enter the elections and I did not win them as a Hamas representative.”

Bureau chief Miller reported from Jerusalem, and researcher Assad from Ramallah.