7 Detained After Group Protests Arafat’s Regime

Palestinian security forces Sunday arrested a group of professionals and intellectuals who issued a scathing petition accusing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s regime of “tyranny, corruption and injustice.”

Five people were arrested and two others placed under house arrest, according to families and officials.

They were among 20 academics and lawmakers who called on their fellow Palestinians to “confront tyranny, corruption and injustice.” They complained that Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority, was allowing their homeland to be sold out and their people to be terrorized, humiliated and exploited. The 13 members of the group who were not detained face possible reprisals as well.

Most of the members of the group, some of whom belong to Arafat’s Fatah organization, are known for their opposition to the peace deals signed by Arafat and Israel, which they argue give too many concessions to the Israelis.

Arafat has little tolerance for criticism and frequently cracks down on dissidents, according to human rights activists. Corruption in his regime is rampant and is a frequent target of a small number of critics struggling to hold their government accountable.

Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a senior aide to Arafat, defended the arrests, saying the criticism was unacceptable and that the signatories to the petition had “strayed from the national path.”

In its petition, the group said a cabal of Arafat’s supporters is profiting from the peace process while most Palestinians languish in poverty, bereft of social, health and educational institutions.

“Alarm bells should ring in every village, city and refugee camp, and everywhere there is a store, a house, an office,” the petition said.