Gunmen Kill Chief of Palestinian TV Network

Masked gunmen dashed into Gaza City’s seaside Beach Hotel in broad daylight Wednesday and executed the chief of the Palestinian television network, a well-connected but unpopular official close to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

Israel immediately denied any link to the gangland-style hit.

Whoever the assassins turn out to be, the killing of someone so close to Arafat sent a chilling message throughout Palestinian society and reinforced a profound sense of insecurity and fear.

Palestinian police said Hisham Miki, executive director of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., fell dead in the hotel’s restaurant after two gunmen pumped repeated rounds into his chest and head before escaping in a waiting car.

The slaying came amid a spate of Israeli assassinations of Palestinian militants and Palestinian killings of accused collaborators, all part of the brutal conflict that has roiled this region for the last 3 1/2 months and destroyed once-promising prospects for a definitive peace.

While some Palestinian officials publicly suggested an Israeli role in Miki’s death, Palestinian security officers were instead focusing their investigation on corruption allegations involving Miki’s lucrative business dealings. He may have been the victim of a political or personal vendetta, several Palestinian sources said.

“All possibilities are open,” said a spokesman for Mohammed Dahlan, the security chief in the Gaza Strip.

Miki ran the official television and radio broadcasting company that Israel blames for inciting Palestinians to deadly violence during the latest intifada, or uprising. Acting directly on Arafat’s orders, Miki used the broadcasts to show virtually nonstop coverage of the violence, including extremely gory footage of killings and clashes, nationalist songs and plenty of anti-Israel rhetoric.

The Palestinian Authority issued a statement saying that Miki was “martyred” by “the bullets of traitors and collaborators.” The language implies Israeli participation. But Miki was an unpopular man with many enemies.

Blood, Bullet Holes Mark Area of Attack

Police swarmed the hotel shortly after the killing, trying to close it off from journalists and other onlookers. Inside, a pool of blood had formed near the table where Miki had been sitting, his chair turned as if he had seen his attackers approaching. The red-and-white tablecloth was askew, and a half-full glass of tea remained. Fifteen bullet holes could be counted in green curtains on a window just behind Miki’s table, the spot where he customarily lunched.

Miki’s bodyguard, who doubles as his driver, wasn’t present at the time of the shooting and was later detained for questioning, police said.

“The guy did not have a very good reputation,” Ghassan Khatib, a prominent Palestinian analyst in Jerusalem, said about Miki. “I never heard good things about him on the professional level or on a performance level.”

For some Palestinians, Miki was a symbol of the kind of corruption that has riddled Arafat’s regime. Entrepreneurs have frequently denounced having to pay off officials or the police to open factories and other businesses. Senior associates of Arafat have been implicated in a range of shady deals, including smuggling and money laundering.

Miki and his wife were arrested by Palestinian authorities more than a year ago and accused of trying to embezzle an estimated $2 million and deposit it abroad. They were freed after Arafat’s intervention.

There was speculation that Miki’s slaying was a message from more radical Palestinians to the authorities, a warning that it is time to cleanse the regime of its more corrupt elements. The Palestinian Authority has lost much of its credibility while more militant elements of Arafat’s Fatah movement are in the ascendant.

Miki was also known to have a taste for the high life, something that doesn’t sit well with radical Islamists who are particularly influential in Gaza.

The media chief, 54, was frequently seen greeting Arafat upon his return from trips abroad or sitting next to him at Friday prayers. Most recently, he was taped greeting Arafat as he returned from Tunisia last week. In the footage, Arafat appears not to want to shake Miki’s hand, and then Miki whispers something into his ear.

His power came from his control of Palestinian broadcasting, a position given to him by Arafat. He oversaw a staff of dozens at Palestinian TV, founded in 1994, and the Palestinian Satellite Channel, which has been broadcasting since last year.

Palestinian police chief Ghazi Jabali called Miki a “hero” for his handling of the television network. “Only a traitor has an interest in killing him,” Jabali told reporters. “Media is half the war, and by his genuine efforts he changed the media fight to a military fight.”

Israel took the unusual step of swiftly denying responsibility for Miki’s killing. Israeli forces in recent weeks have assassinated an estimated 20 Palestinian militants that Israel accuses of directing or ordering armed attacks on Israelis. But in most of those cases, the Israeli army either confirmed its role or declined to comment.

“From our point of view, he is not a target. He is not a terrorist,” said an Israeli security official who has worked extensively with the Palestinians. “We do not like what they put on TV, but even that has been reduced lately. Israel has no reason to want to harm him.”

Killing Occurs as Collaborators Targeted

During the first intifada against Israeli military occupation in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, the reigning chaos became a convenient cloak for numerous nonpolitical murders, including the settling of scores and religion-inspired punishments.

Wednesday’s slaying also comes amid a crackdown by Palestinian authorities on collaborators accused of aiding Israel in its assassinations of Palestinian militants. Two were given a snap trial and publicly executed Saturday, and two more suspected collaborators have turned up dead.

The Palestinian government has said the executions should serve as a lesson to collaborators but has also offered amnesty to those who turn themselves in within the next six weeks.

Meanwhile, although efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have sputtered in the last few days, Arafat met late Wednesday with Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami in the Egyptian presidential palace in Cairo.

Special correspondent Fayed abu Shammalah in Gaza City contributed to this report.