Palestinian Militants Attack Official in West Bank City

The acting governor of the northern West Bank city of Jenin was seized, beaten and briefly held prisoner Saturday by Palestinian militants, witnesses and officials said.

The daylight attack, on the eve of a scheduled meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, appeared to be the latest manifestation of an increasingly chaotic power struggle among Palestinians loyal to Yasser Arafat and those who support the U.S.-backed Abbas.

It was also a reminder of the power wielded by Palestinian militant groups in cities like Jenin, where neither the Israeli army nor Palestinian security forces are regularly patrolling the streets.

Both Abbas and Sharon are to meet in the next nine days with President Bush in Washington -- Abbas on Friday, and Sharon on the following Tuesday -- to try to advance the peace initiative known as the “road map.”

Israel says Abbas’ government must crack down on militant groups to pave the way for any significant movement forward, while Palestinians say they first need to see a gesture of Israeli good faith, such as a large-scale prisoner release.

But in diplomatic circles, it is the off-and-on struggle between Abbas and Arafat that is causing the greatest concern.

In Jenin, witnesses said the governor, Haidar Irsheid, was set upon and beaten bloody in the center of the city, then dragged to the adjoining refugee camp, which is a stronghold of Palestinian militant groups.

He was held for about five hours by the local branch of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia linked to Arafat’s Fatah faction, and then freed on Arafat’s orders, according to a local leader of the group, Zakariya Zubeidi.

Zubeidi told the Reuters news agency that the governor was seized because he had ordered a crackdown on the group.

“He sent his men to shoot at members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and tried to assassinate others,” Zubeidi said.

Israeli news reports, however, cited senior Palestinian sources as saying that the Palestinian Authority president had authorized the abduction.

Irsheid, who was photographed after the incident with cuts and bruises, declined to speak with journalists.

The abduction drew an expression of concern from the Palestinian Authority information minister, Nabil Amr.

“This is very regrettable,” he said after a meeting of the Palestinian Authority Cabinet in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “Those responsible will be punished.”

Abbas’ planned trip to Washington highlights tensions between his camp and that of Arafat. The Bush administration has been trying hard to prop up Abbas, most recently with infusions of direct aid that bypass Arafat.

However, American and Israeli attempts to isolate Arafat have met with mixed success. Sharon was rebuffed in his efforts last week to dissuade European envoys from meeting with Arafat.

Abbas’ meeting with Bush ostensibly comes with Arafat’s blessing. But Abbas once promised to stay away from the White House until Arafat, who is confined to his Ramallah headquarters, is free to travel.

The militant groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas -- which have had big differences with Arafat of their own in the past -- denounced Abbas for failing to stand by his pledge.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been generally abiding by a unilateral cease-fire declared June 29. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, however, has been divided over the truce, with the strongest opposition being expressed by branches in the northern West Bank.

Under the peace initiative, Israel is to gradually hand over security control to Palestinian forces throughout the West Bank. The hand-over already has taken place in parts of the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Jenin has been mentioned as the next possible site.

Although Israeli troops still encircle Jenin, they do not regularly patrol the city’s center or the refugee camp. With no Palestinian police presence yet established in the city, many residents fear that the power vacuum will trigger disorder.