From Occupied Palestine

The price of democracy
GRAHAM USHER
al-Ahram Weekly, 12-18 May 2005

Fatah got more seats than Hamas in local elections in the occupied territories last week but Hamas won the contest, writes GRAHAM USHER in Salfit

"In the past the only Palestinian politics was Fatah politics. But now the situation is changing. People are more educated and we understand it's not enough to vote out of loyalty. One should vote for parties that have the power, the will and attitude to change things," said Halimi Omar Mattar, a 22 year-old engineering student, outside a school in Salfit.

Third parties
GRAHAM USHER
al-Ahram Weekly, 3-9 March 2005

Jerusalem -- On 25 February a Palestinian suicide bomber killed five Israelis and wounded 50 others outside a nightclub in Tel Aviv. It was the first attack inside Israel since 1 November. It also brought to a close the period of calm that followed Mahmoud Abbas's ceasefire declaration at the Sharm El-Sheikh summit on 8 February.

Calm is relative of course. Since 1 November, 170 Palestinian men, women and children have been killed by Israeli army and settlers. Twenty-five have been slain since Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (AMB) announced a de facto moratorium on military operations on 23 January.

'We are at war'
GRAHAM USHER
Al-Ahram Weekly, 1 December 2004

There are some - including in his Fatah movement - who see Yasser Arafat's death as an opportunity for change. Not so Zakaria Zubeidi, leader of the Al-Aqsa Brigades in the northern West Bank. GRAHAM USHER spoke with him in Jenin

Jenin -- On 15 November the Israeli army ended a two-week long incursion into Jenin. Nine Palestinians were killed, including four civilians, 25 wounded and 25 arrested. One arms cache was found. It is the third morning of the Muslim Eid Al-Fitr feast, the fifth after Yasser Arafat's death. Jenin is a ruin of shell-cratered roads and lampposts flattened by tanks. As the Israelis drive out, we drive in - looking for the same man.

Refuge is prison for hunted Palestinian
MOLLY MOORE
Washington Post, 23 August 2004

Jenin Refugee Camp, West Bank -- Israeli F-16 fighter jets roared lower and lower in the summer sky, and Zakaria Zbeida broke out in nervous tics: He twisted a short, black curl on his forehead round a finger, he jiggled his right knee, he sent a neighborhood boy out for another red and white pack of L&M cigarettes.

Aksa leader: Intifada is in its death throes
MATTHEW GUTMAN
Jerusalem Post, 6 August 2004

It's not so much what Zakariya Zubeidi, the fugitive leader of the West Bank Aksa Martyrs Brigades, says, but how he says it. Zubeidi speaks in the vacant tones of a ghost.

Palestinian parents' nightmare in Nablus
AMIRA HASS
Ha'aretz, 1 August 2004

Five minors from Nablus have been arrested in recent months, suspected of having been sent to carry out attacks of some kind - two boys and three girls aged 15 and under. Nobody is able to control the youngsters being recruited for suicide missions.

Palestinian fighters torch government buildings in Jenin
MOLLY MOORE
Washington Post, 1 August 2004

Jerusalem, 31 July -- Palestinian fighters set fire to two Palestinian Authority buildings in the northern West Bank city of Jenin early Saturday, accusing officials of collaborating with Israel, according to the group's commander.

And thanks to the IDF
AMIRA HASS
Ha'aretz, 28 July 2004

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade gunmen are very helpful to the IDF when it goes to kill them. In direct contradiction of any guerrilla logic, they roam the streets armed, even though they know very well that army troops are going in and out of the cities at will, that camouflaged soldiers could pop up anywhere and there are collaborators everywhere.

Arms in a sea of troubles
AMIRA HASS
Ha'aretz, 23 July 2004

In Nablus, for every armed activist fighting the IDF, there are five who use their guns for internal disputes. And now, there are growing calls for reform.

An unusual scene played itself out on Saturday near the temporary premises of the governor in the Rafidiyeh neighborhood in Nablus. A group of Palestinian Authority security personnel, most of them armed, were guarding the place and looked suspiciously at anyone who approached. Israel Defense Forces units enter Nablus every day and do not allow Palestinian security personnel to go around in uniform, never mind with their weapons. Indeed, experience teaches - and an Israeli military source confirms - that soldiers in the West Bank have orders to shoot any Palestinian bearing arms. But on that day, armed Palestinian intelligence and Force 17 personnel stood around openly at the entrance to the governor's headquarters for hours. It was a time of emergency.

Arafat faces generational crisis
ILENE R PRUSHER
Christian Science Monitor, 21 July 2004

A Palestinian power struggle is epitomized by the young man who runs Jenin

Jenin -- Zakaria Zubeidi was preparing a bomb two years ago when it blew up, leaving his anger written all over his face in the form of small black pockmarks.