PLO Cracks Down, Arrests Islamic Extremists in Gaza

JERUSALEM —  The Palestine Liberation Organization struck back Monday at Hamas, the Islamic extremist group that has endangered the PLO’s self-government agreement with Israel by carrying out bold shooting attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers.

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat ordered Palestinian police to arrest Hamas activists after the group claimed responsibility for killing an 18-year-old Israeli and wounding six others in attacks Sunday.

Police made overnight sweeps through the Gazan communities of Deir al Balah and Khan Yunis; they arrested more than a dozen suspected Hamas members Monday, Palestinian sources said. Mahmoud Azar, leader of Hamas in Gaza, and his spokesman, Muhsan abu Tahaha, were called in for questioning.

“Our Cabinet met all last night to take up measures that will take the perpetrators to justice and will prevent and preempt operations like this from happening in the future,” Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian Authority planning minister, said in an interview with Israeli army radio. “We recognize very much that security here is our responsibility, and we are taking it very seriously.”

The crackdown won immediate praise from Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who warned before the arrests were announced that Hamas’ attacks jeopardized Israel’s negotiations with the PLO on extending self-government throughout the West Bank.

“It is inconceivable we will continue the process without seeing on the part of the Palestinian Authority a serious effort to deal with those terrorist elements who are known for claiming responsibility for carrying out terror,” Rabin told reporters after touring the area at the Kissufim junction in Gaza where Hamas gunmen opened fire twice Sunday on Israeli cars.

The attacks underscored a fundamental dilemma facing Arafat as he seeks to consolidate his administration’s authority in Gaza and Jericho and to persuade Israel that the PLO can keep the peace throughout the West Bank, one Israeli official said Monday.

“It is difficult for the Palestinians to arrest their own people, and I can understand that,” said Health Minister Ephraim Sneh, a confidant of Rabin, in an interview with The Times. “It is difficult for our own soldiers to arrest our own people--such as settlers in the territories--when they have to do that.”

Arafat has handled Hamas gingerly since returning to Gaza last month to personally supervise the Palestinian administration’s establishment there and in Jericho.

Gaza is a stronghold of extremist Islamic movements, and many Gazans are quietly sympathetic with their attacks on Israeli settlers, soldiers and police.

There have not been definitive estimates of Hamas’ membership, though it may run into the hundreds; Israeli officials, however, said Monday that not more than 50 Hamas members are actively engaged in attacks on Israelis. But the PLO agreement with Israel to pursue and apprehend anyone who carries out such attacks is widely unpopular.

Shaath, in an interview Sunday night on Israeli television, acknowledged that the Palestinian Authority has found it difficult to disarm extremist elements. “It must be done in the proper political atmosphere,” he said.

But Rabin, under pressure himself from rightist political parties who on Monday declared the agreement with the PLO a failure that is endangering Israeli security, insisted that Arafat act.

“We do not see a serious effort on the side of the Palestinian Authority to deal with those who not only politically oppose the agreement (but) who try to destroy it, sabotage it through terror activities against Israelis,” he said at his news conference. “We are demanding from the political and the security forces of the Palestinian Authority to carry out their jobs.”

To increase pressure on Arafat, Israel postponed the planned opening Monday of safe passages that will enable PLO officials to travel on certain Israeli roads from Gaza to Jericho without being stopped and searched by Israeli security forces. Rabin also said the pace of negotiations to quickly transfer five areas of authority to the Palestinians in the territories--health, taxation, education and culture, social welfare and tourism--would slow unless Arafat responded.

Shaath and Maj. Gen. Danny Rothschild, coordinator of activities in the territories for Israel, met at the Erez checkpoint Monday, on the border between Gaza and Israel, to resume talks on transfer of more authority to the Palestinians.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres is to meet Wednesday in Egypt with Shaath for further talks. Shaath has expressed hope that Israel will transfer the five areas of authority under discussion by the month’s end, but Israeli officials said Monday that they doubt negotiations will be completed so quickly.

Israel sent more troops to guard roads linking Jewish settlements in northern Gaza with Israel and discussed with the Palestinian police better ways to jointly patrol the roads.

The Israeli who died Sunday, Ron Soval, 18, of Beersheba, was the first Israeli civilian to be killed in Gaza since Israel withdrew its troops in May from most of Gaza. But Brig. Gen. Doron Almog, commander of Israeli forces for Gaza, said there have been 39 shooting incidents since the agreement took effect.

Three soldiers have been killed in Gaza; 25 have been wounded.

The Hamas attacks Sunday were unusually bold, even for a group that has made its mark by carrying out risky assaults on Israeli soldiers and civilians. In the morning, a gunman reportedly stood beside the road and opened fire on a delivery truck and a car that was following. Two Israelis were wounded in that attack.

Less than eight hours later, another daylight attack occurred nearby: A car reportedly pulled alongside a van carrying five passengers and opened fire. Soval was killed. Three other passengers were wounded, one seriously. In both cases, the attackers escaped, reportedly to Deir al Balah. Israeli soldiers pursued to the outskirts of the community, then waited for the Palestinian police to respond.

“What happened was expected. Depending on the Palestinian police for our security is a big mistake,” said former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, speaking Monday to Israeli army radio. Sharon, who opposes the PLO accord, has said he will run for prime minister in Israel’s next elections. “It is inconceivable that the government will continue with the negotiations while the Palestinians continue to attack us.”

Hamas issued a statement Sunday saying it attacked the Israelis in revenge for the killing on Friday of two of its members in Jerusalem by Israeli security forces. Israeli police said they had thwarted a Hamas plan to attack border police guarding Sharon’s house in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City; they also said they had uncovered and broken up what was described as one of Hamas’ deadliest cells.