This is an expanded version of an article which appeared in "Yediot
Aharonot", 14.4.98
 

                       THE A-SHERIF AFFAIR
                         Tanya Reinhart

THE A-SHERIF AFFAIR IS SYMPTOMATIC TO THE TYRANNY OF ARAFAT'S RULING SYSTEM.  IT IS POSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND THE SILENCE OF THE PALESTINIAN OPPONENTS OF OCCUPATION.  BUT THE ISRAELI LEFT IS OBLIGED TO SPEAK UP.

The story of the end of the terrorist Muhi A-din A-Sherif exposes
the way the PA operates, and its relations with the Israeli secret
services. Their cooperation on A-Sherif's case has started at the
end of December 1997.  Roni Shaked reports in "Yediot" that at that
time, the Israeli security forces arrested Abdalla al-Bakri, in whose
home in Al-Bira A-Sherif was hiding. The information obtained in his
interrogation, was passed on to the Palestinian forces, who raided
the house. But A-Sherif has managed to escape before they arrived
(1).

This cooperation is in the spirit of the security agreement between
Israel and the Palestinian authority, signed in the 17th of December
1997, under the auspices of the head of the Tel Aviv station of the
CIA, Stan Muskovitz. The agreement commits the PA to take active care
of the security of Israel - to fight "the terrorists, the terrorist
base, and the environmental conditions leading to support of terror"
in cooperation with Israel, including "mutual exchange of information,
ideas, and military cooperation" (clause 1). The PA is committed also
"to take all necessary security steps to penetrate the terror
organizations and act to destroy them from the inside" (clause 13)
(2).

Based on many pieces of information that appeared in the Israeli media,
it is possible to obtain a pretty clear picture of what has happened
next (though most reporters do not draw the conclusions from the facts
they report):  In the end of March, Gibril Rajub's "preventive
security" forces have finally managed to arrested A-Sherif.  They
interrogated him, most likely using heavy torture. Then they shot
him.  To cover up the traces, they staged, on Sunday, 29.3 at 9 pm,
an explosion in a garage near Ramallah, where his body was then found.
Based on the information obtained in his interrogation, they arrested
that same day several Hamas activists who have been in touch with
him, including Rasan Adasi, a student of Beir Zeit University.  There
is no evidence that Israeli forces were physically involved at any
stage of this operation (though they were involved in the investigation
of the explosion- see (7)).

In Israel, the event was warmly greeted.  In a meeting with Arafat,
on Friday, 3.4, Ami Ayalon, the head of the Israeli shabak (secret
service) has publicly thanked Arafat for his help in preventing
terrorist bombings (3).  In the government meeting on Sunday 5.4,
Ayalon announced that "Arafat is doing his job - he is fighting terror
and puts all his weight against the Hamas" (4).  However, in the
occupied territories, news about the PA's role could be explosive,
particularly if the truth comes out about murdering a detainee after
interrogation.  It seems that the original intention was to present
the event as an accident which took place while preparing explosives.
This is the common cover-up used in previous Israeli-PA "elimination"
operations, as in the case of Kamal Kahil, killed in an explosion
in Sheik-Raduan in Gaza, in April 1995.  But things got out of hand
when the PA pathologist Dr Jalal Jaabri told the family of A-Sherif
that he found bullets in his body, which indicate that he was killed
prior to the explosion.  For a day or two, while working on an
alternative cover-up, Rajub was spreading rumors that it was Israeli
security forces who killed A-Sherif, and then brought his body to
the garage in Ramallah.

Finally, Rajub has found a solution, familiar from colonel-ruled banana
republics.  In a press conference on Monday, 6.4, he announced that
it was A-Sherif's own organization (Az-a-din al-Kassem - the military
wing of the Hamas) who killed him. The specific version for that day
(destined to change many times since) was that the murderer is Aadel
Awdalla, head of the organization in the west bank, and his motive
was power conflict over leadership.  Rajub even provided as "evidence"
a written confession of Rasan Adasi (detained the day of the
explosion), who presumably took part in the planning, and eye-witnessed
the whole things, together with two other Hamas activists who,
miraculously, were also detained the same day (5).  We probably won't
know if 19 years old Adasi was tortured, as Hamas sources say, or
he agreed to a deal to save himself from a fate similar to A-Sherif's.
(His lawyer is still not allowed to meet him). In any case, his written
confession is the only evidence for this absurd plot.  As several
Palestinian sources have pointed out, it is indeed a record that
Rajub's forces have managed to arrest three of the four suspects at
the very day of the crime, of which they presumably knew nothing before
9 that night, when the explosion took place. (The PA insists that
they did not even know it was A-Sherif's body when they found it.)
In the days to come, the major suspect has changed (from Aadel Awdalla,
to his brother, Imad, who got arrested) and the motives as well keep
changing daily.

Israeli security sources first expressed skepticism towards this new
development.  - the seams looked too shaky, and it looked like the
story could not be possibly sold in even a semi free society.  "The
PA is taking a dangerous move.  Tomorrow someone would want to talk
to the detainee that confessed, and to verify his version" - said
a source to "haaretz" (6).  "Haaretz" also pointed out that in the
history of Hamas, there has never been internal executions over any
conflict, (except for those accused of collaboration). The security
sources recommended sticking to the original version of an explosive-
accident.  As for the devastating evidence of the pathologist, they
proposed that there were bullets in the exploded car, so they could
have accidentally flied straight to A-Sherif's chest during the
explosion (7).  Bullets, at least, can't talk.

But under the tyrannic rule that Arafat and his gang have established
in the territories, anything goes.  Every attempt to reach the truth
is silenced brutally.  Dr Jaabri, the official pathologist of the
PA, was fired, arrested, and released a statement denying his previous
findings (before it was decided they could be useful again in the
new plot) (8).  The Hamas leader Dr Rantisi, who hinted in an interview
with 'Jerusalem Post' at the role of Rajub in the affair, was called
for investigation (before he was permanently arrested, on April 9th.)
The Palestinian journalist who interviewed him was forced to publish
a denial, like in Stalin's days.  For quite a while now, the
Palestinian press can only print what the PA approves of, and to make
sure nothing undesirable leaks to foreign press, Reuters agency in
Gaza was closed for 3 months, and the five Palestinian reporters of
Reuters were detained until they signed an obligation "not to cause
fanatic unrest"(9).

Now that all is under control, the road is open for a wave of arrests
of leaders of the political wing of Hamas, which has started this
week.  Israeli "security sources" have changed their tune.  Now they
are calling on Arafat to expand his oppression of the civil sections
of the Hamas, and remind him of the clause in the security agreement
that requires destroying the "environmental conditions", i.e. the
social infra structure and the political opposition, and not just
the military sections. "I am pleased with the process that started"
said defence minister Mordechai - "The only thing that bothers me
is how long and how intensive it would continue" (10)

                                *       *         *

Faced with the blatant daily violations of civil rights, and the
corruption of Arafat's ruling system, the opponents of the occupation
find themselves in a dilemma:  The PA does not consist only of the
corrupt rulers and the various security forces.  The elected
Palestinian council, which operates under endless restrictions, is
the only representative political framework that the Palestinian people
still have.  Without it, all that is left is the brutality of the
combined security forces.  On the one hand, those who denounce the
corruption of Arafat's rule find themselves in the same camp as the
Israeli government that demands to restrict even further political
freedom in the territories.  On the other, if we keep silent, the
combined security forces will continue to destroy the social basis
for political resistance, thus establishing the autonomy plan we have
always dreaded:  Brutal occupation aided by 'village councils' that
leaves the land and the economy at the hand of the occupiers, and
frees them from the burden of policing the camps of the occupied.

The Palestinians opponents of occupation have taken an oath of silence
and restraint towards the PA.  This is so, since political resistance
is extremely difficult, given the tyranny of Arafat's rule, and a
militant struggle may lead to the next holocaust of the Palestinian
people - a civil war in which the nation slaughters itself.  The
Palestinians pursue their long-lived strategy of 'zumud'.  It has
helped them survive the Israeli rulers.  Now it applies to the new
brand of local oppressors.

But this oath does not commit the Israeli opponents of occupation.
The Israeli left is obliged to speak up. What enables the horrors
of Arafat's rule is only the Israeli occupation.  Without it, the
Palestinians would have replaced Arafat in a democratic process.
The Israeli left should declare day and night that Arafat, Rajub,
and their oppressive ruling arms are not our partners in the struggle
against occupation.
 

=====
(1) Roni Shaked, "The escape route of the murderers"  Yediot Aharonot's
weekend supplement, 3.4.98.
(2) Translated from the Hebrew text, 'haaretz' 25.12.1997.
(3) "Yediot Aharonot" 5.4.98
(4) "Haaretz,  6.4.98, p. A4
(5) "Haaretz, 7.4.98, p. A2
(6) "Haaretz", 7.4.98 p. A1-2.
(7) Danni Rubinstein "A mystery that did not exist" Haaretz, 3.4.98.
(8) "Haaretz", 7.4.98, P. A2
(9) According to Basam Id, "Haaretz", 12.4.98, p. A8.
(10) "Haaretz" 14.4. 98 p. A10.