NEWS STORIES1. AL-AQSA BRIGADES WARN ARAFAT: REFORM OR BE REMOVED
Sources in the Palestinian Authority’s governing Fatah movement are threatening to remove Yasser Arafat and the rest of the PA leadership if they do not immediately implement widespread reforms to end corruption, Ma’ariv reported Sunday citing a 20-page document attributed to the Arafat’s own terrorist faction, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
The document requests the firing of all ministers and senior officials involved in corruption and demands the establishment of a truly democratic government. It also publicly questions for the first time the hegemony of the Arafat-led PLO leadership that has dominated the Palestinian nationalist cause for forty years.
"It is necessary to weigh anew whether the PLO is still the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” the pamphlet states, threatening to start an “internal intifada.”
"The time of punishment has arrived. It is no longer possible to operate in the old way and to continue to rule," it said.
In Ramallah, Saturday Palestinian Justice Minister Nahed al-Rayes announced his resignation over the continued state of lawlessness throughout the territories while a second minister Nabil Qassis, also quit to take up the post of President of Bir Zeit University.
According to The Jerusalem Post, both men have previously expressed frustration over the failure of the PA to implement reforms.