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Arafat Displays Gun in Public
Yasser Arafat displayed a holstered pistol Monday ¡ª the first time he has shown a weapon in public since returning from exile in 1994, and reviving memories of the day he carried a gun into the United Nations more than a quarter-century ago.
The Palestinian leader said the gesture was an expression of anger over the blocking of a key road by Jewish settlers. The settlers' demonstration delayed his drive back to his Gaza City office after a trip to Arab countries.
More broadly, the display of the weapon reflected the deteriorating relations between Israel and the Palestinians after more than two months of clashes, in which almost 300 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed.
The settlers were protesting a decision by the Israeli military to allow a resumption of Palestinian traffic on the Salah Edin Road. The Israelis closed the road to Palestinian traffic two weeks ago after a deadly bomb attack on a school bus.
Israeli authorities cleared the settlers from the road Monday, and Arafat was able to continue back to Gaza City after a delay of more than an hour at the Rafah border crossing.
Afterward, Arafat pulled out a German-made machine pistol and gripped it by its carrying case as he passed an honor guard at his office in Gaza City. Talking to reporters, he charged angrily that the Israeli army coordinated the protest with the settlers to block his way.
``The most important thing is that right now they were closing Salah Edin Road and that is why I am carrying this,'' he said, referring to the squat weapon, partially covered with a carrying case.
The Israeli military rejected Arafat's charge that it coordinated the demonstration with the settlers. ``The settlers close roads and we clear them,'' the military said in a statement. Police detained some of the protesters after they sat down on the road to block it.
Arafat entered Gaza in triumph in 1994 after an interim peace agreement with Israel allowed him to set up the Palestinian Authority to administer parts of the West Bank and Gaza. He never stopped wearing his military-style uniform, but he did not display arms.
The machine pistol Arafat picked up Monday is one of the weapons his guards carry in his car, a bodyguard said. His decision to carry the weapon in view of reporters appeared to be a symbolic gesture, since he did not threaten anyone with it. But it showed how deep the anger and mistrust has become with the continuing violence and the absence of peace negotiations.
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