NP - Palestinian Moderate Leader's Home Shelled

[calbert at tiac.net]

David Morris:

> AMALLAH, West Bank, May 22 — Reporters traipsed through the master
> bathroom of Jibril Rajoub's house today, getting a highly unusual
> glimpse of a Palestinian security chief's whirlpool bath and shampoo
> collection. The marble floor was still littered with the brown glass
> that blew from the windows when Israeli tanks' shells struck on
> Sunday.
> 
> Pushed for details, Mr. Rajoub revealed that he was naked and dripping
> wet when the firing began, having stepped out of the shower and run
> into his bedroom to answer the telephone. By his account, the first of
> three shells missed him by 30 seconds. All told, his house was hit
> from three sides, his armored Mercedes was destroyed, and his
> 11-year-old son's bedroom, complete with Batman rug, was left with
> bullet-pocked walls.
> 
> Israeli authorities have adamantly denied that they were trying to
> assassinate Mr. Rajoub, known as one of the more moderate and
> pragmatic Palestinian officials. 
> 
> Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said today that he accepted the
> army's explanation that troops were returning fire after "massive
> fire" was directed at them from the grounds of Mr. Rajoub's home. He
> added that the troops apparently did not know at whose home they were
> aiming their tanks, and said that he instructed the army to prepare
> better maps marking the homes of well-known senior Palestinian
> officials.
> 
> [...]
> 
> "Mine is one in a series of attacks in the last three weeks," Mr.
> Rajoub said in his gravelly voice, speaking at the ultra-modern
> preventive security headquarters where he sometimes drives his
> Mercedes right into the lobby and parks. "I think it's part of a
> policy to undermine the Palestinian Authority and make it collapse."
> 
> Some Israelis viewed the incident similarly. Akiva Eldar, a senior
> columnist for the newspaper Haaretz, said: "The shelling of Jibril
> Rajoub's house removes any remaining doubts. Ariel Sharon has decided
> to turn the Palestinian Authority into the enemy."
> 
> Mr. Rajoub added, using the nom de guerre of the Palestinian leader
> Yasir Arafat: "Abu Amar as a person, as an individual, is the most
> important element for regional stability. He who thinks to touch Abu
> Amar would push the whole region to deterioration."


Just a few comments.....

a) it seem that being a Palestinian "moderate" is a well paying 
gig.....I seriously doubt that marble floors, whirlpools, shampoo 
collections and Batman rugs are found in many palestinian homes, 
excluding, of course, those belonging to functionaries of the 
"Palestinian Authority".....

b) Do we know that Mr. Rajoub is a moderate because he doesn't 
finish his paean to Abu Amar with the words "Death to all Zionist 
pigs?"

c) If we can agree that "one man rule" for forty years is a disgrace 
in Cuba...Why is it not so in "Palestine", Syria, or even the 
"moderate" Jordan?


love,
cfa