U.S., U.K. angry over PA over supervision of terror operatives
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Officials from the United States and Britain have clashed during the past week with Palestinian Authority representatives over supervision of terror operatives being held in the PA's Jericho prison.
The Americans and British are furious about lax enforcement in the facility. The Palestinians have provided relatively comfortable conditions to the inmates, and allowed them to communicate freely with the outside world.
For more than a year, Fuad
Shubeiki, who handled finances in the PA security apparatus, and four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (the organization's secretary-general, Ahmad Sa'adat, and three men who were implicated in the murder of Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi) have been held at the Jericho facility.
The five were moved to the Jericho prison as a result of Israel's siege on Arafat's Muqata compound in Ramallah, during the Israel Defense Forces Operation Defensive Shield. U.S. officials served as mediators while the transfer was arranged.
Under the agreement, American and British officials were to have loosely defined, "external" supervisory powers, whereas substantive, "close" supervision authority would rest with Palestinian officials.
According to Israeli security sources, outgoing PA Security Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan recently eased supervision of the prisoners. The five live today in what the sources call a "revolving door" prison. A large number of their telephone calls are unmonitored, and they are apparently allowed to leave the prison periodically.
Israeli officials believe Dahlan has introduced these lax procedures in an effort to win the support of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Dahlan is worried he will be left out of the new Abu Ala government, and thus find himself in the political wilderness, the Israeli sources explain.
The Americans are concerned the Palestinians might release the five prisoners. Should they do so, the U.S. officials fear, Israel might target the five for assassination strikes - a development that could spark escalating violence.