Police and security officials are investigating the possibility of a connection between this morning’s ambush attempt on the life of former Mayor Rashid Shawa of Gaza and yesterday’s murder of Deib Tsmaeil el Arbitti, an opponent of Shawa who had been mentioned as a possible mayoral candidate.
The gangland-style murder of Arbitti was the first political murder in Gaza in several months. The victim was taken from his home by three ginmen before dawn yesterday. His bullet-riddled body was found near a wall about a half mile away.
Shawa suffered slight hand wounds when two bursts of automatic fire struck his red limousine while he was driving from his home to a citrus-packing plant in the Gaza Strip. He said later that he believed his attackers were Arab terrorists. Shawa was removed from office by Israeli authorities last year when he refused to extend municipal services to refugee camps in the Gaza area.
On the day of his removal, Arbitti, a former Gaza court clerk, was elected chairman of the local council of the El Shatti refugee quarter which had just been incorporated into the Gaza municipal council. It was believed that terrorists murdered Arbitti as a warning to all other candidates not to collaborate with Israeli authorities. Arbitti was the father of ten. His funeral yesterday was attended by thousands of Shatti quarter refugees.
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