A general strike Wednesday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip challenged the legitimacy of the 14-member Palestinian delegation selected to go to Madrid for the peace conference with Israel next week.
The strike was called by Hamas, the Moslem fundamentalist movement active in the intifada, which favors armed struggle over negotiations.
Although many who observed the strike said they closed their businesses out of fear rather than identification with the dissidents, it seems clear that the Palestinians remain divided on the peace issue.
Gunfire was exchanged Tuesday night in the Jenin refugee camp between elements of Hamas and loyalists of Al Fatah, the Palestine Liberation Organization faction headed by Yasir Arafat. It supports the peace conference, although PLO members were excluded at Israel’s insistence.
Public demonstrations against the conference were urged this week by Hamas, and by two PLO breakaway groups opposed to Arafat — the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
About 20 Arab women, most of them widows or mothers of men killed in the intifada, staged a sit-down strike outside the East Jerusalem home of Faisal Husseini, a leading advocate of the conference.
Husseini, whom the Israelis ruled out as a negotiating partner, will head a six-member advisory panel that will accompany the Palestinian delegation to Madrid and act as liaison between the delegation and the PLO.
The Palestinian delegation plans to leave Sunday for Amman, Jordan, to coordinate with the Jordanian delegation that will serve as its umbrella in the peace talks with Israel.
BUILDING OCCUPIED IN MOSLEM QUARTER
One member, Sameh Cana’an, a former terrorist from Nablus, may have trouble leaving. Yigal Carmon, the prime minister’s adviser on terrorism, said Tuesday that Israel would again investigate Cana’an.
Cana’an said he conformed to all of Israel’s demands with respect to the Palestinian delegates. He is not a resident of East Jerusalem, a member of the “Palestinian diaspora” or a member of the PLO.
Jewish settlers, meanwhile, carried out another provocative act when, with fanfare and ceremony, they occupied another building in the Moslem Quarter of the Old City.
It will house 10 students of the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva, which has been expanding rapidly in the Old City with the blessings of Housing Minister Ariel Sharon and right-wing and religious circles.
The yeshiva claims the building was owned by Jews 100 years ago and repurchased from Arab owners through a fund-raising drive.
It is next door to the heavily guarded apartment purchased some years ago by Sharon.
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