The West Bank and Gaza Strip exploded with new violence this weekend following the assassination in Tunis early Saturday morning of Khalil al-Wazir, second in command of the Palestine Liberation Organization and leader of Al Fatah, its military branch.
Wazir also was known as Abu Jihad (father of war) and symbolized for Palestinians their armed struggle against Israel. Rightly or wrongly, they are convinced he was gunned down in a carefully planned and executed Israeli commando raid.
News of his death triggered the bloodiest weekend since the Palestinian uprising began in the territories more than four months ago. There were reports of Palestinian youths clashing fiercely with the Israel Defense Force in all parts of the territories.
At least 10 and as many as 15 Palestinians were reported killed and scores wounded by Israeli security forces on Saturday and Sunday. Details were sketchy because many localities were declared closed military zones, barred to the news media.
The IDF clamped curfews on 15 refugee camps in the West Bank; on Nablus, the largest Arab city in the territory, with a population of 100,000; and on the town of Anabta, near Tulkarm. In the Gaza Strip, the town of Abasan and five refugee camps were under curfew.
The mourning was most intense here in Gaza, where Wazir, who was born in Ramla in 1936, grew up and where members of his family still live. The city was darkened by palls of thick, black smoke rising from thousands of burning tires. Black flags and Palestinians flags were raised on many buildings here. Most Palestinians stayed home from work. Hundreds paid condolence calls at the home of the Wazir family.
Nationalist circles declared a three-day general strike in the territories and special tents were set up to accommodate throngs of mourners.
MAY REIGNITE UPRISING
The consensus in Gaza was that the killing would reignite the Arab uprising, which had seemed in recent days to be running out of steam. A ranking IDF officer remarked only last week that the general populace was showing signs of exhaustion.
The death of Abu Jihad also was a blow to Palestinian national pride, reawakened last Nov. 25, when a lone Palestinian terrorist successfully attacked an IDF base in northern Israel, killing six soldiers and wounding seven before he was killed.
Israeli authorities admit that incident gave impetus to the Arab uprising, which began two weeks later, on Dec. 9. The Israelis also insist that Abu Jihad was the mastermind of the uprising and of the most serious terrorist act of the year–an attack on a bus near Dimona in the Negev on March 7, in which two Israeli women and a man were killed.
Although Israel has not reacted officially to the assassination in Tunisia, the Israeli press seemed to share the Palestinian view that it was the work of Mossad, Israel’s secret service.
Analysts writing in local newspapers Sunday stressed that Israel had ample motivation to eliminate Abu Jihad. First, there was deterrence. Israel proved once again that it could harm Palestinians and other Arab foes thousands of miles away. Cases cited were the 1976 rescue of Israelis aboard a hijacked airliner in Entebbe. Uganda, and the 1981 bombing raid that destroyed an Iraqi nuclear facility near Baghdad.
A second motivation was to boost national morale after four months of Palestinian challenge to the IDF.
A third was to send a message to the Palestinian nationalist movement that Israel was prepared for total war against it. According to that scenario, Israeli leaders have concluded that anything is now permissable in reaction to the uprising and continued terrorist activities.
A NEW STAGE OF WAR
If it is ever proven that Israel was behind the assassination of Wazir, one of the most popular figures among Palestinians, a new stage will have been reached in Israel’s war against Palestinian terrorism.
Israeli analysts agreed Sunday that the military command of the uprising was knocked off balance by Wazir’s death. But there is little doubt he will be replaced soon, by someone equally ruthless and determined.
Yediot Achronot mentioned two possible candidates Sunday: Mohammad Afanne, also known as Abul Muatassim, who is chief of Al Fatah operations, and Abu Firas, described as one of the more daring PLO commanders.
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