Gunned down

Yesterday gunmen shot and killed Moussa Arafat, 65, a prominent former Gaza security chief and cousin of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, reports Khaled Amayreh

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A file photo of slain Security Chief Moussa Arafat surrounded by bodyguards during his handover ceremony in Gaza in July 2004

Palestinian sources in Gaza said dozens of gunmen, armed with automatic rifles and anti-tank grenades, stormed Moussa Arafat's home in downtown Gaza City shortly before dawn, shooting him dead after a brief exchange of fire with his guards.

"They stormed his home, dragged him outside and shot him in the street," said one eyewitness.

The Popular Resistance Committees -- an umbrella organisation of various resistance groups -- claimed responsibility for Arafat's killing, saying he was liquidated because he was a "traitor and a symbol of corruption".

Hamas, the powerful Islamic resistance group, said it had nothing to do with the killing of Arafat.

In the mid-1990s, Arafat led a harsh campaign against Islamic activists throughout the Gaza Strip, arresting and in some instances torturing Hamas leaders, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the movement's founder and spiritual leader, and his deputy Abdul- Aziz Al-Rantisi, each of whom was assassinated by Israel in Gaza in 2003.

Some Hamas officials, speaking off the record, charged that Arafat "may have been implicated" in their assassination, as well as those of other leaders and commanders of the resistance.

He escaped several attempts on his life, including one in August 2003 when he was slightly injured. In October 2004, he survived a car bomb that exploded in his convoy.

Following Moussa Arafat's death, the Palestinian Authority (PA) held an emergency session to discuss deteriorating security conditions in the Strip. A statement issued before yesterday noon condemned the killing, describing it as "an attack on the Palestinian government and polity".

The statement vowed to apprehend and punish the perpetrators, adding that the killing of Arafat would strengthen Palestinian resolve to uphold the rule of law and put an end to chaos and lawlessness permeating throughout the Strip and to lesser extent in the West Bank.

However, Gaza journalist Saleh Naami told Al-Ahram Weekly that Arafat was more of a liability than an asset for the PA. "He was much hated throughout Gaza, he was viewed as corrupt and embezzler, and people embodying the corruption of the authority," said Naami.

Naami added that there was widespread popular disenchantment in Gaza over the PA failure to stem the tide of corruption, especially among elements affiliated with the PA.

"People who have lost their sons during the Intifada are seeing these corrupt elements leaping forward to reap the fruits of the martyrs' blood. This causes a lot of anger and bitterness and the PA doesn't pay sufficient attention to this," said Naami.

Arafat was a founder of the ruling Fatah movement and senior official in its Revolutionary Council, its top policy-making body. He was fired by PA President Mahmoud Abbas in early 2005, ostensibly in connection with corruption charges.