TROUBLE mounted for the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, yesterday as his police force placed the town of Tulkarm under curfew after violent demonstrations. A young man was killed in shooting.
Separately, the Israeli government formally indicated that it would be expanding Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.
In Tulkarm, officials said that hundreds of demonstrators stormed a prison and freed a number of activists belonging to the militant Islamic group, Hamas.Furious though Mr Arafat was over the latest evidence that the Netanyahu government is sticking to its hardline pro-settlement principles, the Palestinian leader was preoccupied yesterday with the new outbreak of violence in one of the West Bank towns he now controls.
On Thursday, thousands of Palestinians had denounced the Palestinian Authority during the funeral in Nablus of a detainee, Mahmoud Jemayal, who was tortured to death by Mr Arafat's security forces. Yesterday, hundreds of people rioted in nearby Tulkarm.
Reports of exactly what took place were confused and contradictory. But it seems that, early yesterday, rumours spread in Tulkarin that several Hamas detainees, held by Mr Arafat's authority in the local jail were being tortured, and that one might even have died.
Relatives of the prisoners gathered at the jail, and there were clashes with Mr Arafat's police force. According to some reports, one man was killed and two were badly injured when the police opened fire on the crowd. Mr Arafat's officials claimed, however that the fatal shots were fired by Islamic militants.
There were also reports that up to 10 of the prison inmates were set free by relatives who stormed the prison, and that Mr Arafat's forces were last night trying to recapture them.
In Jerusalem, a government Israeli spokesman made clear that no new settlements would be established without further cabinet discussion. But yesterday's decision means 3,000 settlement homes kept empty by the previous government will now be made available to new settler families.
It also paves the way for a resumption of the settlement drive that was interrupted four years ago when the Rabin government began the peace process with the PLO. Currently 150,000 in number, the settlers aim to double that figure in the next four years and thus to immensely complicate any final accord with the Palestinians.
Mr Arafat's spokesman condemned the Israeli decision, noting that the issue of settlement was supposed to be resolved through negotiation. There was criticism too from other Arab and American sources the US administration regards the settlements as an obstacle to peace and is likely to reduce financial assistance to Israel as a consequence of the resumed settlement drive.