MIDDLE EAST: An adviser to the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was gunned down in a street ambush in Gaza City early yesterday, fuelling fears of growing lawlessness in advance of a mooted unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, writes Nuala Haughey in Jerusalem
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing of Khalil Al-Zaben (59), which appeared to be part of internal Palestinian fighting and power struggles in Gaza City.
The Palestinian Authority has been weakened by more than three years of Israeli- Palestinian fighting, and armed gangs, included gunmen with ties to Arafat's Fatah movement, are increasingly controlling the streets in the territories.
There are concerns that the proposed Israeli evacuation of most of the Gaza Strip's settlements could lead to chaos there, with Islamic militant groups vying for power.
Mr Arafat denounced the killing of Mr Al-Zaben as a "dirty assassination" and convened his cabinet and national security council yesterday to discuss what is seen as a serious challenge to the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Al-Zaben was an adviser to Mr Arafat on issues relating to non-governmental organisations and the publisher of a monthly Palestinian Authority-funded magazine, Al Nasra (The Bulletin), which covered human rights issues.
He is the most prominent Palestinian to be killed in the internal fighting and power struggles in Gaza City, which are accelerated by frequent Israeli raids that Israel says are intended to pre-empt Palestinian militant attacks, but which have also crippled the Palestinian security services.
Mr Al-Zaben was struck by 12 bullets as he left his office in the Sabra neighbourhood shortly after midnight. Palestinian officials have not commented on a possible motive, however some reports indicated that the assailants may have had ties to Fatah.
Mr Al-Zaben, an Arafat loyalist, had made enemies in Gaza by filing detailed reports to Mr Arafat about activities of various factions, one official was reported as saying. Last week, he distributed a leaflet in which he denounced "gangs of professional killers and assassins," whom he held responsible for a recent non-fatal attack on a local Fatah politician that the journalist believed was carried out for internal reasons.
The shooting is the latest in a string of violent confrontations in the territories. Armed gangs, often elements of militant groups fighting Israel and sometimes linked to security organisations themselves, have been behind a sharp rise in robbery, extortion, abductions and murder.