Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed Palestinian legislation defining Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Qurei said.
Qurei said Arafat decided to sign the two-year-old bill Saturday in response to a demand by the U.S. congress that Jerusalem be recognized as Israel's capital.
The Palestinian Legislative Council is due to meet Sunday to discuss the US legislation, a move that has been strongly condemned by Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Israel's military intelligence chief said Arafat's followers are trying to prevent "terror" attacks inside Israel. Speaking to the Israeli TV, Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash said that Fatah movement and its affiliated Tanzim organization were not carrying out attacks beyond the West Bank and Gaza Strip, occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, and were pressuring other groups to follow their example.
"Not only are Fatah and the Tanzim not doing this," Farkash said. "Top people in the Palestinian Authority are starting to take up the issue with Hamas and Islamic Jihad to stop their operations."
Farkash's comments were not an official policy statement and appeared to contradict Sharon and other right-wing politicians, who have been highly critical of Arafat's alleged role in "terrorism."
Arafat himself denounced the attacks in an interview published Saturday by Al-Hayat newspaper. "We are the ones who decide as a leadership," Arafat said. "Neither my military honor nor our Islamic religion accept the killing of a woman in the street or at a cafe, or a civilian man or a child, or in a university."
But he denied having condemned attacks on soldiers or settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
On the ground, a Palestinian resident of Jenin was shot and seriously wounded by Israeli fire during a curfew Saturday, Israel Radio reported.
In the Gaza Strip, Hamas claimed responsibility for explosives that went off in the path of an Israeli military patrol Saturday. Israel's military said no one was hurt in the blast near the Israeli settlement of Nisanit. Hamas said the explosion was "the first in a series of attacks" meant to avenge Israel's unsuccessful Sept. 26 attempt to kill Hamas military wing leader Mohammed Deif. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
