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24 Detroit Jewish News

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Licensed & Insured

DILEMMA from page 22

The Democratic Front recently
opened a computer school inside the
Askar refugee camp near Nablus, and
the Popular Front opened a medical
clinic in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem.
Officials from the rejectionist
groups may well have realized that
they have a better chance of recruiting
popular support if they provide the
Palestinian public with social services
rather than with arms to fight Arafat.
Indeed, another rejectionist group
with widespread support — Hamas
— made its dramatic debut into
. Palestinian life in the early 1980s by
opening medical clinics, kindergartens
and libraries.
The doctors running the Beit
Sahour medical clinic switch easily
from medical to political language.
No, they stress, they do not reject
peace; they only reject the Oslo accords.
"The Popular Front sees that the
best solution is one in which both
peoples can live together. This would
be a just solution for everyone," said
Dr. Majed Nasser.
But when and if Arafat meets with
Nasser's leader — Habash — he is
likely to call on the Popular Front to
accept the agreement at Oslo.
Arafat's adviser on internal affairs,
Mamduh Noffel, broadly hinted this
week that the rejectionists will have to
admit the error of their ways if they
hope to become part of the
Palestinian mainstream.
Noffel should know, because as the
military commander of Hawatmeh's
Democratic Front he planned one of
the bloodiest terrorist attacks carried
out against Israel — the massacre of
22 children at a school in Ma'alot on
May 15, 1974. But he later joined
forces with Arafat and has become
one of the strongest advocates for a
final peace agreement with Israel.
Hawatmeh himself was among the
first Palestinian leaders to accept the
existence of the Jewish state. Shortly
after the Ma'alot attack, he realized that
armed struggle was not the only way to
achieve Palestinian aspirations. He set
as a goal the creation of a Palestinian
state, side by side with Israel, and later
developed contacts with leftist Israelis.
Although Noffel continues to
oppose Oslo, he has spoken favorably
of coexistence with Israel and made a
point of shaking the hands of
President Ezer Weizman at the funeral
of Jordan's King Hussein last February
-- a gesture that made him the target
of much criticism.
"I don't understand why they were
angry at me," Noffel said in a recent
interview. Some of those who criti-

cized me for shaking the hand of
Weizman are shaking in these very
days the hand of Arafat, who has not
left one Israeli hand unshaken."
Meanwhile, the rejectionists, whose
headquarters are located in Damascus,
are coming under pressure from the
Syrian regime.
Last month, Syrian Vice President
Abdul Halim Khaddam met with the
rejectionist leaders and insisted that they
review their policy toward Israel, hint-
ing that they should refrain from mili-
tary operations against the Jewish state.
The rejectionist groups "understood
that Syria was heading toward a settle-
ment" with Israel, said Noffel, "and
during the negotiations toward a
Syrian-Israeli agreement, they should
seek a new position and new alliances."
Participants in the meeting denied
that they had come under Syrian pres-
sure.
"No one has asked us to give up
armed resistance," Dr. Talal Naji,
deputy secretary-general of the
Popular Front, said recently.
"Certainly, we shall continue the
armed struggle even if there is peace
between Syria and Israel."
But judging from the stances now
heard in Damascus, Gaza, Askar and
Beit Sahour, people like Naji are
becoming voices in the wilderness.
With the rejectionist heroes of the
past becoming increasingly irrelevant
in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, it is
now up to Arafat to crack what per-
haps will be the toughest nut — the
opposition presented by Hamas.
Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas'
spokesman in the Gaza Strip, gave an
indication this week of the challenge
facing Arafat.
"No one in Hamas will agree to
take part in something that does not
guarantee our ownership of all the
Palestinian land, that gives up even
one grain of Palestinian soil," he said.
Arafat's relations with Hamas dete-
riorated after Hamas claimed respon-
sibility for a shooting attack last week
in Hebron in which two settlers were
wounded.
In retaliation, Palestinian officials
subsequently arrested three Hamas
leaders — "for security reasons,"
according to Palestinian Police Chief
Ghazi Al-Jabali.
Despite setbacks, it now appears that
if Arafat can reach an agreement with
Hamas he will be well on his way
toward getting all but the most die-
hard rejectionists behind him.
Then; with his own house in order,
Arafat can prepare for reaching a final
settlement with Israel. 1-1

