Close-up
Younger militants going it alone

By Ilene R. Prusher
The Christian Science Monitor

Mohammed Dahlan, former Gaza security chief, is seen as Yasser Arafat's main rival.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

JENIN, WEST BANK — Zakaria Zubeidi was preparing a bomb two years ago when it blew up, leaving small black pockmarks all over his face.

Despite his youth, the 28-year-old leader of this city's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades — a militant offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction — is widely considered the most powerful man in Jenin, or at least the most feared.

The Al Aqsa Brigades are a network of guerrilla groups that sprang up after the start of the new intifada in September 2000. The self-set agenda of such groups, as well as countless other militant cells, constitutes part of the challenge to Arafat's authority. If Zubeidi's defiance is any sign, the aging Palestinian leader can expect a more youthful generation of compatriots increasingly fed up with almost everything.

"I don't take orders from anyone. I'm not good at following," Zubeidi said in an interview at one of the militant group's hideouts in Jenin.

"Even if we hear people saying, 'We're tired of the intifada, we want to quit,' fine. We have another generation coming that will fight even better. We started off with rocks and now we have Kassem rockets. Next time we'll be firing missiles at each other."

While a new crop of young turks like Zubeidi still consider Arafat their leader, they act independently. Their key motivation is to ratchet up their fight against Israel — Zubeidi takes responsibility for the bombing in Tel Aviv last week that killed one teenage woman and injured more than 30 — but they also express disappointment with the Palestinian Authority.

Here in Jenin, Zubeidi said, the PA as a government is nonexistent. "I'm in charge," said Zubeidi. "The police? They just disturb the traffic. If there's a problem, people come to me."

Zubeidi said the Al Aqsa Brigades have no role in the chaos shaking Gaza. But others are not so sure. Hani Masri, a political analyst in Ramallah, said the unrest there is part of a power struggle between Arafat and his former security chief in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan.

"We have Al Aqsa Brigades in Gaza which stand with Dahlan, and some which stand with Arafat," said Masri. What is happening in Gaza "is coming as a consequence" of the expected Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, "which by nature gives Dahlan the upper hand," he said. Arafat has not been able to go to Gaza for more than two years.
 
Dahlan, a man in his early 40s with a penchant for stylish business suits, presents a virile image next to Arafat's embattled and exhausted one. The differences between the two men overlap with a general sense of public frustration with corruption and mismanagement, and a confusion over where to lay blame.

"This is a rebellion inside Fatah," said Hafez Barghouthi, editor of the Al Hayat al Jadida newspaper. "There is a young generation who wants new faces, new blood, and to remove the people who are corrupt."

But Ahmed Ghneim, a reformist member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, argued it's an oversimplification to cast the current problems as a generational conflict. "We have to fight against corruption, but anarchy is more dangerous than the corruption itself," said Ghneim.