The jailed chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) accused Yasser Arafat in remarks published Friday of personally ordering his arrest, saying he would not free him even if the Palestinian High Court ordered it.
Ahmad Saadat, interviewed by telephone from his cell in the West Bank city of Jericho by the Arab-language daily Al-Hayat, said the Palestinian leader had ordered his January arrest "in person." He added that he was the price Arafat had to pay for Israel to lift the virtual house arrest it had imposed on him in December at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah in retaliation for a series of Palestinian suicide bombings.
Moreover, Saadat said he expected that Arafat would refuse to free him "even if there is a decision to that effect by the Palestinian High Court."
Palestinian security forces arrested Saadat on January 15 following a demand from the Israeli government and kept him in Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah.
In his remarks to Al-Hayat, Saadat called on Arafat to "draw the conclusions (from what has happened) and build a unified national leadership that is far from the cosmetic changes that the president makes at the top." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
