Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 22, 1993 TAG: 9309220040
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GAZA CITY, OCCUPIED GAZA STRIP LENGTH: Medium
Officials from both Israel and Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization have warned that the treaty might lead to an upsurge in violence between its supporters and opponents in the occupied territories.
Two cars filled with masked men forced Mohammed Abu Shaaban's car off the road and killed him in a blaze of gunfire when he stepped out to see what was happening, Arab and Israeli reports said.
Abu Shaaban, a 38-year-old lawyer and a leader of Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction of the PLO, had just left a rally of thousands of Palestinians who demonstrated in support of the agreement in Gaza City's Zeytoun quarter, according to the reports.
Relatives of Abu Shaaban called it a political killing, carried out by opponents of the peace agreement.
Some Arab reports suggested that Abu Shaaban might have been the victim of rivals within his own Fatah group, rather than Muslim fundamentalists or leftist Palestinians opposing the accord.
The peace pact, signed in Washington on Sept. 13 by Arafat and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel, hands over the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho to Palestinian self-rule within four months.
Abu Shaaban, a popular figure known for his charity work in the area, had led a Gaza Strip political committee advising Palestinian negotiators to the U.S.-backed Middle East peace talks. Since the PLO-Israeli agreement was announced two weeks ago, Abu Shaaban had organized pro-agreement rallies.
His niece, Maha Abu Shaaban, said after being told of his assassination:
"My uncle was great in his speech, talking about peace. People hugged him and kissed him for his peace words but the assailants finished his life.
"This is a political assassination. This is a sabotage of peace, they wanted to sabotage peace."
Officials at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital confirmed the death, but said relatives spirited the body away before doctors could perform an autopsy.
Jamal Al Khudare, a member of the anti-accord Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement in Gaza, said, "This is a very regrettable event. I believe it is a result of internal disputes within Fatah.
"There is a red line to all opponents that they will use only peaceful means to achieve their goals," Al Khudare said.
He was referring to a PLO-Hamas agreement to avoid violence.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB