Prominent Arafat adviser shot to death by gunmen in Gaza City

[Gimel]

Gunmen shot and killed a well-known adviser to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in Gaza City early Tuesday, security officials said.

Khalil al-Zaben, 59, was hit by 12 bullets has he left his office in the Sabra neighborhood, hospital and security officials said.

Al-Zaben was the best-known Palestinian to be killed in what appears to be growing internal violence and power struggles in Gaza City. In a recent incident at police headquarters, rival groups opened fire on each other after an armed man slapped the police chief. A policeman was killed in the exchange that followed.

That conflict involved Arafat's forces and men loyal to Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan, an Arafat rival. Later, Arafat and Dahlan met in an attempt to stop the violence.

Continued...

[tinnypriv]

1. Interesting article on this in Ma'ariv

27 Feb op-ed by Ben Caspit - says Dahlan is apparently making a "comeback", and may take control of the Gaza strip after the disengagement plan (long article, deals with Sharon primarily).

Funnily enough, this is the same guy that was quoted as calling Arafat a "dog and a liar" in the same paper a few months back.

A question I raised then: "beginnings of a Palestinian civil war, perhaps"?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=8214