Word: khatib
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...while political separation would be welcomed in Ramallah and Gaza, the threat of economic separation is regarded by most Palestinians with real horror. Mohammed Khatib, a 30-year-old father of four, hasn't worked since the violence began. He used to earn $30 a day as a construction worker in Jerusalem. A job in his hometown of Bethlehem would pay half that--if he could find one. But there are no jobs, and Khatib sits at home "smoking and drinking tea." Like a quarter of all Palestinian workers, Khatib either earns his money in Israel or earns nothing. "This...
...disturbances may also strengthen Arafat in his dealings with the Israelis. Says al-Khatib: "It proves to the Israelis that he has certain cards to play if they continue to stall the peace process." Certainly Arafat was in no great hurry to squelch the uprising. On Wednesday Israeli security officials expressed frustration that he was not responding to their appeals to restore calm. On Thursday afternoon Arafat issued a call to his forces for restraint. But it was half-hearted, and the violence, though lessened, continued into Saturday. Netanyahu, once so resolutely standoffish, phoned Arafat asking for a meeting...
...last week by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. Forty percent said the agreement was insufficient, and an additional 16% said it offered the Palestinians nothing whatsoever. "In the Gaza Strip there is no debate at all that things are worse under autonomy," says the center's director, Ghassan Khatib...
...that the West Bank city of Jenin would soon be turned over to the Palestinian Authority. The residents of Jenin themselves petitioned Arafat to stop any such move. "They didn't want to see their city turned into another prison, opened and closed according to Israel's wish," says Khatib. As long as the West Bank's future is still under negotiation, its residents remain subject to the indignities of the occupation: checkpoints, curfews, the presence of an alien army. What's more, the Israelis continue to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank, making Palestinians doubt that the Israelis...
Arafat is also burdened with heavy political considerations. "Already people feel that the Palestinian authority has become an instrument of the Israelis," says Ghassan Khatib, who monitors Palestinian public opinion. An all-out assault on Hamas would jeopardize its credibility further. "Is a Palestinian civil war the price of Israel's concept of peace?" the East Jerusalem newspaper An-Nahar asked in an editorial on Friday...