Arafat aide killed in 'dirty assassination'

Gunmen killed an adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in a street ambush early today, feeding fears of growing lawlessness and chaos ahead of a possible Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Arafat denounced the killing of Khalil al-Zaben, 59, as a “dirty assassination” and convened his Cabinet and national security council today to discuss what was seen as one of the most serious challenges yet to the Palestinian Authority.

Al-Zaben, who was also a local publisher and headed a human rights group, was hit by 12 bullets as he left his Gaza City office. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and security officials said they had no suspects.

Al-Zaben had recently criticised the growing chaos and spoken out against the armed gangs roaming Gaza. He was the best-known Palestinian to be killed in the internal fighting and power struggles in Gaza City.

Last week, al-Zaben had distributed a leaflet denouncing what he said were “gangs of professional killers and assassins” whom he held responsible for a recent shooting attack on a politician from Arafat’s Fatah movement. It was not immediately clear whether the leaflet prompted the killing of al-Zaben.

The Palestinian Cabinet and national security council were to discuss the killing at a meeting today, said minister Saeb Erekat.

“This chaos will not be tolerated. I believe the Palestinian government and security forces must take all action to end this chaos,” Erekat said. “It is really undermining the Palestinian struggle to establish an independent state.”

Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed an unarmed Palestinian man during an arrest operation in the West Bank village of Yatta, an army spokeswoman said. Troops had surrounded the house of a fugitive, she said, and a man fled the structure.

Troops called on the man in Arabic to stop and then fired in the air, the spokeswoman said. When the man did not respond to the soldiers’ calls, they shot and killed him, she added.