First Palestinian competitor for Arafat
Palestine, Politics, 5/18/2002

The political sciences teacher at al- Najah university in Nablus Abdul Sattar qasem announced his nomination for the Palestinian elections to the post of the chairman of the Palestinian Authority in challenge of Yasser Arafat of which Qasem said he "failed as a leader," describing the current Palestinian leadership as dangerous because it is "corrupted and far away from democracy."

Upon declaring his nomination, Qasem said the "Israeli civilians should suffer as much as the Palestinian refugees are suffering in their camp since 45 years, " in remarks to the martyrdom operations. He voiced his support for the policy pursed by the Islamic movements "but without noting its religious beliefs," refusing to recognize Israel and stressed he has "an opportunity to win against Arafat because "I have supporters even inside the Fatah movement."

Qasem who was arrested by the Palestinian authority since two years said that Arafat is "very week and has lost his popularity because of the bad conditions the Palestinians are in." Qasem placed rebuilding of the Palestinian security department and merging them into one establishment as the first of his presidential missions. He said "Corruption should be eliminated and the rebuilding of the Palestinian establishments in order to ensure the freedom of the Palestinians."

Qasem was jailed four times in the Israeli and Palestinian prisons, the last time was in 1999 for six months when he signed a petition condemning corruption; the petition was prepared by members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and university teachers and social activists. In the 1970s he was exiled to Jordan because of his political activities. In 1995 he was wounded by a bullet and accused the Palestinian intelligence of attempting to assassinate him after he wrote an article criticizing Arafat for oppressing the opposition.

Previous Stories:
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