Access Middle East took part in a conference call with Jerusalem Post journalist Khaled Abu Toameh on the situation in the Palestinian Authority.

Some foreign journalists have mistakenly portrayed the power struggle as a power struggle between reformists and corrupt officials. I think it that this is inaccurate because these people who are fighting all belong to the same group…those who are campaigning against the older generation and are in fact fighting for position and money. Mohammad Dahlan, the former Security Minister in the Palestinian Authority, was until recently part of the structure, part of the Palestinian Authority leadership, but when he was dismissed from his job he lost the campaign under the pretext of fighting corruption and demanding reform.

Similarly, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, they have also joined the campaign, but they are not reformists, they’re not liberal. They are jockeying for power and position and money. They are angry with Arafat because he stopped paying them their salaries. So as I said I disagree with those who tend to describe this power struggle as one between reformists and corrupt officials. Although — there are demands, growing demands among the Palestinians for reform and an end to corruption.

Those reform-minded Palestinians, those Palestinians that want transparency and democracy have taken advantage of the state of lawlessness and chaos, of the fact that there are many militias operating out there in the West Bank and Gaza, to press for reforms and democracy.

There is a bit of confusion as to what is happening, but what is certain is that the events of the past few weeks have affected Yasser Arafat’s position and status. It doesn’t look good for him that Palestinians are fighting amongst each other. All these stories that have come out about corruption in the Palestinian Authority have also affected his status and to a certain extent also have undermined his authority to a point where in recent days he’s been forced to order many of his supporters to come and demonstrate outside his office in order to show the world that the Palestinian people are still with him and they still support him.

Yasser Arafat today celebrates his 75th birthday and from what I heard today in Ramallah, he refused to hold a ceremony, or he refused even to receive greetings from his supporters, and I can understand him: There is no reason to celebrate when Palestinians are being killed everyday, when his security forces and militias are fighting each other, when the gunmen loyal to him are torching cars and offices belonging to security officers, when some of his aides are being shot, or some of his rivals are being assassinated and so on. The situation in the West Bank and Gaza today is one of chaos, lawlessness, and total anarchy…

As I have said, the situation today in the West Bank in Gaza can be characterized as total chaos, lawlessness; the Palestinian Authority almost is non-existent in the eyes of many Palestinians. The only role of the Palestinian Authority today is to pay the salaries, but on the ground the Palestinian villages and cities are being controlled by rival militias, by rival security forces, and in some cases by rival families, so there is a complete breakdown of the Palestinian Authority security infrastructure.