Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat has ordered the establishment of a 3,500-member Palestinian army in south Lebanon, Jane's Defense Weekly reported Thursday.
The force is to become "the core of a regular army of an independent Palestine of the future," the London-based military affairs magazine said.It is intended to replace "the existing chaos of assorted unruly militias, most of them affiliated with Arab countries and not always friendly to Arafat," Jane's said.
The magazine said Arafat sent his handpicked military commanders to south Lebanon in February to serve notice that part-time militia salaries were to be reduced and eventually stopped.
"Fighters and militiamen of all factions could volunteer for the Palestine army, with the understanding that applications would be subject to Arafat's personal approval," Jane's said.
It said the affected militiamen protested strongly and at times violently because the economic crisis in Lebanon provides no other outside employment. It said the militia system provides a livelihood for about 10,000 men in south Lebanon refugee camps alone.
Jane's said that because of the protests, Arafat told his staff in the Fatah militia to postpone the salary cuts for the time being.