Israel Matzav

Gilad Shalit a pawn in battle between Abu Mazen and Haniye

This afternoon, I told you that it looked like kidnapped IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit was about to be traded for 800 Palestinian prisoners terrorists. Now, DEBKAfile is reporting that Shalit is actually a pawn in a power struggle between 'moderate' Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniye. In fact, DEBKA says he hasn't even been transferred to Egypt.

Hat Tip: Gershon in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York

During the Lebanon War, Hamas’ supreme leader, the Damascus-based Khaled Meshaal ordered Hamas’ military wing in Gaza to loose a full-scale barrage on the southern Israeli towns of Sderot and Ashkelon to mirror the Hizballah rocket offensive against northern Israel’s Kiryat Shemona and Nahariya.

Haniya dissuaded the armed Hamas wing from obeying the order by pointing to the damage the Israel air force had wrought on Hizballah strongholds in southern Beirut and would no doubt inflict on Gaza.

Meshaal flew into a rage and decided Haniya must go. He stopped the suitcases of cash reaching the Hamas government in Gaza, cutting off prime minister Haniya’s operating capital.

Enter Muhammed Dahlan, Abbas’s ubiquitous sidekick, with a brainwave: Take advantage of Haniya’s plight and force him to accept an emergency unity government that would restore the premiership to Fatah. Abbas aka Abu Mazen quite liked the idea of holding both the presidency and the premiership. The announcement was scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 9. In the meantime, however, Abbas as usual cannot make up his mind.

To get both Abbas and Meshaal off his back, Haniya pumped out press leaks suggesting a deal was imminent for the release into Egyptian hands of the Israeli soldier kidnapped by a Hamas-led group on June 25. By using Shalit in this way, he hoped to make it worth their while for Israel, Egypt and Abu Mazen to prop him up as Palestinian prime minister.

However, Tuesday, Sept. 5, Abbas decided to grab the Shalit initiative from Haniya. While visiting Bahrain, he chimed in with an announcement indicating he had pulled off the breakthrough over the Israeli soldier’s release and deserved to be rewarded with support from Israel, Egypt etc. He thus left the door open to fire Haniya.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:43 PM