Israel Matzav

Palestinian Civil War Watch: 'Abbas planning coup against Haniyeh'

Hamas is accusing 'moderate Palestinian President' Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen of planning a 'coup' against 'moderate Hamas Prime Minister' Ismail Haniyeh's 'government.' They have this down so pat that they can even tell you how Abu Mazen is planning to do it: by sending the Fatah affiliated 'Palestinian policemen' whom Abu Mazen packed into the payroll in the lead-up to the 'Palestinian elections' to riot against Hamas. You see, the 'policemen' haven't been paid in about six months and they just might decide to riot about that.... Of course, the fact that the 'Palestinian Authority' and Fatah both have the money to pay them goes unmentioned.

In the meantime, 'moderate Palestinian President' Abu Mazen, who is supposedly interested in establishing a 'unity government' with Hamas, is refusing to speak with the one person who could get that idea off the ground. No, it's not Ismail Haniyeh. It's Hamas 'politburo chief' Khaled Meshaal, who is living at the expense of Syrian taxpayers these days. It seems that Meshaal 'insulted' Abu Mazen in a speech last May in which he accused Abu Mazen of plotting with the US and Israel to topple the 'democratically elected government' headed by Ismail Haniyeh. Abu Mazen wants an apology.

So yesterday, Abu Mazen sent the 'policemen' to 'demonstrate' against the 'government.' And the 'government' did what it does best: it sent someone to throw a hand grenade into a crowd of 'policemen' (yes, I know, it was really a wedding celebration), and five of the 'policemen' were wounded. Some of the 'policemen' didn't just demonstrate: they threw stones at the car of 'Culture Minister' Attallah Abu al-Sabah's car (no word on whether al-Sabah was in the car at the time).

And Hamas issued a 'statement':

A statement issued by the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip claimed that Fatah was behind the protests. It noted that the protesters had opened fire indiscriminately, blocked main roads, assaulted residents and caused damage to infrastructure and private property. [Sounds like just another day in 'Palestine' to me. CiJ]

"These protests are designed to create more confusion in the Palestinian arena," the statement said. "The riots by the so-called policemen are part of an organized criminal campaign to trigger civil war and destroy our national institutions and achievements."

Without mentioning Abbas by name, the Hamas statement said that "these acts of sabotage are a clear attempt to overthrow the legitimate government. This is part of a plot concocted by the friends of Israel and the US to bring down the Palestinian government at any cost. These saboteurs are serving the interests of foreign and hostile parties. They are acting against their own people."

Amazing isn't it, that when all is said and done, they continue to blame Israel and the US for all of their troubles. There's lots more confusion in 'Palestine' these days. Let's hope it increases in the coming days.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:26 AM