Israel Matzav

'Palestinian' Civil War Update - Abu Mazen stays home

'Moderate' 'Palestinian President' Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen was supposed to come to Gaza today to meet with 'moderate' 'Palestinian Prime Minister' Ismail Haniyeh to reach an agreement that would allow their respective terrorists to turn their guns on Israel again rather than on each other. But Abu Mazen stayed home in the relative safety of Ramallah today, just a few miles north of Jerusalem.

The reason Abu Mazen stayed home is that he feared Hamas would try to kill him. For those who have not figured this out yet, Abu Mazen's first and only priority is keeping himself alive which is why he has never confronted Hamas.

There are two different versions of the alleged assassination attempt. This is the JPost's:

"The Palestinian security forces have received information according to which Hamas was preparing some kind of an attack on President Abbas's convoy," the officials said. "The president has been advised not to travel to the Gaza Strip because of the warnings."

Abbas had been scheduled to meet in Gaza with Hamas leaders on ways of ending the fighting between the two movements.

Earlier this year, PA security officials claimed that they had discovered a booby-trapped underground tunnel near the Erez checkpoint. According to the officials, the tunnel had been dug by Hamas members who were planning to detonate the explosives against Abbas's convoy.

Abbas spends most of his time in Ramallah, visiting the Gaza Strip once or twice a month. His home and headquarters in Gaza City have been frequently attacked with missiles and rockets by Hamas militiamen.

And this is YNet's version, which has the tunnel being ready today:

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas canceled a trip to Gaza on Thursday after it was discovered that Hamas gunmen planned to blow up his convoy, a senior security official said.

"Abu Mazen's (Abbas's) visit to Gaza was canceled after the discovery of a tunnel under Salaheddine Road full of explosives placed by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigads to blow up (Abbas's) convoy," said the official.

"The explosives were found on the route that Abu Mazen takes to travel to Gaza," the source added.

An official in Abbas's office confirmed the report.

I guess boys will be boys. /sigh

But just give them a state reichlet and they promise to behave themselves.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:09 AM