Israel Matzav

Doing what's important

The 'Palestinian police' who are being trained by the United States in order to strengthen the junta of 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen may not be fighting terror (in fact, they are carrying out acts of terror). But at least they are doing what's important: They're 'investigating' who handed out nasty leaflets calling 'moderate,' unelected, western suit-clad 'Palestinian' Prime Minister Salam Fayyad a 'traitor.'

Many of the leaflets, which were distributed on the streets of several West Bank cities, were collected by Palestinian policemen loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Despite the fact that the Aksa Martyrs Brigades denied any connection to the leaflets, PA officials here told The Jerusalem Post that they have no doubt that some members of the group were behind the latest threat.

The officials added that they also did not rule out the possibility that top Fatah operatives who were strongly opposed to Fayad's government and Abbas's policies were also linked to the leaflets.

The threats against Fayad have prompted the PA to beef up security around him and other senior members of his cabinet. "We are taking these threats very seriously," a PA security official told the Post. "We have launched an investigation and soon we will discover who's behind the leaflets."

The leaflets accused the Fayad government of collaboration with the Israelis and Americans against armed Palestinian groups that are operating against Israel. They also lashed out at Fayad for allegedly ordering the PA security forces to use force to disperse demonstrations in protest against last week's peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

...

The leaflets compared Fayad and his interior minister, Abdel Razak Yahya, to Benito Mussolino, the fascist dictator of Italy. "Shame on this American-Zionist government," they read. "They are implementing an American-Israeli agenda to thwart the operations of the resistance groups. They are part of a big conspiracy designed to force our people to surrender."

The leaflets coincide with growing pressure on Abbas to either replace Fayad or reshuffle his cabinet.

Oh and one other piece of information:

Meanwhile, PA officials confirmed that Hamas and Fatah representatives were scheduled to meet in Cairo soon for talks on ways of ending their differences. They said Egypt and Saudi Arabia had been exerting heavy pressure on the two parties to resume their talks to achieve "national unity."

I'm sure Secretary of State Rice will approve.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:15 PM