Israel Matzav

'Palestinian' civil war watch: Abu Bluff v. Dahlan

I've written a couple of times recently about the fight inside Fatah between 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen and former Gaza security chieftain Mohamed Dahlan. On Friday, I reported that a 'Palestinian' journalist was arrested for reporting on the story.

In Sunday's JPost, Khaled Abu Toameh (who now lives in Israel and is free to write what he pleases) reports on some of the goings on between Abu Bluff and Dahlan. It seems like it's about to erupt into a full-scale war.

Palestinian Authority security forces over the weekend arrested the director of the bureau of former Fatah security commander Mohammed Dahlan.

Sources in Ramallah said that Mu’taz Khdeir, who has been working with Dahlan for the past few years, was arrested for “security reasons.”

The arrest is part of a massive crackdown on Dahlan loyalists in the West Bank. Dozens of Palestinians suspected of being affiliated with Dahlan have been arrested by PA security forces in recent weeks.

Palestinians said that the Dahlan affair marked the biggest challenge to Abbas’s authority since Hamas drove the PA out of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Private TV and radio stations owned by Dahlan have also been closed down in the context of the clampdown.

Khdeir is the most senior Dahlan aide to be arrested by the PA. His arrest came as Dahlan, who has been in Egypt in the past few weeks, was scheduled to return to Ramallah to answer questions by a commission of inquiry.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas formed the commission to look into charges that Dahlan had been plotting to overthrow the PA government in the West Bank. The commission has also been entrusted with investigating the sources of Dahlan’s personal fortune.

The PA claims that its security forces have confiscated weapons that were found in the possession of dozens of Dahlan loyalists in the West Bank. The PA said it also seized large amounts of cash with many of Dahlan’s supporters.

“This is a very serious case,” a PA official in Ramallah said on Saturday. “Dahlan apparently tried to form an armed militia in the West Bank with the goal of staging a coup against President Abbas.”

The official claimed that Dahlan was also suspected of trying to establish a “new political leadership” in the West Bank. According to the official, Dahlan succeeded in recent months to win the backing of a number of top Fatah officials.

“Dahlan is not alone,” the official said. “We know that others members of the Fatah Central Committee have joined forces with him to undermine the Palestinian Authority. We believe that they received a lot of money from outside sources.”

Another PA official told The Jerusalem Post that Dahlan’s alleged scheme envisaged the establishment of a new Palestinian Authority. “Dahlan tried to form an alternative government, apparently with the backing of some Americans and Europeans,” the official charged. “We are determined to destroy Dahlan’s empire in the West Bank.”

Dahlan’s aides insist that the dispute between him and Abbas is only personal. Dahlan has strongly denied charges that he had plans to stage a coup against Abbas.

One of Dahlan’s aides told the Post that the dispute began when someone reported to Abbas that Dahlan had been bad-mouthing him and his sons. Dahlan was apparently secretly recorded as telling Fatah supporters in Jenin that all what Abbas cared about were the businesses of his sons, Yasser and Tareq.

“Abbas travels around the world to seek new opportunities for the businesses of his sons,” Dahlan was reportedly quoted as saying in the meeting.

In another meeting with Fatah supporters, Dahlan is believed to have mocked at Abbas, saying he was unfit to lead the Palestinian people. Dahlan is also believed to have boasted: “I’m the one who made Mahmoud Abbas. Without me he would have never been president.”

There's much more. Read the whole thing.

Dahlan is far from being a righteous person; in fact he's a heinous murderer who is every bit as evil as Abu Bluff. But the idea that there would be something inherently wrong about a 'coup' against a government whose term expired nearly two years ago is also ridiculous.

Let's face it: the 'Palestinians' don't want peace. They want a government that will attack Israel more aggressively. It's time to wake up to that reality and stop pretending that there's a 'Palestinian' polity that wants to make peace with us.

I personally hope that full scale war erupts between Abu Bluff's American-trained forces and Dahlan, so long as Jews can stay out of it. It would show yet again why there is no partner for 'peace' on the 'Palestinian' side.

Labels: Abu Mazen, Khaled Abu Toameh, Mohamed Dahlan, Palestinian Authority corruption

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:42 AM