Mahmoud Dahlan, former Fatah party strong man in Gaza, told Sky News on Saturday he is forming a movement to oppose his long-time enemy Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority.
Dahlan has thousands of reasons to take revenge, but his timing may have been determined by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who now has every legitimate reason to want to get rid of Abbas after he stopped acting out his part in the charades of the American-led “peace process” and went to the United Nations to try to force a PA state on Israel.
Dahlan was the undisputed leader of Gaza before Hamas staged a bloody coup in 2006 and slaughtered Fatah’s terrorist militia, which had been trained by U.S. Army commanders and who were under the thumb of Dahlan, who conveniently was out of the area at the time.
Abbas and Dahlan hate each other. Dahlan fled from Gaza to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2011 after Abbas sought to bring him to trial for embezzlement and corruption, foundations of the Palestinian Authority. A PA court this year sentenced Dahlan in absentia to two years in prison on charges of defamation.
Dahlan’s day of revenge was Saturday.
He called Abbas’ diplomatic war via the United Nations a “disaster” that most Arabs oppose.
“This was a hasty and reckless decision that wasn’t made with the unified consensus of the Palestinians,” said Dahlan, referring to the pro-Palestinian Authority resolution that the U.N. Security Council voted down.
“The proposal was changed a number of times without consultation of the decision makers. This was a decision that constitutes a new disaster for relations with Israel which will bring shame and destruction of the Palestinian issue,” according to Dahlan.
Dahlan is not short of enemies, but he also has plenty of friends, most of whom he has bought with millions of dollars.
He was on Hamas’ wanted list, but the terrorist organization now prefers to hook up with what it considers the lesser of two evils.
Remember the Hamas-Fatah ”national unity government,” another ploy of Abbas to curry international favor and recognition? It was signed by both sides, and like the Oslo Accords, is worthless.
On Thursday, thousands of Gazans marched in the streets to show their love for Dahlan. They also accused Abbas of occupation, tyranny and treason, Foundation for Defense of Democracies research analyst Grant Rumley wrote for the National Interest.
Abbas has created an incredible collection of mirages since he took over from Yasser Arafat 10 years ago.
He is serving his sixth year of an illegal term after he was elected for four years, but the United States still sees the Palestinian Authority as a blooming democracy.
Abbas has incited and praised terror while winning accolades from the United States for supposedly opposing terror.
He has played the “peace process” card to the hilt and succeeded in pressuring Israel to tear up the Oslo Accords when it comes to the Palestinian Authority’s keeping commitments while using Washington to force Israel to hand over almost half of Judea and Samaria to full control of the Palestinian Authority.
Abba has hoodwinked the world by creating the framework for an imitation country that has no soul, no borders, no raison d’etre and little popular support from within.
Along the way, the European Union and other foreign countries have invested billions of dollars in aid, much of which has gone into salaries for tens of thousands of workers who do not work, and into the pockets of others whose work is to put money in their own pockets.
Abbas has systematically gotten rid of political enemies like Dahlan, who is charismatic, young and handsome while Abbas is boring, old and pudgy.