Palestinians arrest supporters of Abbas rival based in UAE

[webfact]

Palestinians arrest supporters of Abbas rival based in UAE

 

FILE PHOTO: Mohammed Dahlan, a former Fatah security chief, gestures in his office in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates October 18, 2016. Picture taken October 18, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

 

RAMALLAH, West Bank/GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian security forces arrested over half a dozen supporters of an exiled Palestinian politician who some have accused of involvement in the United Arab Emirates deal to forge ties with Israel, a spokesman for his faction said.

 

Mohammed Dahlan has lived in the UAE since being driven out of the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2011 after a bitter row with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his political party Fatah, of which Dahlan is a member.

 

The Gulf Arab country's deal to establish diplomatic relations with Israel has angered Palestinians and stirred widespread speculation that Dahlan played a role.

 

Dahlan's faction has criticised Arab countries forming relations with Israel before its conflict with the Palestinians is resolved, though he has not outright denied involvement.

 

On Monday, seven members of Dahlan's faction were arrested by security forces from Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA), which has limited self-rule in the West Bank, according to Dahlan faction spokesman Imad Mohsen, who called the arrests "politically motivated".

 

The arrests were carried out in the West Bank and included Haytham al-Halabi and Salim Abu Safia, both senior members of Dahlan's faction, a statement from the group said.

 

In a statement, the Palestinian security forces said they had detained Halabi from a village near the West Bank city of Nablus as part of "a continuation of efforts to impose security and order".

 

The statement did not mention any other arrests.

 

The PA's interior ministry declined comment.

 

A former Gaza security chief, Dahlan has long been floated as a potential successor to Abbas. He has cultivated close ties with UAE leaders since his exile.

 

The UAE and fellow Gulf Arab state Bahrain signed normalisation agreements with Israel at the White House last week in a ceremony hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump.

 

The deals were the first such accommodations between Arab countries and Israel in more than 20 years, and were forged partly through shared fears of Iran.

 

Palestinians have called the moves a betrayal, fearing they would weaken a longstanding pan-Arab position that calls for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and acceptance of a Palestinian state in return for normal relations with Israel.

 

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Howard Goller)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-22

 

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[4reaL]

Ahh, once again the terrorist leaders of those poor helpless Palestinians in action.

 

 

 

 

[Morch]

Abbas is 84, and rumors regarding his health and/or stepping down have been circulating for years. Potential contenders for the day after have been busy building power bases, support and plotting against each other.

 

There are maybe 4-5 who might have a chance, disregarding dark horses, or compromise candidates. But it is important to stress that none have anything resembling enough support or power to sweep others aside, and more importantly, that they are Fatah - a movement/faction/party/organization which may no longer be the brand name of choice among Palestinians.

 

With all of these wannabee leaders having various issues clouding their candidacies, plus the infighting and their brand being unpopular, it is doubtful that any of them could muster enough support for a decisive win, especially if general elections are in question.

 

In that case, it is more than likely that the Fatah will lose, and Hamas will emerge electorally victorious, again. To be clear, if talking about an Abbas replacement, it is highly unlikely to be any card-holding Hamas member. The Hamas does not accept the official agreements with Israel etc. so no chance someone among their ranks could fill the role. What may happen is that the Hamas would express support (or even campaign) for some external 'a-political' candidate. There are several names floated from time to time.

 

The prospects of such a candidate winning are, perhaps, not slim. The opposite can be said about his chances to effectively rule under such conditions.

[Morch]

On another note, previous related topics saw repeated issues being aired with 'dictators', 'oppression', or the 'people's voice not being heard'. It was pointed out, over and over again, that the Palestinian themselves are being ruled by similar leaderships - ones intolerant of political opposition and challenge, ones who do not approve of freedom of speech etc.

 

The OP highlights the issue, and in light of the expected political struggles post-Abbas, things are unlikely to improve much any time soon.

[Thorgal]

4 hours ago, Morch said:

On another note, previous related topics saw repeated issues being aired with 'dictators', 'oppression', or the 'people's voice not being heard'. It was pointed out, over and over again, that the Palestinian themselves are being ruled by similar leaderships - ones intolerant of political opposition and challenge, ones who do not approve of freedom of speech etc.

 

The OP highlights the issue, and in light of the expected political struggles post-Abbas, things are unlikely to improve much any time soon.

 

On another note, it’s no big secret that previous Palestinian leadership was killed in Palestine or overseas by targeted air strike, missiles, poison, etc. by a foreign power.

 

Other, younger valuable Palestinian leadership that could replace Abbas, were hired by well paying NGO’s in occupied territory or overseas (see topic). Some of them become biased towards their people.

 

If they persist in politics, they end up sooner or later as per my 1st paragraph above.

 

 

[CorpusChristie]

5 minutes ago, Thorgal said:

 

On another note, it’s no big secret that previous Palestinian leadership was killed in Palestine or overseas by targeted air strike, missiles, poison, etc. by a foreign power.

 

Other, younger valuable Palestinian leadership that could replace Abbas, were hired by well paying NGO’s in occupied territory or overseas (see topic). Some of them become biased towards their people.

 

If they persist in politics, they end up sooner or later as per my 1st paragraph above.

 

 

Were those the guys engaging in terrorism and thats the reason why they were targeted ?

[Morch]

2 hours ago, Thorgal said:

 

On another note, it’s no big secret that previous Palestinian leadership was killed in Palestine or overseas by targeted air strike, missiles, poison, etc. by a foreign power.

 

Other, younger valuable Palestinian leadership that could replace Abbas, were hired by well paying NGO’s in occupied territory or overseas (see topic). Some of them become biased towards their people.

 

If they persist in politics, they end up sooner or later as per my 1st paragraph above.

 

 

 

On yet another note, this is just one of your usual attempts at deflection and obfuscation.

 

By your logic, Israel targeted only those Palestinians who could potentially be exemplary leaders. That both quite inconceivable, and even less so demonstrable.

 

Where does the OP discuss your leadership-hired-by-ngo claim? And why would being hired by an NGO serve to make Palestinian biased against their own people? Or for that matter, prevent them from being involved in politics or become leaders?

 

Your closing argument is nonsense - at least so far as it refers to the Fatah.

[Thorgal]

3 hours ago, Morch said:

 

On yet another note, this is just one of your usual attempts at deflection and obfuscation.

 

By your logic, Israel targeted only those Palestinians who could potentially be exemplary leaders. That both quite inconceivable, and even less so demonstrable.

 

Where does the OP discuss your leadership-hired-by-ngo claim? And why would being hired by an NGO serve to make Palestinian biased against their own people? Or for that matter, prevent them from being involved in politics or become leaders?

 

Your closing argument is nonsense - at least so far as it refers to the Fatah.

 

Mohammed Dahlan is paid/hired by the UAE and was exiled from Palestine for his own people.

 

He contributed to 'convince' the UAE to participate to the 'peace deal' of the century with the US and Israel.

 

That makes him biased against his own people as per OP.

 

No yet clear why you call this a deflection and obfuscation from me ?

[Morch]

1 minute ago, Thorgal said:

 

Mohammed Dahlan is paid/hired by the UAE and was exiled from Palestine for his own people.

 

He contributed to 'convince' the UAE to participate to the 'peace deal' of the century with the US and Israel.

 

That makes him biased against his own people as per OP.

 

No yet clear why you call this a deflection and obfuscation from me ?

 

Your earlier post did not refer directly to Dahlan, but rather implied what you described to by a general thing, relating to multiple potential leaders - without providing any support. So, noting that you now move the goal posts and refer solely to Dahlan, let's deal with the current attempt -

 

Dahlan was a political contender challenging Abbas and being a potential political threat to other Fatah leaders. He was 'exiled' in conjunction with this. As for this being done by 'his people' - not really quite as universal, rather by Abbas's faction (or if you wish, 'people'). As for the 'paid/hired' by the UAE, that came, for the most part, after these events.

 

Not sure how His alleged involvement in the Israeli-UAE agreement makes him 'biased' against his people. Is your claim that Palestinians may hold only certain points of view? Doesn't the OP relate he still have a base of support among the Palestinians?

 

He's not a nice guy by any measure. He's neither honest nor trustworthy. Many Palestinians do see him as a traitor or at least as a dodgy element. Sure.

 

But all of the above doesn't make the argument introduced in your original post, and not even the one above, inasmuch as you had one.