Dismissed Fatah leader tells US officials the peace process is a failure

Palestinian parliamentarian and former Fatah leader Mohamed Dahlan, who is currently living in Abu-Dhabi, has candidly expressed his pessimism to senior US officials in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, according to the Arabic newspaper Today’s Opinion.

During a meeting held in an Arab capital, Dahlan angrily addressed US Secretary of State John Kerry and peace process envoy Martin Indyk.

In the meeting, Kerry had expressed high hopes over the future of the peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis. This aroused Dahlan’s anger, and he called for Kerry to tone down his hopes and “to stop deceiving all sides.”

Dahlan, who was dismissed from Fatah over disputes with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, made clear that the US itself recognises the absurdity of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. “The US knows that it will never lead to anything,” he said.

In addition, Dahlan said that the Americans recognise that Abbas would be unable to sign any agreement as a result of the peace talks.

He attributed Abbas’ inability to sign any agreement to the current divisions between the two main Palestinians factions, Hamas and Fatah, as well as to the internal Fatah divisions, which have left many of its leaders excluded from the political arena.

But while Kerry continued to express hope for the peace talks, Dahlan insisted on the absurdity of the peace process. “There was no peace in the past because of Israel, but there was a peace process,” Dahlan said. “Today, there is neither peace nor a peace process.”

During the meeting, Indyk called Dahlan “a man of gangs”. This aroused an angry response from Dahlan, who told Indyk: “Martin, your problem is that Denis Ross was better than you.”

To elaborate on the comparison, Dahlan added: “We, the Arabs and Palestinians, used to hate Ross, but Jews liked him; however, you are being hated by all sides.”