Dahlan: Anti-Abbas rally in Gaza is beginning of new era

Former Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan said that a demonstration organised by his supporters in Gaza City yesterday is “a clear message addressed to the Ramallah tyrant to announce the beginning of a new era against Abbas and his indifference towards the Palestinian people and the Fatah movement’s demands”, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Dahlan wrote on Facebook: “Palestine cannot be run by bullying, dictatorship and the falsification of facts which Mahmoud Abbas and his gang use on daily basis. The Fatah rally in the Gaza Strip this morning is a direct expression of Fatah and the Palestinian people’s will.”

He continued: “The protest today is the beginning to break the silence after we remained patient for so long.”

Dahlan said he dealt with openness and positivity with all the efforts that sought to heal the rift between him and President Abbas, explaining that he waivered many of his rights in favour of the Fatah movement.

“Those who did not understand the people and Fatah’s message today or their stupidity prevented them from understanding the message’s implications must wait for so many messages to come. We will not allow more persecution against the free Palestinian men and women or the imposition of suspicious projects that undermine our national cause or the unity of our people,” he said.

Hundreds of Dahlan supporters organised a demonstration against Palestinian Authority President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas outside the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza yesterday.

The protestors carried posters with Abbas’s pictures and slogans including “enough betrayal” while other posters accused him of destroying the Fatah movement by excluding honest leaders and politicising trials and waiving the Palestinian people’s rights.

Differences between Dahlan and Abbas intensified in March when Abbas accused Dahlan of communicating with Israel and participating in the assassination of the late Yasser Arafat. Dahlan denied the allegations and in turn accused Abbas of “carrying out foreign and Israeli agendas”.