Fatah: Dahlan is a Zionist tool used to pressure Abbas

Fatah spokesperson Osama Al-Qawasmi said that “Former PLC member and Fatah official, Mohammed Dahlan, is one of Israel’s tools used to pressure Mahmoud Abbas in light of the serious political battle Abbas is leading. The most recent action taken in the context of this battle was the ascension to the ICC.”

In a press statement issued yesterday and broadcasted by the Fatah media department, Al-Qawasmi said: “Dahlan is playing the same role he played against the martyred Yasser Arafat shortly before his death when he was besieged in Mukataa. Dahlan took to the media opposed to the Palestinian national project and attacked Arafat, who was besieged by the Israeli occupation’s tanks, gripping his rifle and refusing to give in to the Israeli and American threats of  being eliminated and killed.”

“Israel is now using all its means to attack Abbas, including great external pressure, stealing the money of the Palestinian people in order for the Palestinian leadership and people to suffer financially, or by using its internal tools to exert more pressure.”

Al-Qawasmi described Abbas as the Palestinian decision-maker, “who made several strategic choices, including joining the United Nations and earning observer state status and joining nearly 30 international conventions and organisations, including the ICC and the four Geneva Conventions.”

“Is it a coincidence that Dahlan and Hamas quickly reconciled and agreed to attack the president in light of the heated political battle after the accession to the ICC? Or that Israel’s various leaders threatened Abbas with elimination, directed several accusations against him, and Israeli voices called for getting rid of him and finding a replacement?” said Al-Qawasmi.

“Is it a coincidence that the same Israeli statements are being made? That Hamas allowed a few hundred Dahlan supporters to take to the streets of Gaza and attack the president, holding up Dahlan’s pictures and tearing the president’s picture? Is it only a coincidence that suspicious money is being pumped from Dahlan to Hamas in an attempt to buy their approval and support?”

Al-Qawasmi described the reconciliation between Dahlan and Hamas as a “conspiracy against the president”, adding: “It will not affect the decisions of the president and the Palestinian leadership, and will not affect Fatah’s unity.”

In a related context, unknown individuals burned a Fatah leader’s car in Gaza. Palestinian sources said that “unknown individuals burned Fatah leader Ahmed Alwan’s car on Thursday in Gaza. A report was filed at the police station and an investigation has been opened.”