Dahlan: Abbas is 'illegitimate'

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is “illegitimate”, Arabi21 reported the former senior Fatah leader and Palestinian parliamentarian Mohamed Dahlan saying yesterday.

Speaking to a local Jordanian news organisation, Dahlan said: “No Palestinian respects Abbas… who hid $600 million after the death of Yasser Arafat.”

Dahlan, who reiterated he would not run for presidency, said that Abbas’s sons are corrupt and they are worth more than $300 million while the Palestinian people are very poor.

He said the PA has no political vision because the Oslo Peace Accord vanished with the death of Yasser Arafat. After Arafat, Dahlan said, Abbas violated all the basics of Palestinian security, politics and economy.

“What the PA is doing does not exceed the work of a social welfare ministry,” he said. “Abbas is only interested in ousting me and expelling me from the positions of power.”

Regarding the internal divisions, Dahlan said that both Hamas and Fatah have made Israel benefit from the Palestinians. “Both have never achieved anything on the ground.”

“What a president, he spends more time in Amman than in Ramallah. He is interested in his sons, not the country.”