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Abbas eyes support of Qatar, Turkey

October 26, 2016 at 4:48 pm

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at Presidential complex in Turkey on October 24, 2016. [Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas seeks Qatari and Turkish help to overcome his political rival Mohamed Dahlan who is more accepted by traditional allies Saudi, Egypt, Jordan and the UAE.

In a long report published yesterday, AlKhaleejOnline said that Egypt and Jordan had already started to prepare for the post Abbas stage, adding that Abbas knew this and found himself obliged to declare he would not go for presidency in the future and would leave the political arena.

The website said that the main problem which faces Abbas is that his traditional allies, mainly Egypt and the UAE, started to raise Dahlan, the former senior Fatah leader and Palestinian MP, to the stage.

Abbas has several times rejected Arabic mediation to end the differences with Dahlan, who he dismissed from Fatah, and all of its institutions due to political and personal differences.

He did not give this issue any importance in the past, but after seeing tangible measures regarding the Arabic support for his rival, he started to feel afraid of being deposed and replaced.

Thinking how to foil this plan, the site said Abbas was forced to improve his relations with Turkey and Qatar, the two countries which he and his followers had severely criticised and accused of interfering in internal Palestinian affairs due to their good relations with Hamas.