It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of thieving, murderous thugs.
Fatah is apparently rife with accusations and counter accusations on `who lost Gaza'..and it's splitting them even further into factions.
Hani al- Hassan is an old line Fatah gangleader, an adviser to Palestinian Authority capo del tutti Mahmoud Abbas and an ex PA interior minister. He was fired from his job today after a particularly harsh interview with
Apparently there is a lot of dissension among the natives, who see Abbas, quite rightly, as a really weak leader who could end up getting them killed and losing them their West Bank turf.
Hassan and some of the Fatah old guard from the Arafat days want to talk to Hamas,have a mob sitdown and try and work things out so they can go back to concentrating on their favorite sport of killing Jews..except Abbas and his closest pals, stuffed with hubris from the embrace ( and cash) they've gotten from the Americans, the EU and the Olmert government absolutely refuse.
According to a long time source of mine in the Palestinian Authority, Abbas is also not sharing the booty around properly, and some of the younger Fatah guys are screaming for `reform' - which in this context means a fair share of the swag and some new faces in positions of power.
And Abbas didn't improve things by appointing his old crony Zakariya al-Agha to the largely ( at this point) ceremonial job as Fatah's top boss in charge of Gaza...or by threatening to disarm some of the shooters in the al Aksa martyr's brigade if they didn't follow his orders.
Hassan, in his interview put the blame for what happened in Gaza squarely on Fatah gang boss and Gaza kingpin Muhammad Dahlan.
"He [Dahlan] exploited the strong political influence he wields to implicate all parties, and is fuelling the situation in the West Bank now" he said.
Hassan said Dahlan only had influence because of backing by the United States and Israel. ( probably true, actually..)
"Dahlan used the money he received from Israel and the US to pay the salaries of up to 2,000 officers and thus control security apparatuses," he said.
Remember last week when I told you that Dahlan was skimming off part of the aid money for himself?
"He [Abbas] named Dahlan as his national security adviser and a supervisor of the security forces despite the fact that he's a member of parliament," he said. "Abbas also took for granted Dahlan's advice to isolate Hamas, which gave the impression that the Palestinian Authority has forged an unholy alliance with Israel to isolate and punish the Palestinian people for voting for Hamas."
After the interview, Fatah gunmen went over to Hassan's house in Ramallah and shot it up...which kinda gives a uniquely `Palestinian' twist to the term `being fired.'
Abbas also got rid of General Abu Nidal Maz'al, the commander of the Abbas' Presidential Guard in the Gaza Strip, for surrendering to Hamas, which brings the total up to seven `generals' and `commanders' who've been bounced off the payroll for their antics in Gaza against Hamas. These guys are basically sacrificial lambs for Dahlan, who is still US General Keith Dayton's mainsqueeze. All of them did the same thing, directing the so-called `fighting' from the safety of the West Bank via cellphone.
And all of them have their own clan followings, who can be expected to not take this kind of demotion lightly.
Abbas' Fatah followers,of course, had nothing but the ol' badmouth for Hassan after the interview.
"Hani al-Hassan has plunged to the level of the Hamas murderers, who staged a bloody coup in the Gaza Strip," said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a top Abbas aide. "By making such remarks, Hassan has distanced himself from Fatah and has chosen to side with the murderers."
Azzam al-Ahmed, head of Fatah's parliamentary list in the Palestinian Legislative Council, said "We will form a commission of inquiry to investigate Hassan," he said. "President Abbas has decided to dismiss Hassan from his job. What Hassan said does not represent Fatah."
Ahmed also decided to bad mouth Al-Jazeera, describing the network as a "mouthpiece for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood." Now,Joshua's Army members, where have you heard that before, hmmm?
Samir Mashharawi, one of Dahlan's boys, accussed Hassanof being a traitor, no less.
"Hassan was one of the Fatah leaders who gave Hamas a lot of information," Mashharawi said. "He was in touch with [Syria-based Hamas leader] Khaled Mashaal and convinced him that Fatah was preparing to wage war against Hamas."
Bottom line: Abbas seems to be alienating a lot of the Fatah mob lately.
He may not end up being around long enough to be `supported' bythe likes of President Bush, Condi Rice and Ehud Olmert.
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