Fatah Central Committee affirms sacking of Dahlan

By MOHAMMED MAR’I
Aug 13, 2011

RAMALLAH: The Fatah Central Committee approved the decision of sacking of its former member Mohammed Dahlan, a senior Fatah official said Saturday.

Jamal Mhaisen, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, said that the movement’s decision-making body “ratified the decision after Dahlan failed to appeal his sacking decision.” Dahlan was supposed to file an appeal with the Secretary General of Fatah Central Committee Abu Maher Ghnaim.

Mhaisen said that “the decision is now final. It can’t be appealed or canceled.”

He added that the committee “is working to refer his file to the Palestinian Public Prosecutor.”

The Fatah official revealed that “Dahlan and his associates at the Gaza-based Preventive Security Service met with Israeli intelligence to coordinate the 2008 war on Gaza Strip and its aftermath.” He added that Fatah received records of the meeting from Arab intelligence services. He added that Dahlan is accused of killing several Gaza residents and blackmailing merchants in the area.”

The Fatah official said that the movement will “prosecute Dahlan’s associates for the crimes they committed against the Palestinian people.”

Loyalists of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have accused Dahlan last week of poisoning the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

They issued a report contending that Dahlan sent poison disguised as medicine to Arafat while he was in a Paris hospital. They said that Dahlan ordered Arafat guards to burn the vials in which the alleged poison was stored. Dahlan rejects the accusation.

Dahlan returned to the Palestinian territories three weeks ago in a bid to appeal his sacking from the committee. A week later, Palestinian security forces raided his home in Ramallah, arrested 23 guards and assistants, and confiscated 16 guns, a computer and two vehicles. He later left for Jordan.

In mid-June, Fatah decided to fire Dahlan after differences with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and to send Dahlan's case to the attorney general for further investigations over charges of financial corruption and murder allegations.

Tensions between Dahlan and Abbas rose late last year after Dahlan openly criticized the Palestinian president and his family's business dealings.

According to media reports, Dahlan has warned that the ailing Abbas was incapable of leading the Palestinian Authority and Fatah amid pressure from Israel and the United States. The reports said that Dahlan urged other senior Fatah Central Committee members to undermine Abbas.

Before Dahlan’s dismissal, he was considered as the highest-flying candidate to succeed Abbas.

Dahlan is also seen as the most prominent figure in the Fatah's Central Committee following Fatah’s Sixth Convention held in Bethlehem on August 2009.

Dahlan, however, is hounded by campaign mounted against him by Hamas and other media outlets associated with it.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article488085.ece.