Israel, Arab allies discuss ousting Palestinian president: Report

Israel and its allies, including the UAE, Egypt and Jordan, are reportedly planning to overthrow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and replace him with the former leader of the Fatah movement.

The UAE has already held talks with Tel Aviv about the initiative for Mohammed Dahlan’s comeback, the online news portal Middle East Eye quoted unidentified Palestinian and Jordanian sources as saying. 

The three Arab countries will inform Saudi Arabia once they reach an agreement the final version of their plan, according to the report.

“The parties believe that Mahmoud Abbas has expired politically and that they should endeavor to stop any surprises by Abbas during the period when Fatah will remain under his leadership until the elections are held,” a senior Palestinian source said.

“It is within this framework that they stress ‘on the necessity of pushing Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) to appoint a deputy’,” the source added.

Viewed as an archrival to Abbas, Dahlan was expelled from the Abbas-led Fatah movement in 2011. He was accused of corruption and defamation, charges he denies. The politician lives in exile in the UAE.

“Dahlan believes that two options are available for accomplishing this: either Abu Mazen resigns, and this is unlikely, or that Jordan would lead the reconciliation between Dahlan and Abbas under the banner of bolstering Fatah,” the source added.

The key objectives of the scheme for Abbas’ ouster include uniting Fatah, weakening the Hamas resistance movement, completing the so-called peace agreement with Israel and seizing control of sovereign Palestinian institutions in the West Bank, the report said.

The initiative was corroborated by a senior Jordanian source who revealed a visit by Dahlan to the Jordanian capital, Amman, on March 31, during which the Palestinian figure requested Jordanian intervention to reconcile him with Abbas.

Abbas rejects Israel recognition

Speaking at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Saturday, the Palestinian president reiterated that he would never recognize a “Jewish” state as demanded by Israel.

The meeting came ahead of a Paris conference due on June 3 on re-launching the long-stalled Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

Abbas said that the Paris summit should be based on the understanding of the so-called two-station solution based on the pre-1967 borders with East al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the Palestinian capital.

The French plan for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks comes amid renewed tensions in the occupied territories, where Israel has intensified its crackdown on the Palestinians since a wave of anti-Tel Aviv protests erupted there last October.

Palestinians says Israel has a covert plan to change the status quo of a highly-revered religious compound in East al-Quds.

Over 210 Palestinians have been killed in the violence, with Israel claiming most of them attempted or managed to carry out deadly attacks on Israeli troops and settlers.

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