He has barely been in office but there are indications PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas may already be targeted politically — and physically — by Hizbullah and that country that always seems to come up in writings on terrorism, Iran.
The Jerusalem Post reports:
Palestinian Authority security officials on Wednesday expressed fear that Hizbullah and Iran were planning to kill PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in order to thwart attempts to revive the peace process.
The officials said the fears were based on recently-obtained evidence that Hizbullah was urging Fatah and Hamas activists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to renew their terror campaign against Israel in a bid to undermine Abbas’s authority.
“Hizbullah and Iran are not happy with Abbas’s efforts to achieve a cease-fire with Israel and resume negotiations with Israel,” a top PA security official told The Jerusalem Post. “That’s why we don’t rule out the possibility that they might try to kill him if he continues with his policy.”
He claimed that Hizbullah operatives in Lebanon have been offering up to $100,000 to any Palestinian who is willing to carry out a suicide attack against Israel.
“Hizbullah activists in Lebanon are trying to recruit suicide bombers to carry out attacks against Israel,” the official said. “They have even approached members of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades (the armed wing of Fatah).”
Another PA official claimed that the Palestinians have intercepted electronic mail and correspondence that shows banking transactions through which Hizbullah have provided fund for terrorists.
Abbas has dispatched a top aide to Beirut for talks with Hizbullah leaders in a bid to stop them trying to sabotage his attempts to achieve a cease-fire with Israel.
None of this would be surprising. There are indeed forces that do not want any kind of ceasefire because it sandbags their short and long term political goals. Their tactics would include fostering internal strife and opposition among the Palestinians themselves, dramatically showing any cease fire is easier said than done, and removing official obstacles to continuing the violence (that would means Abba). Serious attempts to halt violence in Israel have been met by massive periods of bloodletting, which are aimed to harden both sides and derail lasting peace.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.