|
|
MIDEAST: Rift Developing Between PA and Fatah
By Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH, Oct 12, 2009 (IPS) - An increasingly isolated and unpopular Palestinian Authority (PA) has again
made a 180-degree turn in the Goldstone report fiasco as it tries to fend off
mounting criticism from all and sundry, including its own organisation.
On Sunday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did a complete about-face
over UN-appointed Justice Richard Goldstone's controversial report on war
crimes in Gaza, the bulk of it focusing on Israeli atrocities.
"I instructed the PA envoy in Geneva to call for another exceptional meeting
of the Human Rights Council to vote on the report, seeking to punish all who
committed the most grotesque crimes against women and children in Gaza,"
Abbas said.
The report was previously due to be debated by the UN Security Council and
then probably handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the
Hague, but due to political opposition, the PA's included, it was postponed to
March next year.
The PA had initially supported the report, but backed down under intense
political pressure from Israel and the U.S.
These latest developments have contributed significantly to a growing rift
between the PA and its affiliate Fatah as more and more Palestinians and
Arabs see the PA as little more than a stooge of the U.S. and the Israelis.
"The PA is in complete denial. It appears to be living on another planet," Dr
Samir Awad from Birzeit University near Ramallah told IPS.
"Something is going to explode. We are sick of them. The Palestinian street
wants a divorce from the PA," Aysam Zaid a Fatah leader in Ramallah told IPS.
A number of Fatah members are also members of the PA. Fatah is the largest
faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
While a roasting from Hamas and Islamic Jihad was predictable, scathing
criticism from within the PA, the PLO and even the Arab-Israeli Balad party
appears to have caught Abbas off guard.
Social affairs minister Majida Al-Masri called the UN postponement "an
embarrassment," and demanded accountability. Finance minister Bassem
Khoury resigned in protest.
Abbas's pro-Western prime minister Salam Fayyad made veiled critical
remarks. "We mustn't give up the opportunity to go after those who
committed war crimes during Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip," read a
statement released by Fayyad.
Other Fatah members unofficially asked Abbas to take the necessary steps to
prevent the controversy from harming the party's standing among the
Palestinian public.
The head of another faction of the PLO, the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP), Ahmed Jibril, openly called on Abbas last week to "go home".
The council of Palestinian organisations in Europe also called on Abbas to
step down.
Nabil Amr, the former Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, a former aide to the
Palestinian President, also lambasted Abbas.
PA retaliation was swift. Security personnel for Amr were withdrawn from his
Ramallah residence, a serious issue in light of the fact that several years ago
gunmen seriously wounded Amr in what appeared to be an assassination
attempt.
Balad, the Israeli Arab party, called for Abbas's immediate dismissal last week
after convening a conference especially to discuss the matter. This is the first
time in Palestinian history that an Israeli Arab party has intervened in PA
politics.
Syrian officials cancelled a meeting with Abbas in Damascus last week in the
wake of the affair.
Under such a backlash it was inevitable that Abbas would back-pedal in an
attempt to save a vestige of political face. But his decision to establish a
committee to investigate the PA's withdrawal of support for the Goldstone
report has many Palestinians scoffing in contempt.
"The PA doesn't share power democratically with Fatah. Most Fatah members
have practically no say over the handling of finances, security and media,"
says Mustafa Abdelhadi, chairman of Fatah's action committee.
"When they make decisions they don't consult the rank and file Fatah
members. When they formed the newest government recently, appointees
were approached individually to join, and many of them were the same old
faces. There was no democratic discussion," Abdelhadi told IPS.
Furthermore, Abbas's recent fiery rhetoric against Israel's Judaisation of East
Jerusalem also raised sceptical eyebrows as critics say the PA has done little
to counter the developments.
Palestinian activists in Jerusalem say that the PA gives minimal financial and
legal aid to fight Israeli settlements and home demolitions, and doesn't have
a coordinated approach.
One activist said there are struggles between Fatah activists in the area and
the PA on almost a daily basis in an attempt to garner support and funds for
Jerusalem and for the families faced with the threat of eviction of demolition
of their homes.
However, even with the rift Awad doesn't see a major split between Fatah and
the PA in the near future.
"Despite the PA having vested economic and political interests in maintaining
the status quo at the expense of the Palestinians, many Fatah members will
continue to follow the political line as they need to survive economically, and
an internal split would cripple their movement politically," Awad told IPS.
(END)
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
What is RSS?
