Rift Developing Between PA and Fatah

A Good Piece

By Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH, Oct 12 (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.......

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......

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......

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 Security personnel for Amr were withdrawn from his Ramallah residence, a serious issue in light of the fact that several years ago gunmen seriously wounded Amr in what appeared to be an assassination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...........

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........

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."