The Israeli occupation army revealed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas made an effort to limit the celebrations commemorating the death of late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, in order to reduce the chances of a new uprising, Felesteen Onlinereported on Monday.
Citing Israeli media, Felesteen Online quoted a senior officer in the Israeli Central Command, a military division of the occupation forces, as saying that "Abu Mazen (Abbas) ordered a reduction of the budget allocated for the commemoration in order to refrain from contributing to transforming this year's event into an opportunity to ignite the [occupied Palestinian territories]."
The military officer noted that Abbas took this measure against the wishes of Jibril Rajoub, a member of the Fatah Central Committee who is responsible for overseeing the commemoration celebrations. There are reportedly tensions between him and Abbas.
He also stressed that despite Abbas's sharp criticism of Israel's policies in occupied Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, Abbas continues to urge his security forces to continue their security cooperation with both the Israeli army and intelligence services.
The senior officer added that Abbas insists on preventing the outbreak of operations against Israel at all costs by reminding his security services that security cooperation should not be linked to political developments.
He said that Abbas not only "sanctifies" the cooperation with Israel in actions, but also continues to say the "right words" he should say in terms of Israeli interests, just as he did in the case of the three settlers kidnapped and killed by two Palestinians linked to Hamas.
"We continue to examine the activities of the [PA's] security services in terms of arresting Hamas members, and the data indicates that the arrests have continued as they normally have, and are even increasing," he added.
He also noted that Abbas continues to attack Hamas and its behaviour, considering the policies adopted by Abbas as representing "the greatest factor of stability in the West Bank".
However, the military officer acknowledged that despite Abbas's efforts, the security situation could still explode overnight, pointing out that acts by Jewish extremists like the "Price Tag" operations or the burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque, resulting in the death of worshipers, would dramatically lead to the explosion of the situation, regardless of Abbas's intentions.
He also noted that the Palestinians' execution of an operation leading to the death of a large number of Israelis would lead to the same result.
Abbas has been criticised for outlawing a labour union in the occupied West Bank and arresting its leaders after it carried out a series of strikes over benefits.
The Associated Press quoted Jihad Harb, an analyst, as saying that Abbas has ruled "in an autocratic way" ever since losing control of the Gaza Strip to the resistance movement Hamas in 2007.
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