Dahlan was pressured into leaving the Palestinian territories

Dahlan was pressured into leaving the Palestinian territories, Lebanese paper claims

"Bethlehem - Ma'an - Fatah leader Muhammad Dahlan left the Palestinian territories for Germany on false pretenses, a Lebanese paper claimed on Thursday.

The 'Al-Akhbar' newspaper said that Dahlan, who formerly lived in the Gaza Strip and was President Abbas' national security advisor, was pressured into leaving the region following Abbas' anger at Hamas succeeding in taking control of the Palestinian Authority security headquarters in Gaza.

According to the paper, Dahlan also obtained Jordanian nationality at the beginning of July while en route to Germany for his alleged medical treatment. He then flew to Cairo and on to Berlin.

According to the newspaper's correspondent, Sami Sa'id, President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) did not want Dahlan to participate in his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Therefore he allegedly asked some of Dahlan's advisors to put pressure on Dahlan to leave the West Bank, claiming necessary medical treatment. Dahlan responded to the pressures, and left unexpectedly.

On 8 July, Dahlan's office confirmed that the Fatah leader had left for four weeks of medical treatment in Germany, after a short stopover in Cairo. According to his office, Dahlan also underwent a surgical operation on his knees in Berlin two months ago.

According to the Lebanese paper, Abbas was angry with Dahlan and blamed him for Fatah's defeat in Gaza.

However, the paper also added that Tayeb Abdel Rahim, an aide of Abbas, apologized to Dahlan, saying that Abu Mazen was just exhausted.

According to the same newspaper, people close to Dahlan have said that some of the countries that Dahlan is visiting have not welcomed him as they used to a year ago. "