NOVANEWS
Who could have ever imagined that football would become a cover for politics, especially with regards to the Palestinians whose leaders have historically clung to power until death?
That is how the story began, with new chapters revealed in leaked documents from the Qatari Foreign Ministry, involving meetings between Qatari Emir Prince Tamim, and Fatah’s general, Jibril al-Rajoub.
Ever since the Israelis lost hope of ending the conflict with the Palestinians in the era of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli media started shedding light on the background of the man who celebrated his 79th birthday last month.
They spread rumors that the “heavy smoker, Marlboro-loving president” often seeks a vice president so that power does not shift to his nemesis Hamas.
Regional powers seized on this opportunity, knowing that Abu Mazen’s role and the initiatives he had launched have all faded away. Today, there are attempts to predict the name of the incoming president.
The name of a figure that until recently was not part of the “card game” of Palestinian politics started getting circulated a few days ago. It is resigned General Jibril al-Rajoub, currently chief of the Palestinian Football Federation.
Al-Akhbar received a copy of leaked documents allegedly detailing the minutes of meetings held between Rajoub and Prince Tamim.
According to the leaked documents, Prince Tamim greeted Rajoub, calling him “president,” while the general replied by lauding the Qatari prince for his support and confidence, which led them to “meet alone.”
Prince Tamim and General Rajoub also discussed in detail the situation of Abbas and that of MP Mohammad Dahlan, who was sacked from Fatah [in 2007]. They also elaborated on how this will impact the Qatari vision of bringing Rajoub to the presidency “after Abbas rests as part of the circle of life,” in the words of Prince Tamim.However, it seems rather futile to try to confirm that this meeting actually took place, since Rajoub has already visited Qatar on many occasions before, as chief of the Football Federation, in light of the “generous Qatari support” for Palestinian sports. This cover allows both parties to deny the information suggested in the leaked documents.
However, the possibility of assigning a political role to the resigned general is due to the fact that Rajoub was ousted from the decision-making circle following accusations of handing over Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists to Israel to save himself from the siege of his headquarters in Beitunia. This had occurred when he was the leader of a large security apparatus in the occupied West Bank.
At the time, late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat responded by slapping Rajoub, who then retired from security and political work in favor of sports.
It is worth mentioning that Rajoub’s deputy in the Gaza Football Federation is Abdel Salam Haniyeh, the son of Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of Gaza’s Hamas-led government. The general has maintained good relations with his deputy, and they have met on many occasions following episodes of tensions then improvements in his relations with Hamas.
In the documents, Tamim mentioned US hesitation toward change. On that basis, CIA Director John Brennan and National Security Advisor Susan Rice advised the Prince’s delegate, Ghanem al-Qubaisi, to agree with the Israelis on the main issues, then make a change that would enable the chief of Hamas’ political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, to control the movement in Gaza. Meanwhile, Fatah would remain in power in the West Bank, “or would agree with Hamas on a shared leadership in both the [Palestinian Liberation] Organization and the [Palestinian] Authority while maintaining calm with Israel.”
Prince Tamim inquired about the possibility of entering into an alliance with Marwan al-Barghouti, the popular Palestinian political prisoner currently held in an Israeli jail, “after the Americans abandoned Dahlan due to his lack of commitment.” Rajoub interrupted his interlocutor, saying “the Americans think they know everything but, in fact, they get their information from Palestinians, even from Marwan’s wife. For this reason, and because Israel refuses to release Marwan and Washington can’t force it to, they don’t know the truth.”
“Barghouti’s popularity has withered due to his long stay in prison; if he is released, he will also lose his hero image. In addition, some segments in Fatah don’t like him. Meanwhile, Dahlan is history, even though there are some fears that he might still have some authority” Rajoub added.
“Some of his followers are contacting me, thinking that I am defending them, but I am pressuring Abu Mazen to take the decision to sack Dahlan’s loyalists, so they don’t take part in Fatah’s elections.”
In fact, Abbas had decided two weeks ago to sack five Dahlan loyalists from Fatah: Nasser Joumaa, Rachid Abu Shabak, Abdel Hamid al-Masri, Majed Abu Shamala and Seifan Abu Zayda, accusing them of creating “wings” within the movement.
Al-Akhbar could not reach Abu Zayda, but Abu Shamala commented about the leaked documents in an interview with Al-Akhbar, saying “I read it like thousands of other Fatah members and Palestinians, I don’t rule out what was said in it but I also can’t confirm it.”
“In any case, we refuse any foreign intervention in our country or in Fatah,” he added.
Commenting on the decision to sack him from Fatah which coincided with the revelation of the leaked information from Tamim-Rajoub meeting, Abu Shamala confirmed the incident, “particularly because the sacking decision violated the bylaws of Fatah, and the central committee was not consulted.”
Abu Shamala even went further, elaborating that “current attempts to suggest the name of a new president in this particular time is linked to the upcoming internal elections in Fatah, as well as the presidential and legislative elections.” However, he insisted that the campaign started when a local court in Ramallah issued a verdict to hold Dahlan in contempt.
“We consider ourselves as main players and it would be hard to overstep a group with such a history in Fatah. Meanwhile these unofficial decisions only represent those who have taken them,” Abu Shamala said, referring to Abbas.
Interestingly, 62-year-old Rajoub did not come under media spotlight when going through possible candidates to succeed Abbas. For example, in his article titled “The Riddle of Succession in the Palestinian Authority,” Israeli journalist Ehud Yaari mentioned a number of aging Palestinian officials who may succeed Abbas, mainly his political nemesis Mohamed Dahlan and the “beloved Fatah prisoner” Marwan al-Bargouti, as well as former prime ministers Salam Fayad, Ahmed Qurei, and Nasser al-Qidwa, and other Fatah officials such as Tawfiq al-Tirawi, Mohamed Ashteh and Mahmoud al-Aloul. Parliament Speaker Aziz al-Doweik, a Hamas member, was also mentioned.
In the article published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Yaari said, “the president of the Palestinian Authority has spoken to US officials of his growing exhaustion, his family’s desire for him to relinquish power, and his decision to not participate in the next elections that he has agreed on with Hamas… even if the elections don’t take place, there is still a critical need to fix the issue of presidential succession as Fatah’s congress approaches.”
Back to the leaked documents, the minutes revealed Rajoub as saying to the emir of Qatar, “I will start, I will speak to Dahlan’s group after Abu Mazen brings them to zero. Meanwhile, Abu Mazen is done and there is no need to talk to him, I pledge this to Your Highness… be assured. He is now getting involved in assassination attempts, and this is something that Americans must understand, especially since the Israelis know much more than them.”
The Israeli journalist mentioned the historical feud between Rajoub and Dahlan, which dates to the “pre-Oslo days in Tunis, when they respectively served as the head of the West Bank Committee and the Gaza Strip Committee. They both came under bitter criticism during their time at the Preventive Security body.”
Tamim interrupted Rajoub, saying “our foreign minister met with Abu Mazen in London. He also met with John Kerry and he informed me that Americans are not keen on pressuring Israel over Abbas’s successor, because Abu Mazen said that he is in a comfortable position while Tel Aviv is facing a tough situation,” commenting that “this is strange because if you don’t reach a solution with Israel now, you will have nothing to negotiate in two years!”
“It is true but the case needs some time to organize, and needs continuous support from you, Your Highness.. The truth is that Abu Mazen put us in a difficult situation,” Rajoub said.
Commenting on the documents, independent MP Hassan Khraysheh said he read the minutes but does not have information from private sources that can deny or confirm their content.
“It is easy to imagine such a scenario but it is hard to implement it because one can reach the presidency only through elections,” Khraysheh told Al-Akhbar, “how can someone like Rajoub, who failed in the legislative elections, be elected president?”
He attributed the current discussions about the president’s successor to Abbas himself, who first suggested it few days after winning the elections in 2005 by discussing the need for appointing a vice president. Khraysheh said, “I opposed the idea by asking him: ‘are you worried that the vice president could be a Hamas member?’ He confirmed my suggestion even though that annoyed some people attending the meeting, including Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki.”Zaki refused to comment about the matter, sarcastically telling Al-Akhbar,“I forgot everything about Qatar and I have not dealt with it in years.”
Khraysheh revealed that the issue of appointing a vice president was revisited four month after that discussion took place, saying “I was the first deputy in the parliament and we suggested that parliament vote on the vice president and define their authorities, but the issue was laid to rest… that’s how they are in the Authority, they make suggestions that quickly disappear,” adding that it was suggested to choose the vice president through popular vote or through the parliament.
In terms of the Qatari documents, Khraysheh said, “any individual who presents themselves [to the presidency] without having a rich historical background won’t succeed,” adding that “people are sensitive about foreign interventions in such matters. The mere mention of Rajoub’s name in these minutes means that he lost all his chances of winning because his candidacy would be linked to the status-quo.”
However, the independent MP, Khraysheh, took lightly what Abbas’ loyalists described as a “conspiracy,” citing “the crisis that followed the death of Arafat and the confusion that resulted from US and Israeli pressures that sought to impose certain people.” Explaining that “Abbas reached power through elections despite those who boycotted them,” acknowledging that “even though pressure obviously play a role, it was not the decisive factor.”
“Any attempt to impose a president, regardless of his army and institutions, will eventually lead him to lose popular and official support, and will be in a confrontation with all the Palestinians,” he added.
As for Hamas, the documents indicate Rajoub maintains good ties with Meshaal, and that the former fears the latter’s visit to Egypt since it could lead Egyptian officials to underestimate him in Cairo. Prince Tamim agreed, stressing on the need to hold onto Meshaal.
In the end, Rajoub called to hold further meetings with Qatari officials to solve some problems including matters related to halting the entry of 20,000 Palestinians working in Doha, and issuing a decree to resume deducting five percent of Palestinians’ salaries to support the PLO “because solving these issues will help me on a personal level,” the head of Football Federation said.
For its part, Hamas is ignoring the whole issue in the media. The movement already adopted this policy following the Abbas-Dahlan crisis, saying it’s an internal Fatah matter which might damage the reconciliation.
Ismael Ashkar, a Hamas MP, said “God granted us reconciliation and we don’t want to return to divisions, therefore we distance ourselves from backing any parties seeking to divide Fatah, as we are interested in keeping it strong, and we don’t consider it our enemy.”
“We are worried about our Fatah brothers regarding the internal feuds that resulted from actions taken by Abu Mazen and Dahlan when they turned against Yasser Arafat, which might impact the status of Fatah and weaken it among Palestinians. This also affects the already fragile Palestinian political system,” Ashkar elaborated.In his interview with Al-Akhbar, Ashkar said “during the discussions, we agreed on five issues; the PLO, the government, the elections, social reconciliation and security,” adding that “walking in this direction would guarantee that the current authority and system don’t collapse. However, Abbas’ insistence to take unilateral decisions could lead to unpredicted repercussions which could eventually lead to foreign tutelage on the president.”
An intentional crisis on salaries
According to Khalil al-Hayeh, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, and member of the reconciliation delegation, the current crisis involving the salaries of the former Hamas government employees “is either intentional or paving the way for a difficult period,” stressing that solutions are always possible but they require courage and willingness.
In a press conference held yesterday, Hayeh said “the national consensus government wronged its employees and its people, it is snubbing the reconciliation agreement, particularly the Beach Camp agreement signed last April.”
He called on President Abbas to order the government to pay the salaries of Gaza employees “and not to be angered by the employees’ protests because everyone is under your mandate and the mandate of [Prime Minister Rami] al-Hamdallah.”
National consensus government spokesman, Ehab Bessaiso, said the government’s main mission is to end the repercussions of the Palestinian divisions. In a press conference, he denied Hayeh’s accusations of discriminating against certain employees, saying “the issue of closing banks will be on the government’s agenda in its next meeting on Tuesday,” denying that al-Hamdallah is threatening to resign.
