After a long period of tension between Mohamed Dahlan and Mahmoud Abbas, the former Gaza strongman has been pushed out of Fatah and now faces criminal charges, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah Fatah this week expelled from its ranks Mohamed Dahlan, the former Gaza strongman whom the Americans and Israelis once considered a possible successor to late Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat. Dahlan, who ran the notorious Preventive Security Forces, was used by various regional and international players as a spearhead against Hamas, which culminated in the bloody confrontation in the summer of 2007 that ended with the defeat and ousting from the Gaza Strip of Fatah forces and militias at the hands of Hamas. The decision to expel Dahlan was taken during an emergency meeting of Fatah's Executive Committee in Ramallah on 11 June after weeks of uneasy relations between Dahlan and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas who reportedly resented Dahlan's "excessive, rude and impolite" personal attacks on Abbas and his family. The decision stated that Dahlan would be referred to the Palestinian attorney-general on charges of corruption and possible implication in murder. Widely viewed as over-ambitious, Dahlan has been accused of masterminding a plot to topple Abbas. Abbas's supporters argue that overthrowing Abbas by Dahlan could only succeed with active backing and involvement of the Israelis. Dahlan denies the allegations, insisting that all his activities have been consistent with the rules of the "democratic game". Dahlan has refused to respond to his ousting, meanwhile. However, this did not prevent his supporters, especially in the Gaza Strip, including several Palestinian Legislative Council members, from threatening to up the ante with Ramallah, even if that meant, "airing Fatah's dirty laundry in public". Meanwhile, a meeting of Fatah leaders in Gaza ended indecisively after Dahlan supporters and opponents traded accusations as to whether Dahlan was to blame for his expulsion from the movement. Prior to the expulsion decision, the PA-Fatah leadership shut down several websites affiliated with Dahlan. Most of these sites waged a vitriolic campaign against the reconciliation agreement struck between Fatah and Hamas, prompting some Palestinian commentators to accuse Israeli intelligence of financing and standing behind these sites. Many of the writers on the sites used anonymous names, which spurred suspicion in this regard. As a confidante of Arafat, Dahlan was entrusted with the difficult task of routing or weakening Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which Dahlan carried out to the best of his ability, with the help of his deputy, Rashid Abu Shbak. Dahlan's men are widely believed to have employed extremely cruel and "hair-raising torture methods" against Islamist leaders, including Mahmoud Al-Zahhar and the late Abdel-Aziz Al-Rantisi. When Hamas unexpectedly won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, Dahlan, who was at the zenith of his power, warned his fellow Fatah lawmakers that, "I will deal roughly with anyone opting to cooperate with Hamas". He also vowed to make Hamas "eat shit", claiming the Islamist movement should understand that "giving sermons in the mosques is one thing while running a country is quite another thing." In 2008, US magazine Vanity Fair published what seemed to be a meticulously researched exposé showing that Dahlan actively conspired with the Bush administration to topple the democratically elected government of Hamas in the occupied territories. The lengthy article, based on confidential documents corroborated by intelligence sources, spoke of a covert US operation, approved by president George W Bush and implemented by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to provoke a Palestinian civil war. "With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current US officials, David Rose reveals how president Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and deputy national security adviser �Elliott Abrams backed an armed force [operation] under Fatah strongman Mohamed Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever. Dahlan worked closely with the FBI and the CIA, and he developed a warm relationship with CIA Director George Tenet, a Clinton appointee who stayed on under Bush until July 2004." In 2001, president Bush famously said that he had looked Russian president Vladimir Putin in the eye, gotten "a sense of his soul," and found him to be "trustworthy". According to three US officials quoted by Vanity Fair, Bush made a similar judgement about Dahlan when they first met, in 2003. All three officials recall hearing Bush say, "He's our guy." Dahlan has argued repeatedly that all his dealings with the CIA and neoconservative figures such as Abrams were not secret and were done in close coordination with Abbas. Abbas's people concur, at least in part, but insist that Dahlan would have been willing to go to any extent to satisfy his self-inflated ego and unlimited ambitions. In addition to his political meandering, Dahlan is widely thought to have accumulated a huge fortune by illicit means, including graft, bribery, and levying unlawful taxes on fuel imports into the Gaza Strip during the 1994-2000 period. Dahlan has denied the charges, saying he is willing to clear his name and reputation before a court of law. However, with many luxurious villas (inside and outside occupied Palestine) reportedly registered under his name, and with an army of hangers-on, aides and sycophants receiving hefty payments from him on a monthly basis, suspicions as to Dahlan's financial dealings are likely to persist. Dahlan, who once described himself as akrot, which can mean "survivalist" or "thug", has often accused his detractors of hypocrisy and moral duplicity. "Do you really think the one who embezzled a hundred million dollars is qualified to judge petty thieves who might have embezzled a few hundred dollars?" It is too early to say if the latest episode will be a passing summer cloud or will leave indelible scar on Fatah's integrity. What is certain is that Dahlan seems to have overestimated his abilities and skills, especially in trying to build a power base for himself in the West Bank.
