Ahead of Fatah's long overdue Sixth Congress, the second most important political figure in the movement accuses the first of treachery and betrayal, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah The internal crisis within Fatah, the mainstream faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, became more pronounced this week after the group's second highest-ranking leader, Farouk Kaddumi, openly accused his opponent, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, of having stood behind the "assassination" of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Arafat died a mysterious death at 75 in a Paris hospital on 11 November 2004, following a brief illness the symptoms of which doctors said resembled those of the AIDS disease. However, despite numerous speculations and accusations that the Israeli Mossad, possibly in collaboration with some of Arafat's close aides, killed the former Palestinian leader by way of poisoning, no concrete evidence has been established to verify any of the hypotheses surrounding Arafat's death. Speaking during a brief press conference in the Jordanian capital Amman on Sunday, Kaddumi revealed that Arafat had confided to him the minutes of a secret 2004 meeting involving former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, President Abbas, former Gaza strongman Mohamed Dahlan as well as a number of CIA officials and US Undersecretary of State William Burns. Kaddumi said that the minutes, which he described as authentic, showed beyond any doubt that Abbas and Dahlan were involved in plans to liquidate the late Palestinian leader as well as a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders in the Gaza Strip, including Abdel-Aziz Rantisi, Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, Abdullah Al-Shami, Mohamed Al-Hindi and Nafez Azzam. Rantisi was murdered by Israel on 17 April 2004, seven months before Arafat's death. Failed assassination attempts were carried out against the other Islamic leaders. Kaddumi said that he had advised Arafat to leave the occupied territories to escape possible assassination by Israel and possible Palestinian agents. However, Arafat preferred to remain in Ramallah and defy the looming threats. Kaddumi accused Abbas of "deserting Fatah", calling him a "rebel". He said that the PA president was arrogating powers and harrowing after big titles and grand trappings, adding that the man was "collaborating and conniving" with Israel under the rubric of peace talks. "I am not willing to sit down with him, or reconcile with him, since he is moving in the same line -- in concert -- with the leaders of the Israeli regime." Kaddumi said he chose this time to reveal the contents of the 2004 meeting in order to warn the various Palestinian factions, including Fatah, of the conspiracies being plotted against them. He added that the Fatah movement was being corroded from within, saying that, "There are outsiders and other elements that have infiltrated the movement for the purpose of destroying it from within." The alleged minutes of the meeting showed that the three parties (the Israelis, Americans and Palestinian moderates) discussed a plan to establish full control by "conformist Fatah" over all the occupied territories after decimating Hamas and liquidating the leaders of the resistance. The minutes also showed that Sharon spoke at the beginning of the meeting about the need for liquidating the political and resistance leaders of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad as well as those of Fatah's own Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The liquidations, Sharon said, would create chaos within these factions, which would allow Abbas and Dahlan to crush them more easily. During the meeting, Dahlan is shown speaking of "a prepared plan, which had been forwarded to the Americans, whereby he would take over all security agencies and key institutions following a brief period of calm." The minutes also showed that Sharon demanded that Arafat be killed by way of poisoning and not be allowed to leave the occupied territories unless there were guarantees that he would be placed under house arrest in exile. To this, Abbas responded that Arafat ought to be allowed to behave as a leader and retain control of things on the ground until the liquidation of the resistance factions and their leaders was complete. Meanwhile, Dahlan allegedly revealed during the meeting that he was about to form a special striking force made up of elements from the police and Preventive Security Services whose task would be to carry out "special missions" -- probably an allusion to assassinating political and resistance leaders. Dahlan also assured the Israelis and the Americans that the more dangerous people within Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades were being meticulously monitored, so much that "I would be able to pinpoint the exact whereabouts of the five most dangerous persons, which would allow you to react swiftly to any hostile action these people might carry out." Dahlan bragged about his ability to infiltrate the various Palestinian political factions. However, it seems that Sharon was not impressed by Dahlan's remarks as he renewed demands that a pretext be created to carry out the assassination of Hamas political and resistance leaders. Sharon also demanded that Dahlan secure a Hamas-free "safe zone" in the northern Gaza Strip, suggesting that Israel would help him from the air. Abbas and Dahlan have remained tight-lipped as to the charges levelled against them, probably in order not to help disseminate them further. However, the Ramallah-based Fatah Executive Committee denounced the "unfounded accusations", accusing Kaddumi of "incitement and fomenting division" in order to thwart the convening of Fatah's Sixth Congress, slated to take place in the West Bank in the first week of August. A statement issued by the committee this week dismissed the revelations made by Kaddumi as "full of lies and contradictions" and "contributing to fostering disunity and division within the Palestinian society". Kaddumi is firmly opposed to the convening of the Fatah's Sixth Congress in the occupied territories, arguing that it is illogical for a national liberation movement to convene its most important convention under the umbrella of foreign occupiers. He further argued that Israel -- which controls the West Bank, not Abbas and his allies -- would have the final say as to who will be allowed to reach the conference hall if and when the Sixth Congress is held.
