Ex aide bashes dictatorial Abbas

A senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization has accused Mahmoud Abbas of intentionally undermining the Palestinian Authority’s UN bid to set a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, calling Abbas' political conduct “dictatorial.”

The former aide to Abbas made the remarks in a meeting between Yasser Abed Rabbo, a former negotiator and the secretary of the PLO’s Executive Committee, and committee member Hanna Amira on November 26, the minutes of which were leaked Saturday by the Gaza-based news agency Safa.

The meeting revealed the animosity between Abbas and Abbed Rabbo, who was reportedly relieved of his duties by the Palestinian Authority head earlier this month.

According to Abed Rabbo, Abbas is rushing to bring a Palestinian draft resolution to the UN Security Council without even securing the nine votes necessary for its adoption, thereby rendering an American veto unnecessary.

Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Sunday that the Palestinian proposal would be submitted to the UN on Monday.

“He doesn’t want to embarrass America,” Abed Rabbo reportedly said of Abbas, adding that he does not understand what good a new UN resolution will do after the Palestinians won recognition as a nonmember observer state in the international body in November 2012.

We’ve already obtained a much more important decision, namely the recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer state in the UN,” Abed Rabbo said, “but we’ve done nothing to implement that decision.”

In the leaked minutes, Abed Rabbo also accused Abbas of insincerity in seeking to join the International Criminal Court.

“It is impossible for him to turn to the ICC, and he will never carry out such a step,” the PLO official was quoted as saying, citing a promise Abbas made to US Secretary of State John Kerry to that effect.

Abed Rabbo claimed that Abbas had met secretly with Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, who asked him to calm the security situation in the occupied al-Quds ('Jerusalem') in return for Israeli confidence-building measures.