Arab countries plotting to replace Abbas

The United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan are planning for a post-Mahmoud Abbas era in the Palestinian Authority, which would leave Abbas’s arch-rival Mohammed Dahlan in control of the PA, the Middle East Eye website said on Friday.

Senior Palestinian and Jordanian sources told MEE separately of the plan.

Although there were differences in emphasis - the Jordanian source added caveats about Dahlan’s known weaknesses - they independently corroborated the existence of a joint plan of action.

A former security chief in Gaza under Fatah, Dahlan was ousted from the party in 2011 and fled to Dubai.

His home in Ramallah was later raided by PA security forces.

The longtime rivalry between Dahlan and Abbas has resurfaced as Dahlan is considering running against Abbas in future elections.

Abbas has accused Dahlan of collaborating with Israel to assassinate a senior Hamas member in 2002.

Dahlan has hit back, branding Abbas a “catastrophe” in an interview with an Egyptian television network.

According to Middle East Eye, the UAE has already held talks with Israel about the strategy to install Dahlan and the three parties will inform Saudi Arabia once they reach an agreement on its final shape.

The key objectives of the plan, according to the report, are to unite and bolster Fatah for the forthcoming elections with Hamas; weaken Hamas by dividing it into competing factions; conclude a peace agreement with Israel with the backing of Arab states; seize control of sovereign Palestinian institutions, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), the PLO chairmanship and leadership of Fatah; and choreograph the return of Dahlan as the power behind the throne of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The alleged cooperation between the UAE and Israel on this issue is in line with previous reports that Israel was carrying out secret talks with Dahlan and that then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman met in Paris with Dahlan – a report Liberman denied.