Abbas’s harshest critic
Muhammad Dahlan, who hopes to become the next Palestinian leader, takes aim at PA president
As the Palestinian battle for succession has heated up in the past year, many candidates vying to serve as the next Palestinian leader have courted President Mahmoud Abbas, while others have expressed criticisms of the aging president’s leadership.
Muhammad Dahlan, one of the many Fatah leaders who hopes to become the next Palestinian leader, has likely expressed the harshest criticisms of Abbas and his leadership.
Born in 1961 in Gaza’s Khan Yunis refugee camp, Dahlan first rose to the top of the Palestinian leadership when Yasser Arafat appointed him chief of the Palestinian Preventive Security in Gaza in 1995. Dahlan quickly gained a reputation as a heavy handed and effective security leader, but resigned from the post in 2002 over differences with Arafat. He subsequently served in a number of top posts including national security adviser, state and security affairs minister and civil affairs minister.
In 2007, with Hamas threatening to topple the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, Abbas appointed Dahlan as national security adviser for a second time. Though he attempted to restore order to Gaza, Hamas’s armed factions overwhelmed the PA’s security forces and took control of the coastal enclave. In the following weeks, many Palestinian leaders in Ramallah pointed their fingers at Dahlan for losing control of Gaza.
Soon thereafter, Dahlan began criticizing Abbas sharply, but still won a seat on the Fatah Central Committee in 2009. He gradually intensified his criticisms, and in 2011, the Fatah Central Committee revoked his membership. Later that year, PA security forces raided his home in the al-Tira neighborhood of Ramallah, and Dahlan fled to Jordan.
He has since permanently relocated to the United Arab Emirates and faced a number of lawsuits, including one case in 2014 in which a Palestinian court sentenced him to two years in prison for defamation and another in 2015 in which a court dismissed corruption charges against him.
Despite the legal troubles, Dahlan has continued to attack Abbas’s leadership in the Arabic and international media.
In an interview with Sky News in 2014, he called for the formation of an opposition bloc to Abbas saying: “We must establish a national front to resist these individual actions that will bring disgrace and catastrophe on the Palestinian people. We cannot allow Abu Mazen [Abbas] to continue to make these types of decisions.”
Dahlan also has established a close relationship with the political leaderships of the UAE and Egypt and brokered a number of agreements on behalf of the two countries. More recently, he reestablished contact with Hamas and received permission to distribute aid to Gazan refugees.
Furthermore, Dahlan has fostered close relationships with some Israeli leaders, including members of the current government. He reportedly met with current Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman in Paris in 2014 and has a close relationship with other leaders such as Interior Minister Arye Deri.
Yossi Beilin, a former minister and negotiator, believes imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti has the best chance at succeeding Abbas, but that Dahlan’s regional ties make him a qualified candidate for a secondary role.
“There will be either an arrangement or competition among potential deputies to represent Marwan. I think Dahlan could be one of the deputies,” Beilin told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.
“He has the backing of some Arab countries, mainly the Emirates and he also has good relations in Egypt,” he added.
Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, however, told the Post on Thursday that Dahlan does not have enough support in Ramallah to play a significant role in the succession process.
“I don’t see him as having the influence or support necessary in Ramallah to see him emerge as a plausible president. I think what maybe some of his supporters and friends hope is that he could emerge as a power behind the throne or as a key secondary figure, but I think that, also, is going to be difficult,” he said.
A number of factors explain Dahlan’s unpopularity in Ramallah, according to Ibish.
“He has been accused a number of improprieties… The other thing is that he took the brunt of the blame outside of Gaza for the victory of Hamas,” he said.
“He has shown the ability to command ongoing support from Fatah people in Gaza. But the key to power in Palestine is not Gaza, its Ramallah,” Ibish concluded.