Abbas in 'unfathomable panic'

President Abbas and Yasser Abed Rabbo, then secretary general of the PLO executive committee in happier days. Photo by Kobi Gideon/Flash90

Abbas oversteps in moves against ‘political sabotage’

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appears to have gone too far, upsetting his European Union supporters, in ordering the closure of the Palestinian Peace Coalition, led by Yasser Abed Rabbo, whom Abbas earlier removed as secretary-general of the PLO’s Executive Committee.

By Shlomi Eldar, trans. Aviva Arad, Al Monitor
August 24, 2015

It took 72 hours for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to grasp that this time he had gone too far. On Aug. 19 in Ramallah, Palestinian security personnel burst into the offices of the Palestinian Peace Coalition, an organization headed by Yasser Abed Rabbo, an Abbas political rival, with a presidential order to shut it down. The coalition works among the Palestinian public to advance the Geneva Initiative and the idea of a two-state solution. The closure order was another move in the all-out war Abbas has declared on Abed Rabbo. On June 30, Abbas had fired Abed Rabbo from his position as secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Unlike Abed Rabbo’s firing and the forced resignation of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in April 2013, shutting down the offices of the Palestinian Peace Coalition elicited angry responses from numerous quarters. The coalition, like the Geneva Initiative office in Israel, is supported by the European Union, which views its activities as one of the last remaining rays of hope for peace in the region. The surprise of Abbas’ move was so great because Abbas presents himself as someone who strives tirelessly to advance the idea of peace with Israel on the basis of two states for two peoples, and the Geneva Initiative had received his blessing in the past.

The Geneva Initiative to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was formulated by Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli minister and chairman of the Meretz Party, and Abed Rabbo in 2003 in accordance with the 2000 Clinton Parameters outlining a permanent status agreement. The Israeli politician had also been Abbas’ partner in 1995 in drafting the framework of understandings called the Beilin-Abu Mazen Document, which also served as a basis for the Geneva Initiative.

One can clearly see Abbas’ affinity for the Geneva Initiative and his support of it through the years, but it seems that his political rivalry and fears have overcome the idea of peace and the goal of reconciliation. Abbas is convinced that a group of politicians and Palestinian activists are trying to undermine him, inspired by his biggest political enemy, former senior Fatah member Mohammed Dahlan. This is also the reason why on June 22, the Palestinian Authority (PA) confiscated funds donated from the Gulf states to the Fayyad-led organization Future for Palestine.

The president’s allies allege that Abed Rabbo frequently consults with Dahlan and that he is part of the group trying to undercut Abbas’ position. Four days after the order to shut down the Palestinian Peace Coalition, following massive pressure from the European Union, Abbas was forced to find a solution that would distance Abed Rabbo from the group while enabling the coalition to continue its work. Abbas, who cannot live without the economic and political support of the European Union, explained that the order had actually been intended for another organization, the Palestinian Media Centre, but that the offices of the Palestinian Peace Coalition, which were part of the centre, would continue to function since it is not a political organization.

Mohammed Dahlan, R, gets a grip on Hamas Prime Minister Haniyeh, December 2014. Commentary from Al Akhbar said:

Reconciliation with Mohammed Dahlan (Abu Fadi) is not the first ‘taboo’ to be dropped by Hamas. Recently, there were suggestions Hamas would hold direct talks with Israel, “to negotiate strongly in order to restore rights.” However, Dahlan brings up painful memories for Hamas’ supporters, for the suffering they went through before and during the Palestinian division. Reconciliation with Abu Fadi also provokes his arch rival Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), something that Hamas seem to be seeking these days.

Gadi Baltiansky, director of the Geneva Initiative, told Al-Monitor that this explanation had been communicated to the initiative’s Israeli office Aug. 23 as well as to the initiative’s Israeli and European partners. Abbas even clarified that he gives his blessing to its apolitical activity and that it corresponds with his goals and desires. Baltiansky spoke with Abed Rabbo, his Palestinian partner in the Geneva Initiative, and heard a sweeping denial of the president’s accusations. During the course of the conversation, Abed Rabbo claimed that what Abbas did was patently illegal and that the closure order wasn’t legally valid.

In the meantime, the Palestinian Peace Coalition can continue its activity as an independent organization, it seems, on the condition that Abed Rabbo does not take part in it. Nidal Fuqaha, who has worked with Abed Rabbo in the past, will continue to run the office in Ramallah.

A member of the PLO Executive Committee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in light of the sensitivity of the topic, said that the president is in an unfathomable panic. He suspects Fatah members of political sabotage and of conspiring with Dahlan. According to the source, Abbas can easily dispatch of Abed Rabbo and Fayyad, because they are not in Fatah, and they lack significant supporters. The problem is more serious when it comes to people within the movement who argue that organizational changes must be made in the PLO and Fatah to respond to current conditions. Every such person immediately becomes an enemy and a saboteur. This is also the reason, the source said, for Abbas’ reported Aug. 22 decision to resign as chairman of the PLO’s Executive Committee. At the conference of the organization’s national council, which will likely be held in September or October, Abbas will be re-elected to the position, and with the legitimacy gained from his re-election will then silence any criticism.

In the estimation of the Palestinian source, Abbas fears that Dahlan’s people are working with his critics in PLO and Hamas institutions to push him out in a coup. The Palestinian president is worried even more so that someone will try to hold him accountable after he resigns from the presidency. Even now, there are numerous claims that he allegedly took part in corrupt practices.

The fight over succession in the PA has direct ramifications for the authority’s relations with Israel. If Abbas neutralizes all possible successors, there won’t be a Palestinian leader on the horizon able to control the violence and chaos that threaten to break out in the territories. The only one who is stubbornly and diligently building his political base is Dahlan, and Abbas can only blame himself for that. The decision to expel Dahlan from Fatah in shame and to force him from PA territory into exile only provided him with more incentive for revenge. Dahlan’s base of supporters is growing, and if they have no other choice, Abed Rabbo and Fayyad will join the camp of supporters of the one figure who actually challenges Abbas’ rule.

A march organised by the Palestinian Peace Coalition in October 2012 demanding an end to Palestinian division. From the Facebook page of Geneva Initiative-Palestinian Peace Coalition.

Abbas orders Palestinian NGO closed in spat with former deputy

By Ali Sawafta and Nidal Almughrabi, Reuters
August 19, 2015

RAMALLAH–Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a decree to close an internationally funded Palestinian peace centre run by a political rival, a government official said on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Peace Coalition (PPC) promotes along with Israeli activists the Geneva Initiative, an unofficial plan for Palestinian statehood and an end to conflict with Israel.

Its chairman is Yasser Abed Rabbo who was secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization until being unexpectedly dismissed from that post by Abbas last month.

The veteran PLO official, effectively Abass’s number two in the organization, had been critical of the president’s decision-making for some time.

A presidential decree issued on Tuesday ordered the PPC closed and its assets and property in Ramallah transferred to the Information Ministry, Deputy Information Minister Mahmoud Khalifa said.

Abed Rabbo was not immediately available for comment.

On Wednesday, the PPC office in Ramallah was still operating and its manager, Nidal Fuqahaa, told Reuters the group would challenge Abbas’s move in court.

PPC officials said as it was a non-governmental organization, Abbas did not have the authority to close it. The PPC is largely funded by the European Union, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, Fuqahaa said.

The PPC was established in 2003, with the backing of then-president Yasser Arafat, in a bid to promote peacemaking with Israel.

U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a permanent peace agreement collapsed in 2014, with both sides deeply divided over issues such as borders, the future
of Jerusalem and Israeli settlement-building on land Israel has occupied since a 1967 war.

The Geneva Initiative advocates a two-state solution, Israeli annexation of large settlement blocs as part of land swaps between the two sides and recognition of Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and of Arab neighbourhoods as the Palestinian capital.

The Geneva Initiative

from Wikipedia

The Geneva Initiative, also known as the Geneva Accord, is a draft Permanent Status Agreement to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, based on previous official negotiations, international resolutions, the Quartet Roadmap, the Clinton Parameters, and the Arab Peace Initiative.The document was finished on 12 October 2003.

The Accord was prepared in secret for over 2 years before the 50-page document was officially launched on 1 December 2003, at a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland. Among its creators were formal negotiators and architects of previous rounds of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, including former Israeli minister and politician Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Authority minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. Both noted that the Geneva accord did not obligate either of their respective governments, even though Abed Rabbo was a minister at the time of writing. The Initiative got broad international support, but was heavily criticised by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

In September 2009, a detailed expanded version of the plan was released. The annexes serve as a supplement to the Geneva Accord, outlining the practical measures required for successful implementation of the two-state solution. They cover key issues including security, border crossings, the Implementation and Verification Group (IVG), roads, water management, environmental concerns, the economy, and the division of Jerusalem.

The full text is here

SUMMARY

Accord principles:

• End of conflict. End of all claims.
• Mutual recognition of Israeli and Palestinian right to two separate states.
• A final, agreed upon border.
• A comprehensive solution to the refugee problem.
• Large settlement blocks and most of the settlers are annexed to Israel, as part of a 1:1 land swap.
• Recognition of the Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and recognition of the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
• A demilitarized Palestinian state.
• A comprehensive and complete Palestinian commitment to fighting terrorism and incitement.
• An international verification group to oversee implementation.

Description

The Geneva Initiative is a model permanent status agreement between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine.

The accord presents a comprehensive and unequivocal solution to all issues vital to ensuring the end of the conflict. Adopting the agreement and implementing it would bring about a solution to the historical conflict, a new chapter in Israeli-Palestinian relations, and, most importantly, the realization of the national visions of both parties.

1. Mutual recognition:

As part of the accord, the Palestinians recognize the right of the Jewish people to their own state and recognize the State of Israel as their national home. Conversely, the Israelis recognize the Palestinian state as the national home of the Palestinian people.

2. Borders and settlements:

• The border marked on a detailed map is final and indisputable.
• According to the accord and maps, the extended borders of the State of Israel will include Jewish settlements currently beyond the Green Line, Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, and territories with significance for security surrounding Ben Gurion International Airport. These territories will be annexed to Israel on agreement and will become inseparable from it.
• In return to the annexation of land beyond the 1967 border, Israel will hand over alternative land to the Palestinian, based on a 1:1 ratio. The lands annexed to the Palestinian State will be of equal quality and quantity.

3. Jerusalem:

• The parties shall have their mutually recognized capitals in the areas of Jerusalem under their respective sovereignty.
• The Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem will be under Israeli sovereignty, and the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem will be under Palestinian sovereignty.
• The parties will commit to safeguarding the character, holiness, and freedom of worship in the city.
• The parties view the Old City as one whole enjoying a unique character. Movement within the Old City shall be free and unimpeded subject to the provisions of this article and rules and regulations pertaining to the various holy sites.
• There shall be no digging, excavation, or construction on al-Haram al-Sharif / the Temple Mount, unless approved by the two parties.
• A visible color-coding scheme shall be used in the Old City to denote the sovereign areas of the respective Parties.
• Palestinian Jerusalemites who currently are permanent residents of Israel shall lose this status upon the transfer of authority to Palestine of those areas in which they reside.

4. International Supervision:

An Implementation and Verification Group (IVG) shall be established to facilitate, assist in, guarantee, monitor, and resolve disputes relating to the implementation of the agreement. As part of the IVG, a Multinational Force (MF) shall be established to provide security guarantees to the parties. To perform the functions specified in this agreement, the MF shall be deployed in the state of Palestine.

5. Refugees:

The agreement provides for the permanent and complete resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem, under which refugees will be entitled to compensation for their refugee status and for loss of property, and will have the right to return to the State of Palestine. The refugees could also elect to remain in their present host countries, or relocate to third countries, among them Israel, at the sovereign discretion of third countries.

6. Security:

Palestine and Israel shall each recognize and respect the other’s right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from the threat or acts of war, terrorism and violence. Both sides shall prevent the formation of irregular forces or armed bands, and combat terrorism and incitement. Palestine shall be a non-militarized state, with a strong security force.