THE DAILY BEAST
Leader Mahmoud Abbas is allegedly preparing to threaten to dismantle the group if its U.N. statehood bid fails.
These are tough times for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Two months after he asked the United Nations to accept Palestine as a state, the membership bid is all but dead. Aid from the United States is drying up. Last month in Cairo, another attempt to make peace with his rivals in the Islamic Hamas group fell flat.
Now, The Daily Beast has learned that one of Abbas’s closest advisers drafted a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past month informing him that Abbas intends to dismantle the Palestinian Authority and transfer “all powers and responsibilities” over everyday life in the West Bank back to Israel. The letter has not been sent and there’s no indication that Palestinian leaders intend to relay it to the Israelis anytime soon. Instead, it appears to be part of a contingency plan in case Abbas feels he has exhausted his political options. A source who saw it said the letter outlined a staged handover of authority over each realm of government, including security, education and health.
The source, who was shown the letter while meeting with Palestinian officials, described it as two-pages long and addressed to Netanyahu. Abbas’s name appears at the bottom but the letter is unsigned. The source said it was drafted by Saeb Erekat, a longtime peace negotiator and aide to Abbas. In a conversation with The Daily Beast, Erekat refused to discuss the letter but did not deny its existence. Two Palestinian officials said a committee composed of top PLO members had been discussing the possibility of dismantling the Palestinian Authority should the membership campaign at the U.N. fail—but only as one option among several. Alternatives included calling a quick election in the West Bank and Gaza and seeking an international trusteeship for the Palestinian territories. The officials said the committee had met three times in the past month—one of them referred to the meetings as “brainstorming sessions”—but did not come to any decision.
Majdi Mohammed / AP Photo
Why Palestinians decided to put the idea of dismantling the Palestinian Authority in writing in unclear. The PA was established in 1994 under the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo agreement and was meant to govern the West Bank and Gaza for a period of three to five years until the two sides reached a final peace accord. Seventeen years later, an agreement has yet to be negotiated.
Lately, a growing number of Palestinians around Abbas are saying the PA has become too convenient for Israel. Its institutions manage the daily lives of Palestinians, sparing Israel the hassle and the expenditure. Palestinian policemen help prevent suicide attacks and cross-border raids, allowing Israel to deploy far fewer soldiers in the West Bank than in the past. All the while, Israel continues to control the territory and expand Jewish settlements, eating up land that Palestinians want for their state. Erekat has described the situation as a win-win for Israel. In a meeting with Palestinian diplomats this past summer, he said: “If the PA cannot achieve independence, it’s better that it didn’t exist at all.”
That sentiment is reinforced by the fact that the PA is already teetering anyway. For two months now, Israel has withheld the funds it collects in customs revenue on behalf of the Palestinian Authority—around $100 million monthly. The money amounts to about half the PA’s operating budget. Without it, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has had to borrow money from banks to pay the salaries of government employees and other bills and is now overleveraged. Israel says it’s withholding the money to punish Palestinians for their UN membership bidand for Abbas’s renewed effort to reconcile with Hamas.
There’s another reason as well. When Hamas traded Israeli soldier Gilad Shalitfor about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in October, the Islamic group pledged to pay each prisoner a $2,000 stipend, according to both Israeli and Palestinian sources. Abbas, fearing Hamas was buying the prisoners’ support, pledged to pay each prisoner $5,000. Israeli leaders see the payment as a form of terrorist financing and have pressed Abbas to stop the disbursement. (Israel announced this week it would resume the revenue transfers for now).
The potential implications of the PA’s sudden disappearance would be dramatic. To prevent chaos, Israel would have to resume its pre-1994 role as full-fledged occupier in the West Bank. A study the Israeli government commissioned several years ago put the cost of re-asserting control in the Palestinian territory at billions of dollars per year. Robert Serry, the United Nations secretary general’s envoy in the region, said in an interview last month that Israel would be on the hook for that outlay. “The Israelis shouldn’t expect us to again finance the consequences of what may happen.... Israel will again bear the full consequences of being the occupier.”
NOTE: The Palestinian Authority, united with Hamas, while seeking "statehood" through the U.N. was an insane move by Abbas, considering the PA's can't "afford" its independence, as it bottom-feeds off the MILLIONS of DOLLARS from the United States, Israel, and EU members, plus the UN's contributions. Can anyone figure out exactly how much money the PA's, including Hamas, receives on a yearly basis?! It has to be to the tune of BILLIONS of DOLLARS!
And in return, what does the Palestinian Authority give back to its citizens, and the world?!
NOTHING! ... COUNT IT ...ZERO!
However, they use the money sucked up by nations of the world, INCLUDING Israel's monies, to pay off terrorists;and like a bribe, they will try to refrain from terrorism as long as the flow of money keeps flowing like a river, there way! (By the way, Israel has agreed within the last two days, to continue supporting the PA's .. no longer withholding funds to the PA's) So much for "punishing" these "Palestinians" for their outrageous behavior.
We read today how the Obama administration, through Panetta, speaks harshly to Israel about "getting to the damn table" with the Palestinians. Hey, Panetta, do you remember PM Natanyahu offering to speak with Abbas at the UN meeting?! Yup, blame Israel; after all, the Arabs and the Muslim world blames Israel - why should Obama's refrain be any different? Obama has chosen to stand with terrorist organization who bleed the world dry, while offering the world, the Middle East nothing in return and yet, these same PA's have the audacity to seek "statehood" without offering peace, and without recognizing Israel as the one Jewish state in this world. Give us all a break! Please, give us a break from stupidity!
My guess is that if this rumor of Abbas giving up or dismantling the PA's is true, it is because Hamas has already determined that they reject (behind closed doors) any unity between their organization and the PA's. Hamas has probably suggested that Abbas break it up in order for the Hamas terrorists to take over the "Palestinians" completely. That is why the two have not come to a full agreement of "unity" after months of talks. Interesting! Considering that Panetta thinks he can force Israel into some kind of "box", while the PA's and Hamas can't even come to an agreement. And by the way, since Hamas are terrorists, why on earth would the US and its partners think for one minuted that Israel should now sit down and speak to those associated with terrorists?
Oh, here's a guess ..... Obama will be notifying the world that Hamas terrorists are actually "moderates" ... stay tuned ....