ABBAS CHARM OFFENSIVE FAILS

Qaradawi slams Abbas

A heated exchange of recriminations, name-calling and blame casting has been raging in occupied Palestine between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood following scathing criticisms of President Mahmoud Abbas by Qatar-based Sheikh Youssef El-Qaradawi.

Qaradawi, one of the world's most highly respected living Sunni Islam scholars, reportedly urged both the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to form a special committee that would look into charges that Abbas had colluded with Israel against Hamas during the three-week onslaught on Gaza last year.

Moreover, Qaradawi lambasted the manner in which Abbas initially dealt with the Goldstone Report as constituting treason and betrayal. He argued, possibly rhetorically, that Abbas and his aides should be stoned to death in the centre of Mecca if it was proved that they colluded and connived with Israel against their own people.

The highly charged statements infuriated the increasingly beleaguered Palestinian leader who retorted by saying that he was more religious than 90 per cent of Hamas's supporters.(who is he kidding here?) Abbas charged that Qaradawi's outburst was based on Israeli misinformation. He also accused the Egyptian-born scholar of displaying ingratitude, claiming that he had done a favour for Qaradawi by convincing Qatari authorities to allow him to stay in the country.

In fact, Qaradawi didn't say that Abbas colluded with Israel; he only called on pan- Arab and Muslim bodies to look into the possibility that PA-Israeli collusion may have occurred. Indeed, numerous reports based on Israeli, Palestinian and foreign sources had affirmed the collusion accusations, though the PA vehemently denies them.

However, the mere allusion that Abbas and his aides may have collaborated with Israel against Hamas -- though not voiced for the first time -- is being seen by the Palestinian leadership as an unacceptable insult warranting a strong reaction. Abbas instructed his media outlets to launch a vitriolic attack on Qaradawi. The PA's media called the prominent scholar, widely considered one of the most knowledgeable in the disciplines of Sharia, or Islamic law, an "ignoramus" and "puppet of the government of Qatar".

More obscene epithets were also used against Qaradawi, persona non grata in several Western countries for his outspoken support of Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation.

On Friday 15 January, the Fatah- controlled Ministry of Religious Affairs circulated a special anti-Qaradawi sermon to be read at mosques all over the West Bank during the congregational prayer. Most imams refused to read the sermon, with many substituting it for sermons praising the ulema (religious scholars) and castigating those "ignoramuses" and "hoodlums" who assault and insult the scholars.

However, in some places like Ramallah, some newly-appointed imams, who also support the PA, lashed out at Qaradawi, accusing him of "dividing the ranks of Muslims" and of "spreading rumours and disinformation in manners not befitting a great scholar". PA Waqf (religious endowments) Minister Mahmoud Al-Habbash urged Qaradawi to "apologise to his Excellency President Mahmoud Abbas as well as to the Palestinian people".

Al-Habbash is a vehement opponent of Hamas who fled Gaza two and half years ago following Hamas's defeat of Fatah's militias who had sought to unseat Hamas, aided by American General Keith Dayton.

In truth, the real issue has more to do with the power struggle between Fatah and Hamas than between Qaradawi and Abbas. Qaradawi has always been a strong supporter of Hamas, although he never adopted a manifestly hostile position to Fatah or other Palestinian groups. Indeed, Qaradawi, who appears regularly on Al-Jazeera TV's flagship show "Sharia and Life", has consistently called for Palestinian unity, arguing that Palestinian disunity will only benefit Israel and the enemies of the Palestinian cause.

But Qaradawi also took an uncompromising stand against the blockade of Gaza and lately issued a religious edict forbidding the building by Egypt of a steel-and-concrete wall along Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip. His edict contradicted another by Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the mufti of Egypt, which supported the construction of the steel wall. This prompted one Palestinian writer to lament that the Palestinian cause was getting lost between "Tantawi and Qaradawi".

There is no doubt that the vast majority of ordinary Palestinians, and probably other Muslim peoples as well, are more sympathetic to Qaradawi who has long stood against the US invasion and occupation of Muslim countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and who remained a consistent supporter of the Palestinian cause during the first and second Intifadas. This is why the ranting and ravings of Fatah spokesmen and leaders against Qaradawi have not been received well in the West Bank, especially in East Jerusalem and Gaza where people can generally voice their views without fear of PA reprisals.

Abdel-Sattar Qassem, professor of political science at An-Najah University in Nablus and a prominent intellectual and commentator, lambasted Qaradawi's critics, saying, "Sheikh Qaradawi is loftier and more sublime than paying attention to these midgets. Qaradawi is a fluttering banner of the Islamic umma [nation]; he is a shining symbol for all Muslims. He is a great scholar, a polymath; he is always at the forefront defending Arab and Muslim causes in general and the Palestinian cause in particular."

"Qaradawi is a giant in his knowledge, a giant in his morality, a giant in his humanity. We may differ with him on this or that issue, but this should never make us question his status and stature as one of the greatest living scholars of the Muslim umma," wrote Qassem this week. He added: "A nation that doesn't show respect to its best sons is a nation ruled by ignoramuses who would sell out their countries for the lowest price."

Concluding the article, Qassem wrote: "I apologise to Sheikh Qaradawi for what these ignoramuses are saying."

It is not clear when this fresh acrimony will die down. What is clear is that as long as the Hamas-Fatah showdown continues, polarisation, not only in the Palestinian arena but also in the wider Arab arena, will persist. LINK

IF THE "SHOE" FITS

Here is today’s comedy: The Jews are warning Abbas that he “may” face another intifada if he does not return to the “negotiating” table. The problem is that Abbas has already given just about everything away, so what else does he have to “bargain” with except settlements, East Jerusalem and the Right of Return; all of which must be protected by Palestine and never given up to Israel.

Israeli President Shimon Peres recently warned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that continuing the deadlock in negotiations with Israel could lead to a third intifada and that in delaying, Abbas was “playing with fire.”

Peres said he had told Abbas “to be reasonable, and once negotiations are started, then is the time to work out solutions.”

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had invited Netanyahu and Abbas to a summit in Cairo to renew talks, the president told Store. “Abu Mazen wants Netanyahu to declare the 1967 borders. He cannot. The 1967 borders are 40 years past....On the other hand, I do not think we have to take territory from them. More or less, we can give them the same amount of land while changing the borders due to of security considerations.”

Peres said Israel had accepted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s plan in this vein, and “I told Abu Mazen to accept it too.”

At a meeting at the President’s Residence on Sunday, Peres told Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store about his discussions with Abbas. Store told Peres that Israel should take more steps to support Abbas. “Abu Mazen [Abbas] is vulnerable and feels hurt, and his position needs to be bolstered by American support,” Store said, adding: “You have the best psychologists … How do we read the personality and political mind of Abu Mazen? What will make him move?”

But Peres should not be worried about another Intifada, because Abbas said recently, that he will NEVER allow the Palestinian people another intifada, no matter what Israel does or what Israel takes, and here's the punchline "As long as he stays in office."

LINK Abbas emphasized that he would not allow another uprising to take place as long as he stays in office.

"I will not allow a new intifada. As long as I'm in office, I will not allow anybody to start a new intifada. Never never."

The Fatah leader who earlier said he would not run in the next Palestinian election warned that he could not make any guarantees another intifada would not erupt once he left office.

Abbas has effectively told Israel and the US that they can have anything they want so long as he remains in office. And there will be no Palestinian resistance against anything Israel wants to take or how many times it invades Gaza or the West Bank. The problem for Abbas is that when you start negotiations from a point of weakness, you have no where to go, you're already at the bottom. Once a supporter of Palestinian rights and sovereignty, he's now nothing more than a propped up puppet who fully colludes with Israel and the US in order to secure his dictatorship.

Given that the only "free" part of Palestine is Gaza, where once you cross over there are no Israeli checkpoints and no IDF on the streets and no settlements. So who would you want negotiating for Palestine? Abbas and FATAH who govern under Israeli/US control in a part of Palestine that is covered in settlements and Israeli soldiers, or HAMAS. I know who I'd want sitting at that table if I were Palestinian. And it would not be Abbas.....

ABBAS FINDS WAY OUT & SABOTAGES UNITY DEAL

Abbas has found a way out, he's sabotaging any unity deal with Hamas.

If you ever wondered what insanity looked like up close and personal, then look no more. Because you can see it in the face of the corpse President Abbas. He's all used up, a has been, outed by his own criminal treacherous acts against his own people. But how does he extricate himself from the political atomic bomb now?

After about a week of watching him and the PA make countless contradicting statements, flip flopping all over the place, or what we call "throwing shit on a wall to see what sticks" He's finally come up with the political "Holy Grail." Can you guess what it is? Yup, blame Hamas. But with an added feature too good to be true. Blame Hamas AND avoid a unity deal at the SAME time, genius! Here's how he's doing it:

Fatah has agreed to an Egyptian proposal for the two main Palestinian factions to separately sign a long-delayed unity deal by October 15, a senior party official said on Tuesday.

Suddenly Abbas announces he "wants" the unity deal with Hamas, something he avoided for years, until "right" now. next:

"We know (Hamas) are looking for any excuse. This is not the first time they have disagreed about the dialogue, and now they are doing so with the excuse of the Goldstone report," Abbas said in a speech in the West Bank town of Jenin.

"They don't want to go to Egypt, they don't want to bring about national unity and they don't want to turn back from their black coup," he said.

Hamas cannot agree to unity right now, not after what Abbas did with the Goldstone Report. Abbas knows this. It would be political suicide, given the feelings on the ground by regular Palestinians, not only in Gaza but the West Back as well. How convenient for Abbas. And just to make SURE Hamas won't enter into any unity deal, Abbas makes this outrageous claim, which again, shows how treacherous an Israeli Puppet he really is! See here:

Abbas went on to accuse Hamas leaders of fleeing during Israel's assault on Gaza at the turn of the year. "Hamas leaders, and I am saying this for the first time, fled to Sinai in ambulances and left their people to be slaughtered," he said.

Let me FIRST say, where the HELL were you Abbas when your fellow Palestinians were being slaughtered by your pals Israel?? Safe and sound in your big fat house that you got from doing dirty deals with your captors. Does this sound like a man who wants "Unity?" Or a man who wants to create an impossible political situation for Hamas so that NO unity deal will be struck, thus the traitor can arrange (with Israel and the USA's blessing and over seeing) an Election that will of course exclude Hamas due to "no unity deal." Get it now folks? More:

Fatah officials had earlier said that they would send a delegation to Egypt to sign onto the agreement and said that Cairo had given Hamas 48 hours to present its final response to the written agreement

So, Hamas has 48 hours, or else. Never mind Abbas has had since 2007. People need to see what's going on here for exactly what it is. Nothing more than Abbas/Israel and the USA sabotaging Palestinian unity and Democratic elections to keep the Abbas Agent Dictator in office for as long as they need him.