Photo Credit: U.S. State Dept. / M. Dahlan Office)
Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas is set to announce that he will run again for president in the upcoming elections and is attempting to eliminate his opponent Mohamed Dahlan by lodging a complaint against him with Interpol.
Dahlan was ousted from Fatah by Abbas in 2010, and Abbas is now seeking to thwart his presidential bid by requesting that Interpol arrest him.
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Abbas over the weekend ordered his chief of intelligence, Majd Faraj, to asset Turkey in collecting the required information for its request to have Dahlan arrested.
Turkey has blamed Dahlan of involvement in the failed 2016 attempt to overthrow the government. They also believe he was involved in the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which occurred in Turkey.
A source within Fatah told TPS that Abbas’ move is an attempt to settle political scores ahead of the upcoming elections in the PA, heading off a possible joint run by Dahlan and Marwan Barghouti, a terrorist serving several life terms in an Israeli prison his involvement in three terrorist attacks in Israel that killed five people. He was acquitted on charges of 33 other murders due to a lack of evidence of direct involvement.
Dahlan and Barghouti may run in a separate Fatah list, with Hamas’ backing.
In the meantime, Fatah’s leadership on Saturday discussed its preparations for the upcoming general elections, which date has yet to be declared.
A statement released after the meeting said that the attendees reached a consensus on nominating Abbas for president in the upcoming presidential election.
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