By Denis Korkodinov
Washington is stepping up pressures to overthrow Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority. The statement of the White House adviser Jared Kushner, saying that he is ready to work toward a peace agreement with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but cast doubt on Abbas’ commitment to completing a deal, indicates that the United States does not intend to seriously consider Abbas as an interlocutor for treaty talks.
A number of US experts predict that the leadership of the Palestinian Authority may change within the next 6 months. Tel Aviv, together with the Donald Trump administration, is actively pursuing a policy of destabilizing the situation in Palestine. To reach this aim, various measures of economic and military-political pressure have being taken, including limiting Palestinian Authority access to $ 140 million in monthly international funding and significantly reducing US investment. Ramallah is in a state of deep economic crisis that could lead to the overthrow of Mahmoud Abbas as head of Palestine.
Indeed, the question of the change of political leader in Palestine has been a key issue during the last 10 years. The point is that Mahmoud Abbas’s presidential term expired in 2009. And since then, the election of the new President of Palestine has not been held because Fatah and Hamas continue to fight for power. This allowed Mahmoud Abbas, with the support of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to become virtually the permanent head of the Palestinian Autonomous Areas.
However, the Palestinian politician’s old age and his deteriorating health create objective prerequisites for finding a successor. In addition, the White House administration and Tel Aviv are making every effort to ensure that Mahmoud Abbas resigns as soon as possible.
The main figures in the post of President of Palestine may be offered to a functioning “party of power” (“Fatah”), which continues to be popular with ordinary voters and has a powerful levers of control of the Palestinian Autonomy.
The most striking person who can claim the role of Mahmoud Abbas’s successor is the Nablus Governor, Mahmoud al-Alul.
According to a number of knowledgeable sources, Mahmoud al-Alul is the favorite of Mahmoud Abbas, who intends to put him on the post of chairman of Fatah. This decision by the President of Palestine is due to the fact that Mahmoud al-Alul considers the Palestinian people’s struggle with Israel to be exclusively conducted with “peaceful” methods, above all economic, such as the boycott of Israeli goods. At the same time, it eliminates the possibility of violent resistance from Tel Aviv, which is very impressive to Mahmoud Abbas.
Another contender for the post of head of the Autonomy Authority is Jibril Mahmoud Muhammad Rajoub, who is very popular in both Palestine and Israel, thanks to the fact that he held the post of head of the Palestinian intelligence service under Yasser Arafat.
In 2014, as a result of an information drain organized by an alleged Israeli intelligence, a protocol was published on the Internet by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, according to which Doha, with the assistance of the US administration, intended to promote the overthrow of Mahmoud Abbas and the establishment of a triumvirate led by Jibril Rajoub, Khaled Machal and Marwan Barghouti.
In Ramallah and Tel Aviv, Jibril Rajoub is seen as the link between Fatah and Hamas. In this regard, from the point of view of experts, the problem of reunification of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip can be finally resolved if he will be elected as head of Palestine.
A serious competitor to Jibril Rajoub is likely to be Majid Faraj, head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service. In December 2016, he participated in a delegation of senior PA representatives who coordinated with the US a vote on the UN Security Council resolution, where the United States abstained.
No less prominent role in Ramallah in the case of Mahmoud Abbas’s resignation will be played by Fatah Secretary-General Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat . He is currently one of the most recognizable Palestinian figures in the West. However, he has repeatedly been criticized for the scandalous exaggeration of Palestinian casualties during the 2002 events in Jenin.
One way or another, all the candidates presented have vast experience in the struggle for power. They may have the support of voters. Among other things, Mahmoud Abbas did not impede the rapid growth of their popularity in Palestine, so they have great potential to claim for the post of head of the Palestinian Authority.
(The views expressed in this article belong only to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights)
Image Credit: Anadolu Agency