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BEIRUT — More than a month before Wednesday night’s ceasefire announcement, Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reached a draft deal to form a “community support committee” to administer post-war Gaza. It was a significant step in nearly two decades of effort to end the Palestinian division and unify the rival factions, as well as establish effective management of Gaza after the end of the Israeli-Hamas war.
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Fatah was expelled from Gaza in 2007 after bloody clashes with Hamas, which took power in the coastal enclave.
The draft deal called for establishing a technocratic committee of 10 to 15 experts in economy, education, health, humanitarian aid and reconstruction. At the time, AFP reported that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would issue a presidential decree appointing this committee after approving the draft. The agency cited an unnamed Fatah official.
Abbas initially agreed to establish the committee. Yet he later backed down and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) rejected the committee, according to Palestinian writer Fathi al-Sabah.
After Abbas
Many figures have been suggested as a potential candidate for leading Gaza after war ends. The potential leader should be acceptable to various parties: first and foremost, to the Israelis and Americans; but also to Palestinians, particularly those in Gaza.
Among the most prominent figures is Mohammed Dahlan, a senior member of Fatah.
“Dahlan does not aspire to assume leadership of the Gaza Strip in the post-war phase,” al-Sabah said. “Rather, he sees himself as a candidate to lead the entire Palestinian people, looking forward to the position of president of the Palestinian Authority.”
His ambition is not to succeed Abbas directly, but rather prefers that to be at a later stage after another president assumes this position, al-Sabah said.
“Dahlan sees himself as more than just a leader to manage Gaza in the next phase. And he believes that his future role should be at the level of the Palestinian homeland as a whole, and not limited to managing the affairs of only Gaza,” he said.
Dahlan is one of the most cunning Palestinian figures.
Al-Sabah expects that Rawhi Fattouh, who assumed the position of interim president after the death of Yasser Arafat, will be one of the potential candidates to succeed Abbas, while Dahlan will be the most prominent candidate after Fattouh. It is necessary to point out here the great Arab support that Dahlan enjoys, specifically from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
A seasoned businessman
Daraj reported earlier that Dahlan is one of the most cunning Palestinian figures. He played on all the contradictions, as he was a Fatah member close to Arafat, and held prominent security and political positions. Dahlan was the head of the Preventive Security Service, and member of Fatah’s Central Committee before he reportedly attempted a coup against Abbas. He was removed from the committee in 2011.
He can speak the language of Hamas, as he was born in Khan Yunis with the most prominent leaders of the group, including the late Yahya Sinwar, who was chairman of Hamas’ political bureau.
After leaving the Palestinian territories, Dahlan traveled to the UAE and was appointed as an advisor to President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. A seasoned businessman, especially in Serbia and Montenegro, where he holds citizenship, Dahlan has good relations with the United States and has friends in Israel. His fortune is estimated at 0 million, according to several sources.
Other figures
The Dahlan faction and countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia have proposed prominent figures for the community support committee. Al-Sabah said they include former Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Nasser Al-Qudwa, who served as Palestine’s representative to the United Nations for more than 20 years.
While both belong to Fatah, Abbas has rejected them because they are affiliated with the Dahlan faction. He nominated Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Abu-Amr, a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee who is close to Abbas.
The committee idea has been criticized due to the limits of its ambiguous role and tasks.
“Working with it may turn the ‘factional division’ into a ‘geographical separation,’ and will deepen the path of fragmentation that has struck the ‘Palestinian regime’ for nearly two decades,” Al Jazeera reported. Its role may be contradictory to the establishment of a Palestinian state. There is “suspicious ambiguity” about the committee that apparently aims to reduce the Palestinian cause to “services” and “facilities.”
The organization of tribes and clans in Gaza has pressed to form the committee, warning that “stalling means abandoning the Palestinian people and allowing the occupation to carry out its plans of displacement and extermination.”
