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Mahmoud Abbas vs Mohammed Dahlan: The Showdown Begins | Ramzy Baroud
Ramzy Baroud -- World News Trust
March 26, 2014
When late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was confined by Israeli soldiers to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Mohammed Dahlan reigned supreme.
As perhaps the most powerful and effective member of the "Gang of Five," he managed the affairs of the ruling Fatah movement, coordinated with Israel regarding matters of security, and even wheeled and dealed in issues of regional and international affairs.
That was the period between March and April 2002 and it was a different time. Back then, Dahlan -- a former Palestinian Authority (PA) minister, a former National Security advisor and a former head of Gaza's PA Preventative Security Service (PSS) -- was king of the hill. All of his rivals were conveniently or by chance out of the picture. Arafat was then imprisoned in his office in al-Muqata’a, and Dahlan's toughest contender, Jibril Rajoub, leader of the West Bank PSS, was discredited in a most humiliating fashion. During the most violent Israeli crackdown of the Second Palestinian Intifada (2000-2005), Rajoub handed the PSS headquarters to the Israeli army with all of its Palestinian political prisoners and walked away. Since then, Rajoub's star faded into a dark chapter of Palestinian history. For Dahlan, however, it was yet a new start.
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http://worldnewstrust.com/mahmoud-abbas-vs-mohammed-dahlan-the-showdown-begins-ramzy-baroud