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Iran seeking to whack Abbas
The defense establishment is worried that extremist Palestinians under Iranian influence might in the near future try to assassinate Mahmoud Abbas, the new head of the PLO. Defense officials do not believe that Sunday's incident, in which armed Palestinians fired at Abbas's entourage, killing two guards, was aimed at Abbas himself. Rather, said one senior defense official, it was meant as a warning: that Abbas should not leave armed Fatah activists from Gaza, who are identified with Moussa Arafat and Tanzim leader Ahmed Hilas, out of the circle of power. "This will not be the last incident of this type," he added. But the chances of a genuine assassination attempt will increase the closer the new Palestinian leadership comes to an agreement to end the terror and resume diplomatic negotiations with Israel, the official said.Abbas, he noted, has openly opposed terrorism and the anarchy in the territories ever since the intifada began in September 2000, and he tried to implement this approach during his half-year stint as Palestinian prime minister, under Yasser Arafat, in 2003. Now, Abbas wants to arrange a new cease-fire, and if he is elected as the Palestinian Authority's new chairman this January, he is also expected to strive for some kind of agreement, even if only partial, with Israel. Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, however, are vehemently opposed to even a temporary Palestinian reconciliation with Israel, and they are therefore pressing terrorist organizations in the territories to step up attacks against Israel. The Israel Defense Forces are bracing for a spate of such attacks in the coming days, after the Id al-Fitr holiday. The first sally in this expected wave of attacks may already have occurred, in the form of a Katyusha rocket fired at the Western Galilee from Lebanon Monday afternoon the second such incident in the last three weeks. The drone that Hezbollah sent over Israel last week is another sign that the Iranian-backed organization is interested in heating up the northern border. Iran's first move, defense officials said, will be to try to foil Abbas's plans for a cease-fire. But, they added, Iran views Abbas as a threat, and would therefore not hesitate to target him personally, along with his close associate, Mohammed Dahlan, if his efforts to reach a truce seem likely to succeed. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-11-16 |
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