| So much excitement in that part if the world that, contra common wisdom, has nothing whatsoever to do with Israel. |
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
and backers of former Fatah strongman Mohammad Dahlan.
Amid escalating tensions between the two men, the PA has decided to withhold the salaries of some 200 of its Gazoo employees who are known as Dahlan loyalists.
In response, Dahlan stalwarts published the names of around 100 PA officers in Gazoo whom they accused of informing for the PA security forces in Ramallah. Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head...
a car belonging to one of the PA officers was torched.
Dahlan, a longtime opponent of Abbas who was expelled from Abbas's Fatah party in 2011, is considered a legitimate contender by some Paleostinians and PLO leaders to replace the president, who's been in power since 2005.
He once held the internal security portfolio and headed the powerful security forces in the Gazoo Strip, but fell from grace in June 2007 when Hamas drove Fatah from Gazoo after days of fierce street battles.
Hamas, which alone holds sway in Gazoo -- despite a nominal power-sharing agreement with Abbas's Fatah ‐ has sided with Dahlan, publishing a statement supporting the 200 unpaid civil servants.
A Fatah source accused Dahlan's loyalists of sending anonymous, threatening text messages to 2,000 Fatah men in the Gazoo Strip.
The withholding of salaries from PA workers linked to Dahlan was all the more conspicuous in light of the fact that Ramallah was only able to pay its other workers 60 percent of their salaries, after Israel withheld Paleostinian tax revenues.
The delaying of Paleostinian funds by Jerusalem was a punitive move in response to Abbas's application to join the
International Criminal Court... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
and sue Israel for alleged war crimes.
Increased cooperation between Hamas and Dahlan in recent months has corresponded with the steady unraveling of the Hamas-Fatah unity deal, and has seen Hamas cooperate with Dahlan's loyalists in organizing a rally against Abbas.