 Ramallah, Paleostine (Rantburg News Service): Fatah officials have asked the Palestinian president to resign, dissolve the Palestinian Authority and return responsibility for the occupied territories to Israel in protest against Tel Aviv's actions. "If we can't be in charge," said Paleostinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, "then there's no reason to have a government. Just forget the whole thing." Senior Fatah officials said on Friday the idea of scrapping the Palestinian Authority (PA) was debated for the first time on Thursday night by the Fatah central committee, which controls Mahmoud Abbas' faction. "We knew as soon as we lost the election that the whole idea of Paleostine was a bust," the official said. The discussion highlighted frustrations within Fatah, beaten by Hamas in January elections, following Israel's seizure of a Palestinian leader in a West Bank prison raid this week. "The whole idea behind the Paleostinian Authority is power," Erekat explained. "If you don't have power, what have you got? You're... ummm... powerless. So we're going to just call the whole thing off. Hamas can do what they want. We're outta here." A senior Fatah official said Abbas' top aide, Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, had sparked the debate in the central committee at the behest of his boss. "Abdel-Rahim said at the meeting Abbas must consider resigning and dissolving the Palestinian Authority if Israel continues with its attacks and unilateral measures," said the official, who asked not to be named. "Why should we accept blow after blow to President Abbas whom the world claims to support?" the official quoted Abdel-Rahim as saying. "We've fought the Israelis for years, and now Hamas has won. Since we couldn't lick the Israelis, and since we like them better than we like Hamas, we'll join them." Abbas, who resigned once when he was prime minister under the late Yasser Arafat, and has threatened to quit since becoming president, told the central committee he would consider the proposal, the official said. "I guess I could do that," he stated, cautiously. "But I couldn't do it without a pension. A big pension. And some jobs for my relatives. Maybe I'll run for president. I have experience..." |