... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...is resorting to the oddest tactics, accusing Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, of being directly funded by the Israeli premier after dissolving the Paleostinian parliament.
In a speech in Ramallah Saturday, Abbas claimed that PM Benjamin Netanyahu was providing Hamas with the money with which it funded attacks against Israelis.
"Netanyahu personally takes money and gives it to Hamas. What does that mean? [Hamas] sends weapons, equipment and funds here," Abbas claimed.
Israel has blamed Hamas for a recent increase in the West Bank attacks during which three Israelis, including two soldiers, were rubbed out.
The attacks have reinforced the patriotic image of Hamas in the West Bank which is controlled by the Paleostinian Authority.
A public opinion poll released on Tuesday showed that Abbas would lose to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...if elections were held today.
The poll conducted by prominent pollster Khalil Shikaki showed that Haniyeh would win with 49 percent to Abbas’ 42 percent.
Abbas's term was meant to expire in 2009, but he has remained in office in the absence of elections.
Shikaki linked the results to what is perceived as a Hamas win in its latest confrontation with Israel and frustration with Abbas’s government.
The survey found that the majority of Paleostinians (53 percent) have negative views about the Paleostinian Authority and that 43 percent of them hold Abbas responsible for the deteriorating conditions in the Gazoo Strip.
Abbas has sought to pressure Hamas in recent months by reducing salaries in the Gazoo Strip, which is under an Israeli blockade, among other moves.
His administration has opposed recent arrangements that have seen Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...provide millions of euros in aid for salaries and fuel in the Gazoo Strip, bypassing the Paleostinian Authority.
Abbas is apparently left seething. On Saturday, Abbas announced his intention to dissolve the Paleostinian parliament which is controlled by Hamas following a landslide victory in 2006.