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Al-Jazeerah: Cross-Cultural Understanding
News, July 2009
Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from
original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic
names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.
Farouq Al-Qaddoumi, the secretary-general of the Fat'h central committee, on Wednesday renewed his charges against Mahmoud Abbas and Mohamed Dahlan of liquidating late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, stressing that he does not recognize the current Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership in Ramallah.
“I accused nobody, but I demonstrated minutes of meetings that took place between Ariel Sharon, Abu Mazen (Abbas) and Dahlan,” Qaddoumi underlined in a televised statement to Al-Jazeera satellite channel.
He also emphasized the credibility of the documents he revealed and dared the PA to prove otherwise.
In his reply to a question about the reason for not uncovering such information before, the Fat'h leader said that he waited until he had more evidence about the PA’s conduct, adding that he also intended to reveal the documents during the sixth Fatah conference that could be held abroad, but after Abbas decided to hold it under the occupation, he found it necessary to reveal them at this time.
The Fat'h leader also noted that he wrote a statement illustrating the violations of regulations and laws committed by Abbas in addition to other acts he did against the Palestinian people’s interests.
In a new development, an informed source affiliated with a Jordanian leftist party, told the Palestinian information center on condition of anonymity that Dahlan started to export his seditious ideas to the Jordanian street after he failed to do so in Palestine, affirming that Dahlan paid some writers working for newspapers in Jordan to market the idea of the alternative homeland.
The source also said that a number of Jordanian partisan figures started to convey messages to Jordanian officials deploring their silence towards Dahlan’s attempts to incite citizens against the Jordanian parties who refuse the alternative homeland for Palestinians and support their right to return to their land.
It pointed out that many Jordanian official and popular parties consider Dahlan a persona non grata in Jordan especially because of his collaboration with Israelis and Americans against his people.
Fat'h members launch accusations over plot to assassinate Arafat
17/07/2009 16:29 Bethlehem - Ma’an/Agencies -
Accusations continue to fly between Fat'h men following senior member Farouq Qaddoumi’s accusations of foul play by current Fat'h leader and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The accusations aired Tuesday on Al-Jazeera, whose offices in the West Bank are now closed pending a suit for “incitement and false information,” saw Qaddoumi produce what he says to be authentic “transcripts which accuse people… Transcripts of meetings between Sharon, Abu Mazen [Abbas], and [former Palestinian security adviser Mohammed] Dahlan,” wherein they planned to assassinate former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
A former advisor to late President Arafat, Bassam Abu Sharif, however denied the accusation that Abbas had any part in an assassination attempt, and called Qaddoumi’s allegations “shocking.” He gave an interview with Al-Jazeera on Friday and sent statements to several news outlets decrying the charges.
Speaking from Amman, Abu Sharif claimed to have a second report that proves former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and former Israeli Army Minister Shaul Mofaz were the ones who planned the demise of Arafat.
“Who assassinated Arafat is the same one who assassinated the former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin… he is [current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, who governs Israel and he did so by a political game of sabotage and assassinations,” Abu Sharif added without elaborating on the accusation.
Abu Sharif spoke one day after Qaddoumi reaffirmed his original statements and clarified his sources on Al-Jazeera, speaking from Tunis.
"I have not made accusations against anyone, but I have meeting transcripts which accuse people… I just offered a document. If the document, as they claim, has no basis, they are welcome to prove their point,” Qaddoumi said on Al-Jazeera.
"However, I strongly believe that the document is an original one and all information included in it is correct. And, since 2004 until today, the actions of some members of the Palestinian Authority have definitely proven to me that these issues are correct," he added.
Al-Jazeera offices in West Bank remain closed
The flurry of coverage was spurred by a decision by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to close the West Bank offices of Al-Jazeera and file a suit against the news organization for false reporting and incitement. A Wednesday statement from Fayyad said the news channel had a long history of one-sidedness and of unfair criticism of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Palestinian media and civil society groups condemned the decision to halt Al-Jazeera's work, saying the order violated freedom of the press and freedom of speech guaranteed under the Palestinian Basic Law.
Raja calls for an independent commission to investigate Qaddumi's revelations
[ 17/07/2009 - 11:32 AM ]
DAMASCUS, (PIC)--
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command (PFLP-GC) called for an independent commission to investigate allegations by Fatah secretary, Farouq Qaddumi, that Abbas and others close to Arafat were involved in his poisoning.
Anwar Raja, head of the information bureau PFLP-GC, told al-Jazeera on Thursday evening that the accusations made by Qaddumi are very serious and require a rethinking of the whole Palestinian situation especially considering the weight Quddumi represents inside Fat'h.
He also said that these allegations makes other Palestinian factions ask: who are we engaging in dialogue with and what his true colour is?, in reference to Palestinian factional talks in Cairo.
Raja called for the formation of an independent Palestinian commission under Arab auspices stressing that the mysterious circumstances surrounding Arafat's death have caused suspicion since then and it makes no sense that this file should be closed despite all indications that Arafat was poisoned.
Qaddumi talked to al-Jazeera, earlier this week, about having documents that indicate the involvement of Mahmoud Abbas and Muhammad Dahlan in planning for the assassination of Arafat.
Official: PLO made no statement on Qaddoumi conspiracy accusations
17/07/2009 12:16 Abdul Rahim Mallouh Ramallah – Ma’an –
A senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official denied on Thursday that the group called dissident leader Farouq Qaddoumi “deranged” in response to his accusations against President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abdul Rahim Mallouh said in a statement on Thursday that the PLO Executive Committee “has not convened for the last two weeks which means that it did not have the chance to discuss Qaddoumi’s statements.”
Qaddoumi, a top Fatah official who has been at odds with the PLO establishment in the past, ignited a controversy earlier this week when he accused Abbas and Fatah’s former Gaza strongman Muhammad Dahlan of involvement in a plot to assassinate former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
On Tuesday news reports surfaced that quoted a PLO Executive Committee statement calling Qaddoumi “deranged” and “hysterical.”
Executive Committee Member Mallouh (a member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) added on Thursday, “I have nothing to do with the statement issued in the name of the PLO Executive Committee and I call on those who issue statements in the name of the committee to stop such acts which do not serve the national interest.”
He added that the Executive Committee must not be pushed to become a participant in internal disagreements within the PLO.
However, Mallouh said, “This does not mean that we agree with Qaddoumi’s statements. We also have been calling for the formation of an independent commission to look into the reasons behind the martyrdom of late President Yasser Arafat in order to end all the rumors and talk on this matter.”
Arafat died in a French hospital in 2004 at age 75. After multiple investigations, the cause of his death remains undetermined.
Separately, on Wednesday the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah ordered Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV to shut down its operations in the West Bank, and moved to file a lawsuit against the network because it aired Qaddoumi’s remarks.
