August 08, 2011: Top officials of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party issued a report contending that former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan sent poison disguised as medicine to Yaaser Arafat, poisoning him while he was in a Paris hospital. Arafat died in November 2004 under mysterious circumstances in France
They offered no evidence to back up their claim, other than to say Dahlan ordered Arafat guards to burn the vials in which the alleged poison was stored. The report also says, without providing evidence, that Dahlan stole $300 million the U.S. sent the Palestinians to build a security force.

Dahlan was widely blamed by colleagues for the 2007 loss of Gaza to Fatah’s rivals, the militant Hamas group, when he was the security chief in the seaside strip. He and Abbas have been feuding for months. Dahlan has accused the Palestinian president of being a weak leader and of allowing his sons to benefit financially from his rule. Fatah expelled Dahlan from the party in June because of his repeated criticism of Abbas, and Palestinian police recently raided his West Bank home.

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In response to the Al-Jazeera campaign against Abbas and his Fatah organization, Fatah gunmen attacked Al-Jazeera studios in Shechem (Nablus) on Wednesday.

They damaged equipment, though no one was hurt. Pinhas Inbari, a veteran Palestinian Authority affairs correspondent and the author of books such as “The Palestinians: Between Terrorism and Statehood,” writes that Al-Jazeera has an agenda to de-legitimize the PA in the eyes of its residents and the Arab world.

Inbari indicates that Al-Jazeera purposely overlooks the firmness with which the PA adhered to some of its positions. For instance, the PLO team “was adamant in refusing to agree to Israeli demands to keep the settlement blocs. For example, the Palestinians demanded the dismantling of the city of Ariel (pop. 17,559), and they were ready to consider leaving Israelis living in Ma’ale Adumim (pop. 34,324) only if the Jewish city adjacent to Jerusalem was under Palestinian sovereignty.” He also raises the possibility that some of the leaked documents are simply forgeries.

Over the past week, the Qatar-based Arabic-language satellite TV station and international news network has been publishing documents leaked to it from the PLO Negotiations Support Unit – causing great damage to the PA negotiators. “Now, after Al-Jazeera has brainwashed Arab minds with charges of PLO treason,” Inbari writes, “no declaration of statehood can be expected. Neither will there be a resumption of negotiations with Israel since the Palestinian team will stick to the most hard-line positions possible.”

The leaked documents indicate that the PLO negotiators and leadership conceded to Israel on three main points: The relatively small number of Arab “refugees” to be allowed to enter Israel; allowing Israel to keep most Jewish neighborhoods in what is known as eastern Jerusalem; and collaborating with Israel in fighting Hamas terrorists.

According to the leaked documents, Inbari writes, the PLO negotiating team “relinquished all Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem except for Har Homa – including Ramot Shlomo, the Jewish neighborhood that sparked the crisis between Israel and the U.S., and Sheikh Jarrah, now a location for demonstrations by international supporters of the Palestinian cause.”

The papers also quote PA chief Mahmoud Abbas in an internal briefing to PA officials as saying, “We cannot demand the return of millions, as this will end Israel.”

December 2010: Former Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan has been banned from the faction’s meetings and is facing an internal investigation. Scores of Dahlan’s followers have been arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces in Judea Samaria, and government institutions have been instructed not to cooperate with him, according to international Arab news reporter Khaled Abu Toameh.

Last month PA security forces were ordered to stop guarding Dahlan’s private residence in Ramallah. Dahlan, who after the signing of the Oslo Accords founded and for years served as head of the PA’s Preventive Security Service in Gaza, was once considered a potential successor to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

The 49-year-old Fatah leader was elected to the faction’s Central Committee during its August 2009 conference after having bounced back following the humiliating defeat of his forces in Gaza militia’s civil war with rival Hamas terrorists in June 2007. He is now being investigated by a commission of inquiry, over suspicion that Dahlan is trying to topple the PA leadership, starting with Abbas. In addition, the probe is focusing on the source of Dahlan’s personal wealth.

According to a statement released to the WAFA news agency, the Fatah Central Committee decided “unanimously to suspend Mohammed Dahlan from its meetings until the Commission of Inquiry completes its work.” The Committee also removed Dahlan from the faction’s Information and Culture Commission.

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, top aide to Abbas and his primary spokesman, was appointed to become Fatah’s chief spokesman as well. The AFP news service quoted an unnamed committee member who said Dahlan was accused of “subversion against… [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas and members of the committee” and of having called them “incompetent.” The committee member said Dahlan had been notified of the charges, and the committee heard his testimony.

Dahlan’s office in Ramallah declined to comment, according to AFP, which reported that he is abroad, as he has often been in the past several months. Dahlan has been in the crosshairs of the PA leadership for months after having spoken against Abbas’s sons, Tareq and Yasser, themselves wealthy businessmen. In addition, he had criticized Abbas, at one point allegedly calling for his replacement.