Kaddoumi flexes his Fatah Muscles and Hamas friends

Since the death of Arafat, I have been warning everyone to keep an eye on the goings-on of Fatah old guard purist Farouk Kaddoumi. Kaddoumi was one of the original 5 founding members of Fatah and the only one who refused to return to the West Bank from Tunis under the Oslo accord with Arafat. When Lady McRamallah wanted to keep Arafat’s billions and Mahmoud Abbas (with American support) was pressuring her to give it up for the common good - guess who she turned to for support, help and revenge?

I suspect the original arrangement with Kaddoumi staying on as the PLO’s official Foreign Minister located in Tunis suited Arafat just fine, as Kaddoumi, was probably the only Fatah member with enough clout, money, and loyal boots on the ground to be able to mount a credible threat to Arafat’s leadership of the PLO, and according to this Jerusalem Post article, he is actively involved in circumventing Abbas’ current leadership.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's efforts to replace the Hamas-led government suffered a major setback this week when it turned out that even senior members of his Fatah party are opposed to such a move. Earlier this week, Abbas arrived in Amman to seek the backing of the Fatah central committee, one of several Palestinian key decision-making bodies, for his plan to fire the Hamas government. Shortly before the meeting, Abbas learned that many committee members were opposed to his plan and decided to return to Ramallah immediately.

Sources close to Abbas are convinced that Farouk Kaddoumi, a hard-line leader of Fatah who is based in Tunis and who maintains a close relationship with Hamas and Syria, had incited the rest of the central committee members against the plan to get rid of the Hamas government. They claimed that Kaddoumi, who visited Damascus over the weekend, had forged an "unholy alliance" with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to thwart Abbas's plan.

The latest crisis in Fatah, as well as reports that the US has allocated $42 million to back opponents of the Hamas government, are seen by many Palestinians as a sign of Abbas's growing predicament. On the one hand, Abbas cannot make a far-reaching decision such as firing the Hamas government without the backing of his own Fatah party. On the other hand, the reports about US intervention in the internal affairs of the Palestinians make it almost impossible for Abbas to make any serious decisions.

The last thing Abbas needs these days is to be seen as conspiring with the US against a democratically elected government. That's why Abbas reacted with fury to the leaking of an official US document outlining the plan to overthrow the Hamas government. Moreover, reports that the Americans are training and funding members of Abbas's Force 17 "presidential guard" ahead of a possible confrontation with Hamas have played into the hands of Hamas, whose leaders are now openly talking about a US conspiracy to overthrow the government.

On Wednesday, Abbas was dealt yet another severe blow when Kaddoumi called for dismantling the Palestinian Authority and announced his opposition to the formation of a "technocratic" government. Kaddoumi, who on previous occasions has publicly challenged Abbas, made his remarks in an interview with Al-Jazeera. What was interesting about Kaddoumi's appearance was the fact that on the wall behind him was a picture of Yasser Arafat and not Abbas.

Oh, by the way did I mention that Kaddoumi gets on like a house on fire with Hezbollah and Hamas or that he has an office in the Hamas stronghold of the Gaza Strip?