When Teenagers Lead

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

What would an international observer say upon seeing Mahmoud Abbas and Mohammed Dahlan trading insults like two widows whose hearts are filled with spite and rancor, in a neighborhood short on wise and courageous people? And how would the enemy feel at ease upon seeing Palestine’s leaders operating at such a base and degraded level? He would certainly conclude that the Palestinian people is foolish, for placing its fate in the hands of leaders so adolescent that even boys would be ashamed of their conduct. Each of the two men taunts the other over some carcass the other failed to snatch up, or because the other beat him to some act of treachery, and each condemns himself through his condemnation of the other. This is why there is no real conflict between the two of them arising from any concern for national causes. I do not know exactly what has happened, but the absence of the national cause from this dispute means there are personal matters at stake — over positions, or over winning the favor of foreign powers hostile to the people, the Arabs, and the Muslims. As for the enemy, he will smile with joy at what he has achieved in trivializing the Palestinian people.

Abbas has fallen into mistakes that condemn him by his own words:

He says that Dahlan has had suspicious ties since 2002. Why, then, did he work with him, if he were not of the very same breed of leader? If Abbas had truly cared about the interest of the Palestinian people, he would have spoken up in 2002 and laid the truth before the people. Why only after all this time?

Abbas says that Dahlan was imposed on him as Minister of the Interior, or as National Security Advisor. If Abbas knew Dahlan was a spy, then why did he accept his appointment? And Abbas says that he does not bend to pressure — which contradicts himself.

Abbas infers Dahlan’s status as a spy from American and Israeli pressure, yet he himself, Abbas, became Prime Minister under Arafat because of American pressure. The Americans invented the post of prime minister for our sake specifically for him, and stripped powers away from Arafat in his favor.

…the Palestinian people, asking how he became the custodian of the Palestinian treasury under Arafat. A person from Mexico named Rodrigo answered me, saying that he had known Khaled Salam in Beirut, and that Salam had confided in him that he worked with the Mossad. The Mexican says that he did not keep the secret, out of his own zeal for Palestine, and decided to inform Arafat. The result, according to him, was that he himself was the one put in prison for three days, while Salam remained very close to the Palestinian leadership.

As for Dahlan, he leveled several accusations against Abbas, among them that he is without morals, and that he destroyed the Fatah movement and the PLO. The very same accusation can be turned against Dahlan himself: if you knew this, why did you stay silent all this time? Nor has Dahlan ever explained where all the money in his possession comes from — money he sometimes spends in the West Bank, Gaza, and the refugee camps.

The meaning is this: please, do not go on tearing each other down, for you are both in the very same box, the very same basket. You both recognize Israel, and this is treason under the PLO’s own revolutionary law. Dahlan coordinated with the Israelis on security matters and normalized relations with them — this is treason — and Abbas controls security services that coordinate on security matters with Israel. Is there any treason greater than security coordination?

Thanks be to God who set the two of you against each other, for in your falling-out lies enough to convince the doubtful that the Palestinian people has been afflicted with leaders whose conduct is utterly wretched. For twenty years we have been explaining to people the truth about our leaderships, and the salary has blinded thousands of people, and here the two of you are, sparing us a great deal of effort.

The responsibility remains upon our own shoulders, we the sons of this people, who must rise up in defense of ourselves, our rights, and the dignity of our martyrs.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “عندما يقود المراهقون” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.