UAE Meddling in Palestinian Elections

Date: 06 March 2021 - 21:51

News ID: ۸۸۲۷۳

WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), dismissed Fatah leader Mohammad Dahlan is seeking to form his own electoral list for the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary elections led by former President of Al-Quds University Sari Nusseibeh, Arabic Post reported on Friday.
The list would be named "al-Quds First” and would include former prime ministers and ministers, in addition to senior Fatah leaders who are not content with the corruption and clashes among the secular Palestinian movement.
Sources told Arabic Post that former Prime Ministers Salam Fayyad and Rami Hamdallah, as well as senior Fatah leader Nabil Amr, could be included in the list.
According to the sources, through Dahlan, the UAE is seeking an official political presence in the Palestinian political arena. This is an extension of the UAE’s meddlesome policies through Palestinian NGOs and certain Palestinian figures through Dahlan.
Palestinian political analyst Naji Shurrab described Dahlan and the UAE’s attempt to form this electoral list as a "dangerous turn” in light of the existence of several Fatah lists, and stressed that its formation would result in a "political quake” within Fatah.
Meanwhile, the International al-Quds Institution said that the UAE is exploiting the Palestinian elections to extend its political influence on the Palestinian political arena: "In order to serve the Israeli occupation through the implementation of Abraham Accords.”
The institution asserted that using the slogan of "al-Quds First” is "fake” because Nusseibeh is the one who proposed the Nusseibeh-Ayalon Agreement. It was signed in the summer of 2002, during the peak of the Zionist regime’s aggression on the Palestinians.
Member of Fatah Revolutionary Council Tayseer Nasrallah explained that Dahlan and Nasser Al-Qidwa’s moves are presenting Fatah with "difficult choices” that could tear it to pieces.
Nasrallah reiterated: "The situation within Fatah became very critical in light of the disagreement plaguing the movement.”
Arabic Post reported that Nusseibeh is leading NGOs and bodies in al-Quds working to replace Qatari and Turkish influence with the UAE’s existence.