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Mohammed Dahlan is a Palestinian, born in 1961 in a refugee camp in Khan Younis. In 1981 he helped found the Palestinian youth movement Fatah Shabiba; he was jailed several occasions for these activities.

In 1987 he was involved as the leader of an intifada, or uprising, but was arrested by Israel for this role. After being released he joined the Palestine Liberation Organization in Tunis, orchestrating protests in Israel, where he gained the trust of Yasser Arafat.

In 1993, he was involved in secret talks with Israel which eventually culminated in the Oslo Accords of 1993. For his role in these talks, he was given the position of security chief in the newly created Palestinian Authority, enjoying widespread popular support. In this role, he continued to negotiate in several subsequent talks, such as the Camp David 2000 Summit.

His support waned when he took some unpopular actions during a second intifada, cracking down on certain militants and negotiating ceacefires. His good relations with the United States and Israel came under suspicion. In 2001 he upset Arafat by beginning to call for reform in the Palestinian National Authority and expressing dissatisfaction with a lack of coherent policy.

In 2002, he resigned his post as head of the Preventive Security in Ghaza in the hope of becoming the Interior Minister; this did not occur, but he was offered a post as security advisor. He did not take this step.

In April of 2003, he was appointed the Palestinian Minister of State for Security by Mahmoud Abbas, despite the objection of Arafat. By September he had been ousted when Abbas fell from power, and was replaced by first Nasser Youssef and then Hakam Balawi.

He repeatedly tried to campaign on a reform and anti-corruption ticket and tried to profile himself as an outspoken critic of Yasser Arafat, although many observers dispute his personal integrity. Nevertheless Dahlan and his followers in internal Fatah elections won over most of the Fatah sections in Gaza.

Jibril Rajoub, with whom he cultivated a deep and personal rivalry, claimed for example in 2003 that everybody knew Dahlan was an Israeli agent. There is although criticism over his good relationship with Arafat's long-time financial adviser Muhammad Rashid and Dahlan's own London-based business. There is a general criticism in the Palestinian public about PA leaders allegedly having enriched themselves through corruption.

Others claim that he, for the sake of deterring political rivals and counterweighing the numerous armed militias, maintained in 2003 and 2004 a private army in the Gaza Strip which was trained and equipped by British and American services.

Dahlan also was under criticism regarding his role in Gaza turmoil, to which he attributed his share, especially in exchanging hostilities with Gazan rival Ghazi Jabali. In 2003, gunmen stormed an raided the offices of the latters General Security (and reportedly went so far as to dunk his head into the toilet several times); they were said to be followers of Dahlans ally Rashid Abu Shbak, head of the Preventive Security (Note that although Dahlan doesn't head this organization any more, he still is widely believed to have great influence on its leadership).

In 2004, Dahlan is assumed to have been the driving force behind week long unrests in Ghaza following the appointment of Yasser Arafats nephew Mousa Arafat as head of Ghaza police forces. This appointment was considered by some a deliberate step to weaken Dahlans position before the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza strip and sparked massive protests.

Dahlan is currently Palestinian Minister for Civil Affairs and in charge of coordinating parts of the details of the planned Israeli withdrawal from Gaza with his counterpart, Israeli Minister of Defence Shaul Mofaz.

Recently Dahlans allies, namely Rashid Abu Shbak, seem to be involved in silencing palestinian critics of the growing lawlessness in the palestinian territories and the at least passive role of the security services therein. Prof. Riad al-Agha, president of the Gaza-based National Institute of Strategic Studies, was arrested after publicly (in Palestine TV) criticing Preventive Security for not obeying orders from the PA Interior Ministry (held by veteran Nasser Yussef), but to act on commands from other high PA ranks (indirectly pointing to Dahlan). Al-Agha was released only after publicly withdrawing this criticism. Source

Sources

• Dahlan, Mohammed: European Institute for Research on Mediterranean and Euro-Arab Cooperation
• Profile: Mohammed Dahlan. BBC News/Middle East

• 1961 births