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Mohammed Dahlan (محمد دحلان) is a Palestinian, born in 1961 in Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza to a refugee family from Hamama. In 1981 he helped found the Gaza branch of the Fatah Youth Movement Fatah Shabiba; in the following years he was imprisoned in Israeli jails on several occasions for his involvement in terrorism against Israel. In total, he was jailed for five years.
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 ceasefires. 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 Gaza 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.
He is on record of approving the deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians under the theory that if any Palestinian civilians had been harmed by Israel deliberately targeting Israeli Civilians or civilians of nations who are traveling in Israel is permissible: "Whoever harms civilians must expect similar responses." Source:
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 and raided the offices of the latter's General Security organization (and reportedly went so far as to dunk his head into a toilet several times); they were said to be followers of Dahlan's ally Rashid Abu Shbak, head of the Preventive Security organization (Note that although Dahlan doesn't head this organization any more, he is still 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 Gaza following the appointment of Yasser Arafat's nephew Mousa Arafat, widely accused of corruption, as head of Gaza police forces. This appointment was considered by some a deliberate step to weaken Dahlan's position before the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza strip and sparked massive protests.
Dahlan is currently Palestinian Minister for Civil Affairs and was in charge of coordinating some of the details of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza with his counterpart, Israeli Minister of Defence Shaul Mofaz.
Recently Dahlan's allies, namely Rashid Abu Shbak, seem to be involved in silencing Palestinian critics of the growing lawlessness in Gaza and the 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 (on Palestinian TV) criticizing the Preventive Security organization for not obeying orders from the PA Interior Ministry (held by veteran Nasser Yussef), but rather acting on commands from other high ranking PA elements (an allusion to Dahlan). Al-Agha was released only after publicly withdrawing this criticism. Source
On January 26, 2006, Dahlan was narrowly re-elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in the Palestinian legislative election of 2006 as a representative for Khan Younis. In January 2007, Dahlan took a tough stance against Hamas.
Endnotes
- Lawmaker's tough talk rouses Fatah faithful, LA Times, 1/21/07.
Sources
- Dahlan, Mohammed: European Institute for Research on Mediterranean and Euro-Arab Cooperation
- Profile: Mohammed Dahlan. BBC News/Middle East
- EI: Who is Mohammad Dahlan
- EI: Civil War in Palestine?