Hamas leader rules out Mohamed Dahlan as viable option to succeed President Mahmoud Abbas
A leading Hamas member said Wednesday that the Gaza-based resistance group was bracing for what he described as Palestine’s “post-Abbas era”.
Sponsored by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, Dahlan, who was expelled from Abbas’ Fatah movement in 2014, is considered Abbas’ main political rival.
Hamdan also said that a recent Hamas delegation to Egypt, led by group leader Ismail Haniyeh, had discussed three primary issues with Egyptian officials.
According to Hamdan, these issues included Hamas-Fatah reconciliation; secret U.S. proposals for a final Israel-Palestine settlement (dubbed the “Deal of the century”); and the possibility of fresh Israeli aggression against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Hamdan went on to assert that Abbas’ Fatah movement, which leads the Ramallah-based Palestinian government, “does not suffer what we suffer in Gaza” -- a reference to a decade-long Israeli/Egyptian blockade that has effectively destroyed Gaza’s economy.
“Fatah does suffer, however,” he said, “from the ongoing failure of the [Israel-Palestine] peace process, which I believe will soon end Abbas’ political life."
Fatah and Hamas have engaged in a faltering reconciliation process since the latter wrested the Gaza Strip from pro-Fatah forces in 2007.
