http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=WHI20070621&;
articleId=6104
The CIA and Fatah; Spies, Quislings and the Palestinian Authority
by Mike Whitney
Global Research, June 21, 2007
informationclearinghouse.info
When Hamas gunmen stormed the Fatah security compounds in Gaza last week
they found huge supplies of American-made weaponry including 7,400 M-16
assault rifles, dozens of mounted machine guns, rocket launchers, 7 armored
military jeeps, 800,000 rounds of bullets and 18 US-made armored personnel
carriers. They also discovered something far more valuable--- CIA files
which purportedly contain "information about the collaboration between
Fatah and the Israeli and American security organizations; CIA methods on
how to prevent attacks, chase and follow after cells of Hamas and the
Committees; plans about Fatah assassinations of members of Hamas and other
organizations; and American studies on the security situation in Gaza."
(Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily.com)
If the documents prove to be authentic, they will confirm what many critics
of Fatah believed from the beginning; that US-Israeli intelligence agencies
have been collaborating with high-ranking members of the PA to help crush
the Palestinian national liberation movement. The information could be
disastrous for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his newly-appointed
"emergency government". It could destroy their credibility before they even
take office.
The extent of Fatah's cooperation with the CIA is still unknown, but an
article in The New York Sun, ("Hamas Takes over Gaza Security Services"
6-15-07) suggests that the two groups may have been working together
closely. Former Middle East CIA operations officer Robert Baer, who was
interviewed in the article, said that the discovery of the documents was "a
major blow to Fatah" and will show "a record of training, spying on Hamas".
Baer added ironically, "Fatah equals CIA is not a good selling point."
Baer is right. The uncovering of the documents is "big trouble" for Abbas
who is already facing a loss of public confidence from his closeness to
Israel and for his appointment of Salam Fayyad, the ex-World bank official
who the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz calls "everyone's favorite Palestinian."
Perhaps more significant is the fact that members of Hamas who spoke with
WorldNetDaily claimed that "the files contain, among other information,
details of CIA networks in the Middle East" and that Hamas plans to "use
these documents and make portions public to prove the collaboration between
America and traitor Arab countries." Imagine what a headache it will be for
the Bush administration if Hamas exposes the broader network of US spies
and Arab quislings operating throughout region.
Bush Support for "Regime Change" in the PA
It's no secret that the Bush administration has been funneling money to
Palestinian militias that are preparing to overthrow Hamas. On Monday,
Condoleezza Rice announced that the US would resume "full assistance to the
Palestinian government" and end the year long boycott to the people in the
West Bank. The new aid-which could amount to as much as $86 million---will
be used to shore up the PA security apparatus and pay the salaries of
officials in the "emergency government." The uncovering of the CIA
documents in Gaza will cast a cloud over the administration's largesse and
make Abbas look like a Palestinian Karzai who gets financial treats from
Washington to follow their diktats.
Yesterday, Condoleezza Rice was given the task of outlining the
administration's new policy vis-à-vis the Abbas' "emergency government".
The Bush team had already decided the night before that they would throw
their full support behind Abbas and his "unelected" clatter of pro-western
stooges. Rice could hardly contain her glee the next day when she ascended
the podium and began wagging her finger reproachfully at Hamas:
"Hamas has made its choice," Condi growled. "It has sought to attempt to
extinguish democratic debate with violence and to impose its extremist's
agenda on the Palestinian people in Gaza, now responsible Palestinians are
making their choice and it is the duty of the international community to
support those Palestinians who wish to build a better life and a future of
peace."
This typically Orwellian statement was intended to justify the deposing of
the legally-elected government of Palestine. No matter; Rice's
pronouncements are always reiterated verbatim in the media without
challenge regardless of how incongruous they may be.
The Bush administration had plenty of time to observe developments on the
ground and make an informed decision about what to do next. There was no
need to hurry. Instead, they decided to blunder ahead and launch their
"West Bank First" policy which commits US support to Abbas without any
consideration of the public mood. The frantic pace of the decision-making,
makes it look like Bush and Olmert are elevating Abbas to promote their own
political agendas. Naturally, the Palestinians can be expected to resent
this conspicuous outside meddling.
Former President Jimmy Carter was the first to blast Bush's new plan. He
said that "the United States, Israel and the European Union must end their
policy of favoring Fatah over Hamas, or they will doom the Palestinian
people to deepening conflict between the rival movements. Carter said that
Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have
entitled it to lead the Palestinian government and that the Bush
administration's refusal to accept the 2006 election victory of Hamas was
'criminal.'"
Carter's comments appeared in just one newspaper--the Jerusalem Post. The
ex-president has been increasingly marginalized since he dared to imply
that Israel is an apartheid state. But Carter's analysis is dead-on---Bush
is just aggravating an already tense situation. He'd be better off trying
to bring the two sides together and reconciling their differences rather
than igniting a potentially explosive confrontation. Besides, Abbas' close
ties to Washington and Tel Aviv doesn't bode well for his government's
long-term prospects. The US and Israel are widely reviled in the occupied
territories and, as author Khalid Amayreh says, "Palestinians won't accept
a Vichy Government.
Three days ago Abbas disbanded the Hamas-dominated parliament and sacked
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Abbas had no legal justification for this
action. In fact, the "Basic Law" which applies to this case stipulates that
"The President cannot suspend the legislative Council during a state of
emergency" and there is "no provision whatsoever for an emergency
government". The president does not even have the authority to "call for
new elections"---let alone, replace the elected representatives of the
people. Abbas only support comes from political leaders in Tel Aviv and
Washington and their reluctant accomplices in the EU.
The key issue here is whether democratic elections have any real meaning or
if they can simply be rescinded by executive decree?
This question should be as relevant to Americans as it is to Palestinians.
After all, both people now face a similar predicament; the flagrant abuse
of executive authority to enhance the powers of the president. In both
cases, the president must be forced to conform to the law. Democracy cannot
be decided by fiat.
Free elections are not a crime---that is, unless one lives in the Occupied
Territories. Then voting for the candidate of one's choice provides the
justification for cutting off food, water, medicine, and financial
resources-as well a stepping up a campaign of illegal detentions,
destruction of personal property and targeted assassinations.
This is what the "Bush Doctrine" looks like in the Gaza Strip today. The
occupants of the "most densely populated place on earth" participated in
the balloting at insistence of the Bush administration and they've been
rewarded for their cooperation with a savage boycott and daily brutality.
If Bush didn't want democracy, then why did he force it on the Palestinians?
Political powerbrokers in the US and Israel immediately rejected the
election results and initiated a plan to scuttle Hamas through economic
strangulation, persistent harassment and covert warfare. For the last year,
the newly "elected" government has shown remarkable restraint under
constant assault. Hamas has kept its word and refrained from suicide
bombings in Israel even though hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been
killed or injured during that same time. In fact, there has NOT BEEN ONE
HAMAS-BACKED SUICIDE BOMBING SINCE THE PARTY TOOK OFFICE. (This fact is
invariably ignored by the media which is far-more sympathetic to the
Israeli position) We should remember that suicide bombing has been used for
years as the excuse for putting off "final settlement" negotiations. Now
that the bombing has stopped, Israel has invented an entirely new excuse to
avoid dialogue, that is, that Hamas "refuses to recognize the state of
Israel".
Actually, it is Israel that refuses to accept Palestinian statehood---a
fact that is further underlined by its relentless efforts to topple the
Hamas government.
Hamas has done nothing illegal since they were elected. The Qassam rockets
which are fired into Israel are the unavoidable corollary of the 40-year
long occupation. How is Hamas supposed to stop these sporadic attacks? If
Israel seriously believed that Hamas was responsible for the rockets, they
wouldn't hesitate to arrest or kill every leader in the current parliament.
The fact is, Israel knows that Hamas is not instigating these attacks. It's
just another red herring.
Regardless of what one may think about Hamas, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh
has shown that he is a man who can be trusted to keep his word. In an
interview in the Washington Post with Lally Weymouth, Haniyeh and asked him
if Hamas sought the "obliteration of the Jewish people"? (another myth
propagated in the western press)
Haniyeh answered, "We do not have any feelings of animosity toward Jews. We
do not wish to throw them into the sea. All we seek is to be given our land
back, not to harm anybody."
This, of course, is not the response that neocon extremists in the
US-Israeli political establishment want to hear. It undermines the
rationale for the ongoing military occupation and expansion of illegal
settlements. They would rather promote the image of Palestinians as vicious
radicals bent on the Israel's complete annihilation. But how accurate is
that image?
In a particularly affecting editorial in the Washington Post, Prime
Minister Haniyeh stated his case in simple terms. He said:
"As I inspect the ruins of our infrastructure---all turned to rubble once
more by F-16s and American-made missiles -- my thoughts again turn to the
minds of Americans. What do they think of this?
They think of the pluck and "toughness" of Israel, "standing up" to
"terrorists." Yet a nuclear Israel possesses the 13th-largest military
force on the planet, one that is used to rule an area about the size of New
Jersey and whose adversaries there have no conventional armed forces. Who
is the underdog, supposedly America's traditional favorite, in this case?
I hope that Americans will give careful thought to root causes and
historical realities, (of) why a supposedly "legitimate" state such as
Israel has had to conduct decades of war against a subject refugee
population without ever achieving its goals.
Israel's nearly complete control over the lives of Palestinians is never in
doubt, as confirmed by the humanitarian and economic suffering of the
Palestinians since the January elections. Israel's ongoing policies of
expansion, military control and assassination mock any notion of
sovereignty or bilateralism. Its "separation barrier," running across our
land, is hardly a good-faith gesture toward future coexistence.
But there is a remedy, and while it is not easy it is consistent with our
long-held beliefs. Palestinian priorities include recognition of the core
dispute over the land of historical Palestine and the rights of all its
people; resolution of the refugee issue from 1948; reclaiming all lands
occupied in 1967; and stopping Israeli attacks, assassinations and military
expansion. Contrary to popular depictions of the crisis in the American
media, the dispute is not only about Gaza and the West Bank; it is a wider
national conflict that can be resolved only by addressing the full
dimensions of Palestinian national rights in an integrated manner.
This means statehood for the West Bank and Gaza, a capital in Arab East
Jerusalem, and resolving the 1948 Palestinian refugee issue fairly, on the
basis of international legitimacy and established law. Meaningful
negotiations with a non-expansionist, law-abiding Israel can proceed only
after this tremendous labor has begun".
Haniyeh's appeal to the American people helps us understand that what Hamas
really wants is for Israel to conform to "unanimously approved" UN
resolutions "predicated on historical truth, equity and justice."
Does that sound unreasonable? Wasn't the same demanded of Saddam?
Haniyeh is not a madman nor is he an "Islamofascist." In fact, it may be
that Haniyeh's dreams are not that different from the average Israeli
citizen.
Consider the polls that were conducted just days after the election of
Mahmoud Abbas. One survey showed that nearly 80% of Israelis supported
immediate peace talks with the new Palestinian president. The Israeli
leadership, of course, stubbornly refused even though Yasir Arafat had died
a month earlier. The Israeli political establishment is resolutely against
peace talks or negotiations. Unlike the vast majority of Israeli
citizens--Israel's ruling elite reject the principle of "land for peace!"
Perhaps, Arafat wasn't the "obstacle to peace" after all. Perhaps it was
just a PR swindle to avoid real dialogue?
Israeli leaders have no intention of negotiating with the Palestinians,
regardless of what the Israeli public wants or who's sitting in Ramallah.
The Zionist "grand plan" will not be compromised by conferences or
bartering. The military occupation and settlement activity will continue
until US support dries up and Israel is forced to the bargaining table.
Until then the onslaught will continue.
Another Siege of Gaza?
Ha'aretz reports that Israel is planning to launch a military operation in
Gaza aimed at crushing Hamas.( "Barak planning military operation in Gaza
within weeks" 6-17-07) The invasion will involve 20,000 troops, armored
vehicles, tanks, and air support.
But what is the justification? Is it because the US-Israeli plan to
overthrow Hamas with Palestinian militias failed? Or is it because the
duly-elected government has reclaimed the power it was given at the ballot
box?
According to an Israeli official, the invasion will be in response to the
firing of Qassam rockets into Israel or another suicide bombing.
In other words, Israel is devising a pretext for "regime change" EVEN
BEFORE THEY ARE ATTACKED. Until then, the border crossings will remain
closed, the blockade will be tightened, and the economic asphyxiation will
continue.
In the face of US-Israeli plotting, consider the comments of Prime Minister
Haniyeh, who articulates as well as anyone, the aspirations of the
Palestinians people:
"We do not want to live on international welfare and American handouts. We
want what Americans enjoy -- democratic rights, economic sovereignty and
justice. We thought our pride in conducting the fairest elections in the
Arab world might resonate with the United States and its citizens. Instead,
our new government was met from the very beginning by acts of explicit,
declared sabotage by the White House. Now this aggression continues against
3.9 million civilians living in the world's largest prison camps.
We present this clear message: If Israel is prepared to negotiate seriously
and fairly, and resolve the core 1948 issues, rather than the secondary
ones from 1967, a fair and permanent peace is possible. Based on a hudna
(comprehensive cessation of hostilities for an agreed time), the Holy Land
still has an opportunity to be a peaceful and stable economic powerhouse
for all the Semitic people of the region. If Americans only knew the truth,
possibility might become reality".
Hamas history of violence is problematic, but it should not be an
insurmountable obstacle to peace. The IRA had a similar history and, yet,
those issues were ultimately resolved through the Good Friday peace
accords. Now, the warring factions have joined together in a power-sharing
agreement and there's reason to believe that the armed struggle phase of
the conflict is over. A similar remedy is possible between Israel and
Palestine.
Hamas entry into the political system should be seen for what it is--- a
step in the right direction. It is an indication that they are tired of the
armed struggle and want to pursue a political solution. Israel and the US
should be receptive to this. They should reward Hamas' efforts to stop the
suicide bombing and agree to backchannel negotiations. That will determine
whether common ground can be reached on any of the main issues. If the
violence resumes, Israel can always return to its present strategy but,
it's certainly worth a try.
At the very least, Bush and Olmert should respect the will of the
Palestinian people and allow Hamas to perform its duties without further
hectoring, sanctions, violence or sabotage. The US and Israel have no right
to intervene in the affairs of a sovereign government. If Hamas perpetrates
violence against Israel, then Israel has every right to respond. But until
then, they should show restraint and try to play a constructive role in
strengthening the emergent Palestinian democracy.
===================================================
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,489898,00.html
SPIEGEL ONLINE - June 21, 2007, 11:48 AM
HAMAS OPENS DOORS OF NOTORIOUS PRISON
A VISIT TO FATAH'S TORTURE CHAMBER
By Ulrike Putz in the Gaza Strip
A building formerly occupied by Fatah's intelligence service in Gaza was long
notorious for torture and execution. Now Hamas is in control -- and is letting
former inmates visit the chamber of horrors.
The cells are small, perhaps six feet by six feet, with only an overhead lamp
to provide light. The toilet is a hole in the floor behind a small wall. The
prisoners have scribbled graffiti on the walls, including slogans like
"Al-Qaida in Jerusalem" and "Islamic Jihad." One inmate even scratched the
phrase "Mother, oh my mother" into the plaster.
.....
PHOTO GALLERY: IN FATAH'S TORTURE CHAMBER
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