A warning shot and a humiliation for the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. On Sunday February 21, some 20,000 doses of Russian Sputnik V vaccine crossed the Egyptian border into the Gaza Strip. This donation from the United Arab Emirates was made possible by Mohammed Dahlan, rival of Mr. Abbas exiled in Abu Dhabi.
While the Palestinian Authority only got a few thousand doses from Israel and 10,000 more from Russia, Abbas was able to appreciate the leverage available to his former national security adviser in the region. “This delivery is a generous offer from our brothers in the Emirates”, wrote on Facebook Mr. Dahlan, promising ” at [son] people that we will make every effort to ensure others. “
With the approach of the Palestinian legislative and presidential elections, scheduled for May and July, this delivery served as a signal. The Emirates, scalded by Mr. Abbas’ violent reaction to the normalization of their relations with Israel, underway since September 2020, are ready to help Mr. Dahlan improve his image – and theirs – in the territories. Neighboring Egypt also provided assistance.
Cairo, however, had not invited Mr. Dahlan’s supporters to the latest negotiations between Palestinian factions, carried out in early February under the close surveillance of its intelligence services. Man polarizes too much. His name arouses fear in those around Mr. Abbas, who appear to have made their discord a personal matter.
“A regional player”
The Dahlan case is both marginal – the polls of the PSR center do not give him more than 5% of the vote in the legislative elections if he launched his supporters on an autonomous list – and symptomatic. The man embodies influence within the Gulf powers, and has maintained ties in Israel. “After the elections, Dahlan will be rehabilitated, wants to believe analyst Samer Anabtawi. Today it is more a regional actor than a power in Palestine. It will be useful “ to the Palestinian Authority if it chooses to digest the “betrayal” of Abu Dhabi, to derive minimal long-term profit from its unconditional rapprochement with Israel.
As for Hamas, in power in Gaza, it is showing itself more and more accommodating with Mr. Dahlan, a former strongman of the enclave, who in his time ruthlessly imprisoned cadres of the Islamist movement. He has already accepted for several years his financial assistance to the population of the enclave, and the group marriages he organizes there. This week, some of his relatives were allowed to return to Gaza in preparation for the campaign.
