Palestinian Authority Minister of Civil Affairs Muhammad Dahlan is preventing Chairman Mahmoud Abbas from taking significant action against Hamas, Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin said Tuesday.
“The man (Dahlan) is like a weight on the chairman’s feet,” he said. “He is a disruptive force, and he is taking advantage of the fact that Israeli politicians and senior members of the upper echelon of Israel’s leadership want to remain in close contact with him.”
The remarks are surprising in light of the fact that Dahlan is hailed as Israel’s “Great Hope” regarding pullout-related cooperation with the PA, and the fight against Palestinian terror.
Diskin, who spoke during a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting Tuesday, said that following disengagement Hamas would have an interest in easing tensions along the Gaza front, while simultaneously escalating violence in the West Bank.
He denied accusations from the right claiming the Shin Bet is planting “provocateurs” within right-wing groups, and reports of secret talks he had held with prominent Religious Zionist rabbis, adding that some rabbis refused to meet with him.
As opposed to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz’s stance on the anti-pullout road-blocking protests, Diskin said that while the protests are illegal, they are understandable under the circumstances.
Psychological warfare
Regarding the smuggling of arms from Egypt to Gaza via the Philadelphi Route, he said enhanced Palestinian-Egyptian cooperation on the matter would improve Israeli-Egyptian cooperation as well.
The IDF contends there is no point in maintaining control over the Philadelphi Route following pullout, as a sea and airport are scheduled to be built in the area.
On Monday IDF Southern Command Chief Dan Harel told the committee the Gaza pullout would last three weeks, and that forces would start evacuating three settlements in the northern part of the territory before reaching the remaining settlement bloc of Gush Katif, where most settlers reside.
He added that soldiers are facing fierce psychological warfare on the part of the pullout objectors, some of whom call them “Nazis” and “Judenrat.”
“The troops cry, but handle it,” Harel said.
He said the IDF failed during the shooting incident early Sunday, when Dov and Rachel Cole were killed by Palestinian terrorists as they were traveling along Kissufim road.
He addd that Israel would raid Palestinian towns in the area if attacks ensue during Israel’s planned pullout.