Fatah stages anti-US rally as Abbas meets with Rice

RAMALLAH - Senior members of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party staged an anti-American protest today outside the main government building here while Abbas met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, WND has learned.

Most media coverage of today's Ramallah protests claimed ralliers were affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

"Down with America," "(Hizbullah leader Hassan) Nasrallah hit America," "Fire rockets into Tel Aviv," and "We don't need American money," were among the major slogans shouted repeatedly today by hundreds of protesters gathered on the streets as Rice and Abbas held a meeting in the main Ramallah government building a few meters away in which the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon was reportedly discussed.

Palestinian police clashed with some protesters who tried to shove their way into the government building.

A group of ralliers who said they were affiliated with Fatah told WND they would try to charge Rice when she emerges.

The main protest organizer, who was outside leading the crowd, was Zyad Abu Ein, a senior Fatah official and general manager of the PA's Ministry of Prisoners. Ein is well known to be a close Abbas confidante and is considered one of the most important members in Ramallah of Fatah's Revolutionary Council.

'We must remain focused'

Ein told WND aside from today's street protests near the Rice meeting, he asked Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to stage what he called a "day of rage" against Rice's visit by not cooperating with prison wardens.

Rice arrived in Ramallah with a large security detail and was whisked inside the government building. She arrived nearly two hours ahead of the start time of the meeting announced earlier to journalists. She quickly departed after giving a brief statement to reporters in which expressed support for the formation of a Palestinian state.

"Even as the Lebanon situation is resolved, we must remain focused on what is happening here, in the Palestinian territories," Rice told a news conference in Ramallah without answering any questions from reporters.

"On our desires to get back to ... (the) vision of two states living side by side in peace," Rice said.

'It is a new era'

Today's Fatah rally follows a WND exclusive interview last week in which Abu Nasser, second-in-command of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist group, warned it is only a "question of time" before Palestinian terror groups and other Islamic organizations in the Middle East target the US both abroad and on the home front.

The Al Aqsa Brigades, the declared "military wing" of the Fatah party, is responsible for scores of rocket and shooting attacks, and – together with Islamic Jihad – for every suicide bombing since last February's so-called cease-fire.

"The Americans deserve to be targeted because of their support to the enemy. ... It is a question of time before the revolutionary organizations in the Middle East will start targeting the Americans," said Abu Nasser, speaking to WND from Nablus.

"One can say that these threats are just rhetoric, but the near past proved that these threats come more and more into reality," said Abu Nasser. "Believe me, it is a new era and I am suggesting to the American people to adopt a different policy and strategy because very soon they will deal with a unified Muslim world, but without the help of their agents in the Middle East." 

Reprinted with permission of WorldNetDaily