Fatah continues campaign against opponents

Mohamed Dahlan Gaza – Mohammed Habib Fatah pursued its ruthless campaign against opponents, usually identified as Mohamed Dahlan’s allies. After expelling Samir Mashharawi, the movement is now discussing the expulsion of Fatah’s former media spokesperson in Gaza Tawfiq Abu Khoussa.
According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, Abu Khoussa has been referred to trial with the Attorney General. He was accused of delivering anti-Fatah material both in Ramallah and on the internet.
Mashharawi is a friend of Mohammad Dahlan and worked with him in Gaza, when Dahlan was in charge of the security forces. Dahlan was expelled from Fatah last June, with ratification of the expulsion in August.
Mashharawi slammed Fatah a few weeks ago in an interview on Al-Arabiya TV, where he reportedly said that Fatah “lacked leadership” and had lost “the spirit of the struggle.” According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Mashharawi has been living in the UAE, where he is involved in businesses with Dahlan.
Fatah is targeting Mashharawi also for his pro-Dahlan comments on the Abbas-Dahlan affair. According to Mashharawi, the dispute between Dahlan and Abbas is “personal” and the current PA leader is using to distract attention "from his five years of failures to run the Palestinian Authority.”
Mohammed Dahlan, who was expelled from Fatah a few months ago, slammed the movement over Mashharawi expulsion.
In two different statements on his Facebook, Dahlan said: "The decision to dismiss the brother Samir Mashharawi is simply what one can expect of people who have lost their loyalty and affiliation to the movement."
He added that the expulsion was simply an attempt by Abbas “to cover up” his domestic and political failures.
Dahlan also commented:”If the war Abbas is fighting against me had been fought against the occupation, Palestine would have been liberated twice, all the prisoners would have been released and the refugees would have returned.”
Sources in Gaza told "Arabstoday" that senior Fatah official Abdullah Abu Samhadana resigned.
The same sources stated, while asking to remain anonymous, that Samhadana’s resignation came after Amal Hamad, the second deputy Secretary General to Fatah’s Shura Council, replaced Dahlan, pointing out that Samhadana believed he deserved the position.
The sources stated that Abbas was not legally entitled to appointing or expelling any member in the movement or in the government without consulting Fatah leadership in the West Bank and Gaza.
Hamad, who also was Fatah’s Deputy Commissioner of International Relations, had previously turned down a position in Fatah’s senior leadership Committee in the Gaza Strip, which was chaired by Abu Samhadana.