In a story reminiscent of the kidnapping of Dirar Abusisi, a Palestinian engineer known for his activities in support of Hamas, has been arrested and interrogated for long periods by the Mukhabarat in both the United Arab Emirates and Jordan:
Was Israel behind the overseas arrest of a Palestinian engineer suspected of ties with Hamas? The arrested man thinks it was – but Hamas blames the Palestinian Authority.
Jafar Daghlas, 27, a resident of the West Bank town of Burka who until recently lived in Abu Dhabi, has been questioned by two different Arab security services recently – those of the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. He suspects Israel was trying to get him extradited here
The victim enlisted the support of a professional engineering association in Jordan and Friends of Humanity, a human rights NGO which intervened on his behalf to prevent what he expected would be his extradition to Israel. It appears too that if he had been extradited and imprisoned in Israel, this would’ve been doing the PA’s bidding as well, since it accuses him of fundraising and arms trafficking on behalf of Hamas. It’s quite a cozy, comfy relationship all these mukhabaratnikim (there probably isn’t even such a Hebrew word, but I like the sound of it) have with each other.
In the case of Abusisi, the Mossad presumably alerted the Jordanian intelligence services to his travel from Gaza to Jordan. When he arrived there he was questioned and detained for a number of days, which I believe allowed the Mossad to prepare for his kidnapping in Ukraine, which was the final stop on his travel itinerary.
It’s astonishing, considering the hostile relations much of the Arab world has with Israel, for intelligence agencies of these particular countries to do the Mossad’s bidding.
In Richard’s world, anyone who is arrested by Israel is a lovable peace activist or an innocent victim. It didn’t occur to him that Israel faces actual terrorism and actively fights to stop it.
The man has not been charged with any offenses by either UAE or Jordan. In Israel, of course he’d be guilty just by virtue of belonging to Hamas & even if he didn’t they’d manufacture an association. If Israel hads real evidence of terror acts & presents that evidence in court & secures a conviction, then I have no problem with punishment. But Israel almost never does this, leaving most observers skeptical I’m afraid.
“It appears too that if he had been extradited and imprisoned in Israel, this would’ve been doing the PA’s bidding as well, since it accuses him of fundraising and arms trafficking on behalf of Hamas. It’s quite a cozy, comfy relationship all these mukhabaratnikim”
I think you are accusing the Fatah (which, curiously, you call “the PA”) (and PLO) leadership with putting their pro-Israel corruption and/or inter-Palestinian political fighting ahead of human rights and ahead of pro-Palestinian activity.
Sadly, such accusation is no surprise. Hamas won the election (in part) because of Palestinian disaffection with perceived Fatah/PLO corruption.
And Arab states get along and go along with friendly old Uncle Sam.
Correct, my error. I was following the lead of the Haaretz article, which of course made that sloppy error I didn’t catch.
“Divide et impera”. It worked for the Romans and it works for colonisators ever since. As for Palestine, some divisions (like religion) were there long before colonialism, some evolved as its natural consequences and some were carefully designed to facilitate domination.
The Palestinian people are divided in quite a few dimensions. There are those in Palestine and those in the diaspora.
Those in the diaspora are divided between those in Arab lands and those further afield. Those in Arab lands are divided between those in refugee camps and those out of them.
Those in Palestine are divided between the ’48 Arabs (within the pre-’67 borders) and those in the occupied territories.
Those within the ’67 borders are divided between Bedouins and non-Bedouins, between fully-collaborative communities (the Druze and some Bedouine tribes) and those less-collaborative (spread along a wide spectrum, from reluctant acceptance to active civil-resistance).
Those in the territories are divided between those who live on their land and ’48 refugees, between those in the West Bank and those in Gaza, between secularists and Islamists, Between Hammas and Salafists, between Fatkh (Fatah) and the Popular Front remnants. The West Bank is also divided between various degrees of the oppression (East Jerusalem, zones A, B and C).
These are just a few of the divisions that easily come to mind and I list them because each such crack invites exploitation by the occupying masters. Abbas willy-nilly finds himself serving Israeli interests not because he wants to but in order to mitigate (at least for some) the harm inflicted upon his whole people. This is for the Palestinian part in the story.
As for the Arab part. Many (all?) Arab leaders hang on under the auspices of a foreign power – mostly the US – and they’re careful not to stray too far from its requirements. And the Americans, these days, seem to be more concerned with Israel’s perceived interests in the ME than with their very own interests.
Jaffar Daghlas is a spitting image of my Israeli-American Jewish friend. It’s funny how Palestinians have Ashkenazi lookalikes amongst them and there is still an issue of “what you see before your eyes = everything” racism.
He sure does look like quite a few jews, the square jaw especially. It’s the problem with calling them all arab when the common denominator is arabic language. Arabs from Saudia arabia have oblong faces.
Look at the DNA Haplotypes here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan#Samaritan_origins_of_Palestinian_Muslims