A draft Middle East “peace” plan, scheduled to be rolled out by Donald Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and then put on hold, involved Mohammed Dahlan, a key former Palestinian Authority figure who now aligns with United Arab Emirates pro-Israeli crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahayan (MBZ).
The Palestinians, stung by Trump’s moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, cut off contact with the Trump White House. Since that time, Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, a former lawyer for the Trump Organization, who now serves as Trump’s “special representative for international negotiations,” infuriated the Palestinians even further by cutting them out from negotiations on the future of the West Bank and Gaza. Kushner held talks with Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates on the plan, which Trump had previously dubbed the “ultimate deal.” Kushner, Greenblatt, and the Israelis are planning on pressuring the Palestinians by holding out an infrastructure improvement package for Gaza so long as Hamas, which currently governs the pene-enclave, is removed from power.
Palestinian leaders have accused Kushner and Greenblatt of trying to overthrow the Palestinian Authority government of Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank and abolish the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) for Palestine. U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley began the process to abolish UNWRA by withholding $300 million in assistance to the agency.
Details of the Kushner-Greenblatt “peace” plan that have been leaked to the press indicate that it does not involve an independent Palestinian state. In fact, the plan foresees Palestinians living under Israeli rule as second-class citizens in enclaves within regions of the West Bank formally annexed by Israel, a condition similar to that of blacks in apartheid-era South Africa.
Three Persian Gulf region crown princes have emerged as “quislings,” willing to sell out the Palestinian cause in return for Israel’s military and intelligence support for their showdown with Iran. The crown princes, in addition to MBZ, are Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Bahrain’s Salman bin Hamad al-Khaifa (SBH). Assisting MBZ is Dahlan, the former chief of the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Service. Dahlan also has an important patron in the chief of the UAE security service, Hazaa bin Zayedm the younger brother of MBZ.
Dahlan, a native of Gaza who speaks fluent Hebrew, holds Serbian and Montenegrin citizenship. He now lives in Abu Dhabi, which is also home to Erik Prince’s mercenary company, Reflex Responses (R2). Dahlan and Prince also once had the same paymaster, the Central Intelligence Agency. In the 1990s, Dahlan controlled Gaza with such an iron fist, which included the torturing of Hamas prisoners, the pene-enclave became known as “Dahlanistan.”
The Israelis and the CIA long favored Dahlan as an alternative to Palestinian leaders Yasir Arafat and Abbas. In 2007, with the blessing of Mossad and the CIA, Dahlan’s loyalists in Gaza secretly received weapons from the United States to launch a coup against the Hamas-led government in Gaza. The attempt failed.
In 2011, Abbas accused Dahlan of being involved in the plot to assassinate Arafat in 2004 by poisoning him with radioactive polonium. Dahlan’s house was raided by the Palestinian police and he was expelled from the Fatah party leadership. Prior to the raid, Dahlan had fled the West Bank. In 2014, Dahlan was tried in absentia by a Palestinian court in Ramallah on corruption charges.
Dahlan is also suspected of supporting the 2011 assassination in Dubai of Hamas official Mahmoud Abdel Rauf al-Mabhouh by providing two of his Palestinian loyalists to the Mossad hit team that carried out the murder in a Dubai hotel room.
Dahlan lost an important ally earlier this year when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi fired Khaled Fawzy, the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID). Fawzy, a close friend and supporter of Dahlan, had attempted to intercede with Kushner and the Israelis to ensure Dahlan would play an integral role in Kushner’s “peace” deal, particularly with regard to Gaza and the suppression of Hamas. Nevertheless, Dahlan continues to have support in Cairo and he has been accused by Palestinians of covertly working with al-Sisi to oust Abbas from the Palestinian leadership.
Dahlan has now emerged as Kushner’s and Greenblatt’s “substitute Palestinian” to agree to a “peace” deal without the involvement of Abbas and the Palestinian Authority leadership. Only someone with treasonous intentions, like Kushner, could warm to a quisling like Dahlan.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
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Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
