Introduction
Although Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas was invited to be the Palestinian representative to the Arab emergency summit convened in Doha, Qatar on January 16, 2009, he did not attend, because the summit was organized by the Iran-Syria-Qatar axis, while 'Abbas belongs to the Saudi-Egyptian camp. However, representatives from Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP-GC did attend. Although the seat reserved for the "Palestine" representative remained unoccupied, Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al was given the honor of the title of "Palestine representative" by the conferees, most of whom were heads of state and leaders of organizations belonging to the "rejectionist front."
'Abbas's absence sparked a heated argument between the Palestinian Authority, on the one hand, and Qatar and Hamas, on the other, with each accusing the other of violating principle and procedure. Both Qatar and Hamas questioned 'Abbas's legitimacy as PA president; actually, even before the decision to invite 'Abbas to the Doha summit, the Qatari emir had claimed that 'Abbas was not welcome because his term as president was up.
However, Qatari regime heads said that that the PA leadership had made a strategic mistake by not attending the meeting. Hamas likewise questioned 'Abbas's legitimacy, saying that it was inconceivable that someone who presumed to represent the Palestinians would boycott a conference aimed at helping them. Hamas presented its participation in the summit as an achievement and as an expression of support for it by Arab regimes.
The PA, for its part, accused Qatar of holding an illegal and unofficial summit, in an attempt to harm Abbas as the Palestinian representative and to marginalize the PLO and the PA as bodies representing the Palestinian people.
Following are excerpts from statements and articles on this issue:
Qatar and Hamas Question 'Abbas's Legitimacy as PA President
Prior to the extension of the invitation to 'Abbas, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Aal Thani said in an Iranian press interview that 'Abbas was not invited "because his presidential term is finished." He added that he had invited Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mash'al "because he was lawfully elected and because he is a party involved in the Gaza crisis." [1]
With these statements, the Qatari emir upheld Hamas's claim that 'Abbas's term as PA president had ended on January 9, 2009. Hamas bases this claim on the Palestinian Basic Law, which states that the president's term of office is four years only. But Hamas, with its claim that 'Abbas's term has ended, is ignoring the fact that the Palestinian Basic Law has created a complication: Under it, the presidential and Legislative Council elections must be held at the same time - meaning in this case that either 'Abbas should continue in his post until the Legislative Council's term ends on January 25, 2010, or the Legislative Council should be dissolved at the end of Abbas's term, which did not happen. [2]
Senior Hamas official Mushir Al-Masri stated: "'Abbas must leave not only the presidential office but the Palestinian people as well, because he has relinquished his people and the path of the shahids and the wounded… [and has acted] like someone who agreed to the occupation, the aggression, and the killing of Palestinians, and rejected the summit [aimed at] stopping the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip." [3]
Hamas: Being Invited to the Summit Proves That the Arab Countries Appreciate and Honor Us
Mushir Al-Masri depicted the participation of the Palestinian opposition factions at the Doha summit as an achievement: "For the first time in decades, the Palestinian resistance was invited to an Arab summit. This proves that that the resistance has the respect and appreciation not only of the public in the Arab and Islamic countries, but also of some of the Arab regimes that sympathize with the endeavor of the resistance, and that express appreciation for the heroic fortitude of our people in the Gaza Strip." [4]
Hamas activist Dr. Faiz Abu Shamala, who writes regularly for a Hamas-affiliated website, addressed the PA's claims that the Qatari emir himself was shaking hands with the Jews and permitting an Israeli interests office in the country, as well as a large U.S. air base - while at the same time accusing the PA of collaborating with Israel. Abu Shamala told PA representatives: "[Even] if everything the Qatari emir is doing is negative, you in the PA have outdone him, for he was [only] following the path that you yourselves paved and followed. But the Qatari emir has repented, and has cut off relations with the Hebrew state - while you, what have you done? Aren't you kissing [Israeli Prime Minister] Olmert? Aren't you acting in coordination with Israel's General Security Service? Will you free the resistance members [i.e. Hamas fighters in West Bank prisons] and return their weapons to them? Will you allow the West Bank residents to express solidarity with their brothers, especially since [people] from every corner of the earth have now rallied to save Gaza?
"Listen to what the shahids are saying about Gaza: 'Whoever relinquishes the resistance and coordinates with the Israelis is not worthy to speak on behalf of the Palestinians.'" [5]
PA Representatives: Qatar Sides with the Resistance and the Coup
Al-Tayyeb 'Abd Al-Rahim, secretary-general of the PA Presidency, settled accounts with Qatar, saying: "President Abu Mazen ['Abbas] asked, more than once, to visit Doha, but never received a reply. Moreover, all doors have always been closed to us - but to the members of the coup, who created a rift in the unity of the homeland, they are always open. The aid they received was on a larger scale than usual, but it does not reach the people - instead, it serves to sustain the coup and deepen the rift.
"We have now realized, more than ever, that Qatar planned an ambush aimed at making the Palestinian rift permanent, and turning it into an Arab rift, so as to create axes [in the Arab world]." [6]
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In his column in the PA daily Al-Ayyam, Samih Shabib called the Qatar summit "the Doha coup." He claimed that the conference had given legitimacy to launch a struggle over who is to represent the Palestinian people, saying: "What has occurred is truly unprecedented. The PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, was absent, and the [rejectionist] Palestinian factions participated instead. [Some] formerly [belonged] to the PLO but left it; [today], they are headed by Hamas political bureau chief [Khaled Mash'al], who led the June 2007 coup against the legitimate [Palestinian representation, i.e. the PLO]. Qatar saw nothing strange in these events [i.e. the coup], and never condemned them - rather, it adopted Hamas's position, defended it, and inclined towards it, even before the military coup.
"What happened in Qatar is no passing incident - rather, it is granting legitimacy to launch the battle over [who is to be the legitimate] representative of the Palestinians, or an attempt to distance the PLO and the PA and at the same time to bolster the status of the [other] Palestinian factions." [7]
Other PA representatives also attributed to Qatar an intention to deepen the intra-Arab and intra-Palestinian rift, and to harm the status of the PLO as the legitimate Palestinian representative. 'Azzam Al Ahmad, head of the Fatah faction in the Legislative Council, stated: "Had Abu Mazen been dragged into participating in the Doha summit, it would have caused damage to the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people. The PA's absence [from the summit] stemmed from the fact that the summit had lost its legitimacy. The insistence on holding the summit in any form and in any framework proves the impure intent [of those who convened it], and that the aim was to deepen the intra-Arab and intra-Palestinian rift." [8]
PLO Executive Committee secretary-general Yasser 'Abd Rabbo stated that Qatar would not be the one to decide who represents the Palestinian people: "[Qatar's] emir crossed a red line by inviting the Hamas leaders to participate in the summit. If the emir wants to advance his personal agenda using the blood of Gaza, that is his affair - but if he [touches] the legitimacy of the PLO, that is [crossing] a red line." [9]
Qatari Prime Minister Vs PA President
The Qatari regime heads took advantage of 'Abbas' absence from the summit to mock him, by revealing what he had told Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber Aal Thani when he declined the invitation.
According to the Qataris, 'Abbas had claimed that Saudi Arabia and Egypt were pressuring him not to attend; Aal Thani stated that over the phone, he had clarified to 'Abbas "the importance of his participation in the summit, because it will discuss the Palestinian problem and the problem of the Palestinian people. However, 'Abbas stated that Arab League secretary-general 'Amr Moussa had told him that there was no summit at Doha.
"Later, 'Abbas excused his non-attendance by saying that there wasn't enough time for him to get permission from the Israeli authorities to leave Ramallah. We said that [we'd be able] to help him [with that], but he asked [if he could call back] in half an hour. An hour and a half later, he informed us that he would not be able to attend the Doha summit because he was being pressured, and that if he did 'it would be suicide.'
'Aal Thani continued, "I respect and appreciate President Mahmoud 'Abbas, and from the outset, we didn't ask Hamas and the Palestinian factions to participate in the summit, so as not to give ['Abbas] a pretext to be absent - particularly because he is the one involved. But when 'Abbas refrained from attending, we thought that it was essential to invite the Palestinian factions, because it wouldn't have made sense to hold a summit to discuss the Palestinian problem without the Palestinians. [So] we sent a private plane to bring the resistance leaders, so that they could speak on behalf of the Palestinian people." [10]
At the summit itself, the Qatari emir said about 'Abbas's absence: "We wanted Palestinian President Abu Mazen to be with us today to discuss the problem of his people in Gaza, but he preferred not to attend. If we don't meet for this urgent aim, when and why will we meet?" [11]
Ali Ahmad, editor of the Qatari daily Al-Watan, put it more bluntly: "PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas's absence from the summit is the greatest strategic mistake by the Palestinian leadership since it supported the Iraqi invasion of its sister country Kuwait in 1990. How can a political leader not attend a summit that is aimed at discussing ways to alleviate his people's suffering? How can a national leader make such a decision, against a summit that seeks to stop the destruction of his country? Nothing remains but to say: Shame on President 'Abbas and his cohorts!" [12]
PA and Fatah leaders contended that the Qatari prime minister had distorted 'Abbas's statements, and threatened to release recordings of conversations between 'Abbas and Qatari representatives. However, none of their explanations was sufficient to refute the Qatari allegations. PLO negotiating team head Saeb 'Ariqat proposed that reporters come to the presidential office in Ramallah to hear a recording of 'Abbas's conversation with the Qatari prime minister. He stated that 'Abbas had not made the statements that were being attributed to him, but had actually said the following: 'The pressure on us as a result of the slaughter [in Gaza] is killing us, and is [also] obliging us to be united." [13]
'Azzam Al-Ahmad, head of the Fatah faction in the Legislative Council, also stated that the PA would release the details of the conversations between 'Abbas and the Qatari leaders: "The Qataris' statements on the conversations with 'Abbas are an inversion of the facts. Since we know that they are lying, we will release the recording of the phone conversations in the media, so as to reveal the facts." [14]
Al-Tayyeb 'Abd Al-Rahim, secretary-general of the PA Presidency asserted that 'Abbas had not attended the Qatar summit because it had been convened without the quorum required by Arab League regulations: "We do not need the advice of the Qatari emir or prime minister, whose main aim is to arouse suspicions by winking and insinuation. It is unbecoming for leaders to present lies in the name of President 'Abbas, and to claim that he ostensibly said that he was being pressured not to go to Doha. This manner [of action] will not help the reciprocal relations between us [and Qatar]. They know, better than others, and at all levels, that our decision stemmed from our supreme national interests, and that the Palestinian cause must stand above any intra-Arab disagreement. The conversations with the Qatari prime minister on the evening of Thursday [January 15, 2009] are documented." [15]
* C. Jacob is a research fellow at MEMRI
Endnotes:
[1] Fars (Iran), January 15, 2009.
[2] See MEMRI Special Dispatch Series No. 2051, "Hamas: We Won't Recognize 'Abbas as PA President after January 9, 2009," September 12, 2008, Hamas: We Won't Recognize 'Abbas as PA President after January 9, 2009
[3] www.palestine-info.info, January 16, 2009.
[4] www.palestine-info.info, January 16, 2009.
[5] www.palestine-info.info, January 17, 2009.
[6] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), January 17, 2009.
[7] Al-Ayyam (PA), January 19, 2009.
[8] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), January 17, 2009.
[9] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), January 17, 2009.
[10] Al-Raya (Qatar), January 17, 2009.
[11] Al-Raya (Qatar), January 17, 2009.
[12] Al-Watan (Qatar), January 17, 2009.
[13] Al-Hayat (London), January 17, 2009.
[14] Al-Quds (Jerusalem), January 19, 2009.
[15] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), January 17, 2009.
