Dismissed PLO Leader Denies Dahlan Coup Plot

Yasser Abed Rabbo, former secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), launched a scathing critique of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a lengthy interview with Al-Monitor, accusing Abbas of “one-man” rule. “The executive branch, led by Abbas, is in control of all the institutions — whether they are security, political, economic — and the legislature, which is replaced by decrees issued by President Abbas that affect [everyone’s] life,” Rabbo exclaimed.

Abbas dismissed Rabbo from the PLO’s No. 2 post June 30. According to multiple Arab sources, the leader of the Palestinian Authority (PA) accused Rabbo of conspiring with Mohammed Dahlan, an Abbas rival, in an alleged coup attempt. Rabbo dismissed the rumors of such a plot as a “hallucination.”

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“The lines between the PLO, PA and Fatah are increasingly blurred by Abbas,” said Grant Rumley, an expert in Palestinian politics at the Washington, DC-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, via email. “To fire the PLO’s secretary-general [an independent] and replace him with [Saeb] Erekat [a member of Fatah] while on the cusp of appointing a new PA Cabinet says a great deal about the amount of control Abbas has consolidated in the West Bank.”

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