Mohammad Yusuf Dahlan (محمد دحلان) born on September 29, 1961 in Khan Yunis Refugee Camp, Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip also known by the kunya Abu Fadi is a Palestinian politician, the former leader of Fatah in Gaza. Dahlan was born to a refugee family from Hamama (a Palestinian town depopulated in 1948), the youngest of six children.
Dahlan became politically active as a teenager and in 1981 helped to establish the Gaza branch of the Fatah Youth Movement Fatah Hawks in the Gaza Strip. Between 1981 and 1986, he was arrested by Israel 11 times for his leading role in the movement. +more
Family
Dahlan married Jaleela (born in Saudi Arabia on 1 January 1966). They have four children: Fadi (born Tunis, 5 October 1990); Firaz (born Tunis, 8 August 1992); Hadil (born Gaza, 19 October 1995); and Asil (born Gaza, 25 September 2003). +more
Oslo years
Dahlan was chosen to head the Preventive Security Force in Gaza after the signing of the Oslo Accords. He built up a force of 20,000 men, making him one of the most powerful Palestinian leaders, dealing regularly with the CIA and Israeli intelligence officials. +more
Second Intifada
In 2001 he upset Yasser Arafat by beginning to call for reform in the Palestinian National Authority and expressing dissatisfaction with a lack of coherent policy.
In 2002, he resigned his post as head of the Preventive Security in Gaza in the hope of becoming Interior Minister; this did not occur, and he was offered a post as security adviser but rejected it. In April 2003, he was appointed the Palestinian Minister of State for Security by Mahmoud Abbas, despite the objection of Arafat. +more
He repeatedly tried to campaign on a reform and anti-corruption ticket and tried to profile himself as an outspoken critic of Arafat, although many observers dispute his personal integrity. Nevertheless, Dahlan and his followers in internal Fatah elections won over most of the Fatah sections in Gaza.
In 2004, Dahlan was assumed to have been behind week-long unrest in Gaza following the appointment of Arafat's nephew Moussa Arafat as head of Gaza police forces. This appointment was considered by some a deliberate step to weaken Dahlan's position before the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza strip and sparked massive protests.
Gaza infighting
On January 26, 2006, Dahlan was narrowly elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in the Palestinian legislative election of 2006 as a representative for Khan Yunis. Dahlan took a tough stance against Hamas, calling their election victory a disaster and threatening to 'haunt them from now till the end of their term' and to 'rough up and humiliate' Fatah supporters tempted to join the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
On December 14, 2006 gunmen attempted to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh as he crossed Gaza's border with Egypt, killing a bodyguard and wounding five others, and sparking further clashes between Hamas and Fatah supporters in Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas accused Dahlan of orchestrating the attack. +more
On January 7, 2007, Dahlan held the biggest-ever rally of Fatah supporters in the Gaza Strip, where he denounced Hamas as 'a bunch of murderers and thieves' and vowed that 'we will do everything, I repeat, everything, to protect Fatah activists'. In response Hamas labeled Dahlan a 'putschist' and accused him of bringing Palestinians to the brink of civil war.
Dahlan was a Fatah representative in negotiations which resulted in the Fatah-Hamas Mecca Agreement of February 8, 2007, in which both sides agreed to stop the military clashes in Gaza and form a government of national unity. In March 2007, despite objections from Hamas, Dahlan was appointed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to lead the newly re-established Palestinian National Security Council, overseeing all security forces in the Palestinian territories. +more
In the April 2008 edition of Vanity Fair it was revealed that after the 2006 elections Dahlan had been central in a US plot to remove the democratically elected Hamas-led government from power. The Americans provided money and arms to Dahlan, trained his men and ordered him to carry out a military coup against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. +more
Battle of Gaza
In July 2007, Dahlan resigned from his post as national security adviser. The resignation was little more than a formality, since Mahmoud Abbas had issued a decree dissolving his national security council immediately after the Hamas takeover of Gaza. +more
Return to West Bank
Shortly after his forces were expelled from Gaza, Dahlan re-established himself in the West Bank. Tensions grew between his supporters and opponents when Fatah leader and former Interior Minister Hani al-Hassan gave an interview on Al-Jazeera in which he said what happened in Gaza was not a war between Fatah and Hamas; but between Hamas and Fatah collaborators who served the Americans and the Israelis, making clear that he was referring to Dahlan's supporters. +more
In October 2007 The Bush administration reportedly exerted heavy pressure on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to appoint Dahlan as his deputy. Some Fatah officials said that the US and some EU countries had made it clear they would like to see Dahlan succeed Abbas as head of the PA.
In August 2009 Dahlan was elected to the Central Committee of Fatah. However the results were controversial, with Fatah suffering mass resignations over claims the elections were fraudulent.
Allegation of murdering Yasser Arafat
In June 2011 Dahlan was expelled from Fatah because of repeated claims by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas that he had murdered Arafat. In September, his house was raided by the Palestinian police and his private armed guards were arrested. +more
Al-Mabhouh assassination
Hamas has claimed that two Palestinians arrested in Dubai for suspected involvement in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Ahmad Hassanain and Anwar Shheibar, are former members of a death cell which carried out violent suppression of Hamas members, and work at a construction company in Dubai owned by Dahlan. A senior Hamas official told Al-Hayat newspaper that the two provided logistical aid to the Mossad hit team alleged to have carried out the assassination, renting them cars and hotel rooms. +more
Trial in absentia
In December 2014, a trial against Dahlan on corruption charges began in Ramallah. Since he failed to appear for the trial, it was decided to try him in absentia.
Involvement in the Yemeni Civil War
Following his expulsion from Fatah, Dahlan moved to the United Arab Emirates, where he worked as a security adviser. In October 2018, Dahlan was accused of cooperating with Abraham Golan, a Hungarian-Israeli veteran of the French Foreign Legion, to hire American ex-special forces mercenaries to assassinate Yemeni al-Islah politicians as part of the United Arab Emirate's role in the Yemeni Civil War.
Criticism
Other Palestinians have criticized Dahlan. Jibril Rajoub, with whom he cultivated a deep and personal rivalry, claimed in 2003 that everybody knew Dahlan was an Israeli agent. +more
Others claim that, for the sake of deterring political rivals and counterweighting the numerous armed militias, he maintained a private army in the Gaza Strip in 2003 and 2004, which was trained and equipped by American services, with Israel intending to force a conflict between Dahlan's forces and Hamas.
Dahlan has also faced criticism regarding his role in Gaza turmoil, especially in exchanging hostilities with rival security forces commander Ghazi al-Jabali. In 2003, Preventive Security Force gunmen raided the offices of Jabali's General Security organization, going so far as to jam his head into his office toilet.
Dahlan was accused of initiating a smear campaign against PA Civilian Affairs Minister Hussein Sheikh in September 2012, when the latter was alleged to have been involved in a sex scandal with a female employee in his department.
Dahlan was the target of a bounty offered by the Turkish government in January 2020, offering 4 million lira (US$700,000) for information leading to his capture. The Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Dahlan of being an agent of Israeli intelligence and a financial backer of the Gülen movement.
Acting Prime Minister of PNA, Nabil Shaath, alleged that Dahlan "played a crucial role in shaping the deal” of the Israel-United Arab Emirates peace agreement, which was denounced by the Palestinian National Authority. Shaath accused him of "neglecting the interests of his homeland". +more
Famous quotes
"Snipers or no snipers, let Hamas shoot and kill me, I want to be close to the masses!"
Sources
[url=http://www. medea. +more
Islamic University of Gaza alumni
Living people
Members of the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council
Montenegrin people of Palestinian descent
Palestinian Muslims
People from Khan Yunis Governorate
People with acquired Serbian citizenship
Serbian people of Palestinian descent
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