Abbas to warn of ‘fifth column’ seeking to undermine PA

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will warn of a “fifth column” trying to destroy the Palestinian Authority from within, in an Arabic media interview set to be published next week.

“There is a fifth column inside the PA trying to prevent it from existing,” he said cryptically in the interview, which is slated to air next week, according to the London-based pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi.

The comments could refer to recent reported claims by Abbas and sources close to him that former Palestinian officials were seeking to oust him, or an ongoing rivalry with hardline group Hamas, which has sought to sideline Abbas’s Fatah movement.

The PA recently took moves against organizations linked to former Palestinian prime minister Salaam Fayyad and ousted Palestine Liberation Organization head Yasser Abed Rabbo, with reports suggesting Ramallah feared a plot by the two, along with exiled politician Mohammed Dahlan, to overthrow Abbas.

The PA leader also warned Israel that Palestinians would not accept separate access for Jews and Muslims to the Temple Mount, which Muslims refer to as the al-Aqsa compound.

Israel has not announced such plans, but the PA reportedly believes the Israeli government is considering them to prevent recurring violence on the holy site.

“Dividing [access to] al-Aqsa by time or place will not pass,” Abbas said. “Jerusalem is a red line and we will not allow anybody to touch it.”

Abbas on Wednesday hailed the Palestinian rioters on the Temple Mount, saying any blood spilled in defense of the holy site was “pure.” Approximately 70 Palestinians and 14 police officers were injured in clashes on the Temple Mount this week.

Abbas also criticized Israeli demolitions in the West Bank, saying Israel’s willingness to raze buildings in Areas A and B, set aside in the Oslo Accords as under PA administrative control, is a violation of the accords. Israel’s Supreme Court, which approves such demolitions, is complicit in this violation, he said.

He promised a surprise at his upcoming UN speech on September 29: “I will drop a bombshell during the UN speech, and I won’t reveal what that is.”

And he reiterated his resistance to Israeli demands that he recognize Israel as a Jewish state. “A Jewish state would give rationale to building the Islamic State in Syria, Gaza, Egypt,” he said.

He also said he had offered a suggestion to President Bashar Assad of Syria, through Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem. “I advised him to come out and speak to his people. That would have an effect.”

Al-Quds al-Arabi told its readers that the octogenarian Abbas is entirely clear-headed, contrary to purported Israeli rumors about his deterioration in health.