Fatah boots lawmaker after brawl with senior official
Parliamentarian Jamal Abu al-Rub said to assault Jibril Rajoub, leading to chase and expulsion
Avi Issacharoff, The Times of Israel's Middle East analyst, fills the same role for Walla, the leading portal in Israel. He is also a guest commentator on many different radio shows and current affairs programs on television. Until 2012, he was a reporter and commentator on Arab affairs for the Haaretz newspaper. He also lectures on modern Palestinian history at Tel Aviv University, and is currently writing a script for an action-drama series for the Israeli satellite Television "YES." Born in Jerusalem, he graduated cum laude from Ben Gurion University with a B.A. in Middle Eastern studies and then earned his M.A. from Tel Aviv University on the same subject, also cum laude. A fluent Arabic speaker, Avi was the Middle East Affairs correspondent for Israeli Public Radio covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Iraq and the Arab countries between the years 2003-2006. Avi directed and edited short documentary films on Israeli television programs dealing with the Middle East. In 2002 he won the "best reporter" award for the "Israel Radio” for his coverage of the second intifada. In 2004, together with Amos Harel, he wrote "The Seventh War - How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians." A year later the book won an award from the Institute for Strategic Studies for containing the best research on security affairs in Israel. In 2008, Issacharoff and Harel published their second book, entitled "34 Days - The Story of the Second Lebanon War," which won the same prize.
A Palestinian parliamentarian was booted from the Fatah party after he physically attacked a senior member of the party Wednesday night.
Jamal Abu al-Rub, a Fatah official and member of the Palestinian Authority parliament, assaulted Jibril Rajoub, a Fatah central committee member who is considered to be one of Fatah’s main leaders in the West Bank, Palestinian sources told The Times of Israel.
Relations between Abu al-Rub (nicknamed “Hitler” for his similar looks to the Nazi leader) and Rajoub deteriorated after Rajoub’s security contingent attacked Abu al-Rub during an earlier meeting, six weeks ago.
The latest incident occurred during a meeting in Ramallah Wednesday night. After Rajoub was attacked, his security men chased Abu al-Rub, who escaped into the PA parliament building, where he telephoned for help. PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s guards then came to the scene in order to rescue Abu al-Rub from Rajoub’s men, who were threatening to enter the building and attack Abu al-Rub.
On Thursday morning, Abbas decided to expel Abu al-Rub from the ruling Fatah party, which prompted Fatah members in Kabatia, Abu al-Rub’s home village, to organize a protest against the decision.
The Times of Israel Community.