Mohammed Dahlan resigns as Abbas' national security adviser

26 July 2007

By Avi Issacharoff

Former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan resigned as Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' national security adviser Thursday, a month and a half after his men were routed in the Gaza Strip by their rivals from Hamas.

In a statement sent to reporters, Dahlan cited health reasons, but Palestinian government officials said he had been asked to resign by Abbas after a government committee concluded that Dahlan bore much of the responsibility for Fatah's humiliating defeat by Hamas in mid-June.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to disclose information on the resignation to the press.

"Because of my long absence and health problems, I hope that you accept the end of my mission as a national security adviser. I will always remain a loyal soldier behind you," Dahlan wrote to Abbas, according to the statement.

Dahlan was widely blamed for Fatah's surprising collapse in five days of fighting in Gaza. Abbas has already dismissed more than a dozen other Fatah official tarnished by the defeat.

After the Hamas victory, Dahlan justified his men's poor performance by saying they were exhausted and destroyed following years of Israeli-Palestinian violence. But many Fatah loyalists said they felt betrayed by Dahlan, who was often abroad, for not personally leading the battle against Hamas.