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<h1 class="title" id="page-title">Al Jazeera once again removes Joseph
Massad article on Palestine</h1>
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<span property="dc:date dc:created" content="2014-03-24T19:03:01+00:00"
datatype="xsd:dateTime" rel="sioc:has_creator"><span class="username"
xml:lang="" about="/users/ali-abunimah" typeof="sioc:UserAccount"
property="foaf:name" datatype=""></span>Mon, 03/24/2014 - 19:03<br>
<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/al-jazeera-once-again-removes-joseph-massad-article-palestine#article">http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/al-jazeera-once-again-removes-joseph-massad-article-palestine#article</a></small></small></small></b><br>
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<p>Al Jazeera English has once again removed an article by Columbia
University professor <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/joseph-massad">Joseph Massad</a>
hours after publishing it.</p>
<p>The article, “The Dahlan Factor,” appeared for several hours on the
Qatar-based broadcaster’s website this morning <a
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/03/dahlan-factor-2014323103518708168.html">at
this link</a>, but was later removed without explanation (the full
article is republished <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/al-jazeera-once-again-removes-joseph-massad-article-palestine#article">below</a>).</p>
<p>The article had been extremely popular, appearing in the fifth spot
on the website’s “What’s Hot” section.</p>
<p>In May 2013, there was a major scandal when Al Jazeera English <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/al-jazeera-management-orders-joseph-massad-article-pulled-act-pro-israel">censored
a previous article</a> by Massad, a regular contributor, due to <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/al-jazeera-roiled-us-managers-decision-censor-joseph-massad-article">political
interference in the editorial process</a>, after the broadcaster came
under intense criticism from Zionists.</p>
<p>Following an uproar over the censoring of Massad, his article “<a
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/05/2013521184814703958.html">The
last of the Semites</a>” was restored.</p>
<h2>Removed again</h2>
<p>Imad Musa, manager of online for Al Jazeera English, told The
Electronic Intifada today that he personally took the decision to
remove “The Dahlan Factor” which looked at the increasingly bitter
conflict between Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on the one
hand, and the Palestinian warlord <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/muhammad-dahlan">Muhammad
Dahlan</a> on the other.</p>
<p>Musa said that Massad’s article “didn’t meet our legal standards at
all. It actually had elements of defamation, slander and libel.”</p>
<p>Asked why it had been published in the first place, Musa said, “we
do have some loopholes in our editorial workflow. But we’re only human
and we make mistakes.”</p>
<p>Musa would not provide specific examples of problems with the
article, restating only that “it contained a series of legal problems
which are unacceptable to us.”</p>
<p>Musa denied that there had been any complaints from outside Al
Jazeera and said that concerns had been raised internally, before he
made the final decision to remove the article.</p>
<h2>Massad’s response</h2>
<p>Massad sent this statement to The Electronic Intifada:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I sent an article to the editor I deal with at Al Jazeera English,
Ms. [O.] on Saturday 22 March. She wrote me back within a few hours
describing the piece as a “most insightful and timely piece.” She asked
me to provide ”a few links here and there to support what you say.”</p>
<p>I promptly did so and sent her back the article with a number of
links. She was also helpful by sending me one link that she thought I
would find helpful. I did. I sent her a final copy of the article on
Sunday 23 March.</p>
<p>She informed me that “We are having it up tomorrow.” This morning
when I woke up, she had sent me a copyedited version with some queries
and editorial suggestions. I approved them all. There was a suggestion
that I remove one paragraph on Egyptian billionaire and head of Orascom
Communications Naguib Sawires as “out of topic” but I refused and
explained how it is linked to the Egyptian role in the matter at hand.</p>
<p>The article ran at about 9:30 AM EST but at 10:32 AM I received a
phone call from Imad Musa who asked me to provide a reference about
a claim regarding Sawires and asked me to change the language about the
accusations made by Dahlan and Abbas against one another regarding the
murder of Arafat.</p>
<p>I agreed to both suggestions, and sent him a link to the Sawires
part. He wrote back saying that he prefers not to use the Sawires
claim. Then I discovered that the article was removed after 1:50 PM. I
wrote him immediately inquiring about it but he did not answer. I
received an email from [O.] at 2:03 PM informing me that the piece had
been removed for legal reasons even though the legal question had never
come up before and I provided the links to all the claims that I made
and for which they asked me to provide links.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Asked if he feared that today’s removal of Massad’s article without
any public explanation would again appear as censorship, Al Jazeera’s
Musa said he didn’t and that Al Jazeera acted with complete
“transparency.”</p>
<p>Musa was also in charge of Al Jazeera English’s website when
Massad’s article was censored last May.</p>
<p>Here is an <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/sites/electronicintifada.net/files/the_dahlan_factor_-_opinion_-_al_jazeera_english.png">image</a>
of Massad’s article as it appeared on Al Jazeera English and the full
text is below.</p>
<hr>
<h2 id="article">Massad’s article: The Dahlan factor</h2>
<p><strong>The Israeli and US betting on the Dahlan horse will only
increase the resolve of the Palestinians and their supporters.</strong></p>
<p>Last updated: 24 Mar 2014 14:52</p>
<p><a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/indepth/opinion/profile/joseph-massad.html">Joseph
Massad</a></p>
<p>Joseph Massad is Associate Professor of Modern Arab Politics and
Intellectual History at Columbia University.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated to clarify some of the comments made by
the author.</em></p>
<p>The recent resurrection of <a
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2009/08/200981184622781846.html">Mohammad
Dahlan</a>by several Arab governments, Israel and the US is a most
important development for the future of the Palestinian cause,
Palestinian Authority (PA)-Israel negotiations, and Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Dahlan is viewed, by many Palestinians, as the <a
href="http://paltimes.net/details/news/61481/%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%81%D8%AA%D8%AD-%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%AF%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%8B.html#.Uy1uchbwRic.facebook">most
corrupt</a> official in the history of the Palestinian national
movement (and there are many contenders for that title).</p>
<p>Dahlan, it would be recalled, was the PA man in charge of Gaza after
the Oslo Accords were signed, where he commanded 20,000 Palestinian
security personnel who were answerable to the CIA and to Israeli
intelligence. His forces would <a
href="http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1877640,00.html">torture</a>
Hamas members in PA dungeons throughout the 1990s.</p>
<p>His corruption, at the time, was such that he allegedly diverted
over 40 percent of taxes levied against the Palestinians to his
personal account in what became known as the <a
href="http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/203158">Karni Crossing Scandal</a>
in 1997.</p>
<p>Dahlan, who has been accused repeatedly by both Hamas and Fatah of
being an <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/29/world/once-neighbors-now-rival-palestinian-leaders.html">agent</a>
of US, Israeli, Egyptian, and Jordanian intelligence, would attempt to
stage a US-organised coup against the democratically elected Hamas
government in 2007 in Gaza, an attempt that backfired on him and ended
with his eviction from the Strip (I had forewarned about the coup
several months before it <a
href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/819/op2.htm">occurred</a>).</p>
<p>A simultaneous coup led by Abbas and his Israeli- and US-backed
security forces in the West Bank was successful in dislodging the
elected Hamas from power. Dahlan retreated to that mainstay of US and
Israeli power, namely the PA-controlled West Bank, where he began to
hatch new plots with his multiple patrons to undermine not only Hamas
but also Abbas, whose position he begrudged and coveted.</p>
<p>Indeed the Americans and the European Union (the latter on US
orders) began to pressure Abbas to appoint Dahlan as his <a
href="http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/49677/abbas-resists-us-pressure-to-name-dahlan-his-deputy.html">deputy</a>,
making it clear that they would like to see Dahlan succeed Abbas. Abbas
resisted the pressure and refused.</p>
<p>In the meantime, Dahlan, has been accused by Hamas and the PA of
allegedly plotting several assassination attempts that targeted several
Palestinian officials, including Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyyah
and Fatah ministers in the PA. Accusations that he persistently denied.
<a
href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35484315/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/hamas-links-fatah-members-dubai-killing/#.Uy3Kp9w1nl0">His
involvement</a> in the 2010 Mossad assassination of a Hamas official in
Dubai included having two of his Palestinian death squad hit men (later
arrested by Dubai authorities) assist in the operation, a charge he
also <a
href="http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/crime/dahlan-denies-link-to-al-mabhouh-murder-1.585397">denied</a>.
His personal wealth was conservatively estimated in 2005 by an Israeli
think tank at <a
href="http://jcpa.org/article/can-the-palestinian-authority%E2%80%99s-fatah-forces-retake-gaza-obstacles-and-opportunities-2/">$120m</a>.</p>
<p>Once Dahlan’s schemes became too obvious to ignore, Abbas stripped
him of power and chased him out of the Ramallah Green Zone in 2010. He
moved to Mubarak’s Egypt and later, following the ouster of Mubarak, to
Dubai (and on occasion Europe) where he remained until his more recent
resurrection by the heirs of Mubarak who now sit on Egypt’s throne.</p>
<h3>A man for all patrons</h3>
<p>Dahlan’s power lies in his ability to serve the agenda of multiple
patrons. For the Israelis, he is a ruthless, corrupt power-grubbing man
who would do their bidding obediently were he to come to power in Gaza
or the West Bank. Both the Americans and the Israelis see him as
especially willing to sign on an American-sponsored Netanyahu deal
without equivocation.</p>
<p>For the Egyptians and the Gulf monarchies (and he is said to be a
business partner with a Gulf ruler), he would look after their
interests and obey their orders by eliminating any resistance to a
US-imposed Palestinian final surrender to Israel and by eliminating
Hamas once and for all.</p>
<p>For the Egyptian coup leaders, whose coup replicated Dahlan’s 2007
Gaza coup, except successfully, he could rid them of Hamas, which they
see as an extension of the power of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), and
render their relations with Israel even closer than they already are.
Dahlan’s most important role, however, is the one that the Americans
need him for, namely, to replace Abbas should the latter fail to sign
on to the final surrender that Barack Obama and John Kerry have been
cooking at the behest of Netanyahu in the past few months.</p>
<p>Just as George Bush Jr and Bill Clinton terminated the services of
Arafat after the latter proved unable to sign off on the final
Palestinian surrender demanded of him at Camp David in the summer of
2000 (an inability that would arguably cost him his life at the hands
of Abbas or Dahlan - depending on which of the two you talk to - acting
at the behest of the Israelis, and very likely the Americans), Obama
will terminate the services of Abbas should he fail to sign the
US-sponsored surrender. Indeed, even if Abbas does sign such a deal, as
he is approaching his 80th birthday, Dahlan will be needed and ready to
take over after his death.</p>
<p>It is in this context that Egyptian army top brass recently visited
Israel for a whole week while the Egyptian private TV station Dream
(owned by a Mubarak businessman ally, Ahmad Bahgat) aired an interview
with Dahlan in which he attacked Abbas, in yet another effort to
delegitimise the latter.</p>
<p>Dahlan was offered the<a
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/10388-fatah-vows-to-file-libel-suit-against-sawiris">
support</a> of the rightwing Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris
(infamous for his cutting off cellular phone lines in Cairo during the
Egyptian uprising in January 2011 on the <a
href="http://www.masress.com/en/youm7en/339868">orders</a> of
Mubarak’s security apparatus), who sang Dahlan’s praises (as well as
those of Mohammad Rashid, aka Khaled Salam, a former Arafat aide and
another allegedly corrupt embezzling fugitive) as one of the most <a
href="http://www.shorouknews.com/news/view.aspx?cdate=20032014&id=b649dfaf-08f3-4ed5-a6f9-919a137c1736">honest</a>
businessmen he ever worked with and then proceeded to denounce Abbas as
a “liar”.</p>
<p>Indeed Sawiris, who has previously had business investments in
Israel, went as far as claiming that had Palestine had “three men” like
Dahlan, “it would have been liberated by now”.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, after months of closure of the borders with Gaza and
harassment of Palestinians in Egypt by the heirs of Mubarak, the
daughter of late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, Huda, who, like
the rest of her siblings, had already paid abject public obeisance to
the coup leader, published a letter to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail
Haniyyah, accusing him and Hamas of terrorism targeting Egyptian
soldiers in Sinai.</p>
<p>Moreover, with the elimination of Syria as a refuge for the exiled
Hamas leaders, the Saudis and the UAE are tightening the grip on Qatar,
the new base for the exiled Hamas leadership and the sponsor of the MB.
They are also hoping that some of the concessions Iran would pay for
its new modus vivendi with the US would include abandoning support for
Hamas.</p>
<h3>The takeover plan</h3>
<p>As an Egyptian court has recently joined Israel and the US in
banning Hamas from the country and considering it a terrorist
organisation and as the Israelis have threatened openly this week that
an invasion of Gaza will be necessary, the plan for a Dahlan take-over
is hatching slowly but surely. This is viewed as such a threat that
Abbas dispatched his supporters and cronies to the streets of Ramallah
to prove to the Americans and the Israelis that he still commands much
support in the West Bank.</p>
<p>The competition between Abbas and Dahlan is essentially one where
each of them wants to prove that he can be more servile to Israeli, US,
Egyptian, and Gulf interests while maintaining legitimacy and full
control of the Palestinian population.</p>
<p>The details of the plot are not clear. They could involve an
invasion of Gaza from the Egyptian and the Israeli sides (and Egyptian
officials have already threatened to carry out such an invasion a few
weeks ago), a coup of sorts in the West Bank, and even assassinations
of Haniyyah and/or Abbas.</p>
<p>All bets are off at the moment, as Abbas, like Arafat before him, is
offering complete obedience to US and Israeli diktat and will go much
farther than Arafat did, but he understands too well that he would lose
all legitimacy and control were he to sign the final humiliating
surrender that the US and Israel are insisting on. Dahlan of course
will have no such worries.</p>
<p>As for Hamas, which, unlike the MB, is a resistance movement and not
a political party, it cannot be rounded up or crushed so easily, and
the entry of Dahlan into Gaza, let alone the West Bank, will usher in a
civil war that could likely end in his defeat yet again, short of a
full Israeli invasion of Gaza to return him to power (Dahlan has also
been accused by the PA of collaborating with the Israelis in their 2008
invasion of Gaza and has recently been accused in aiding the ongoing <a
href="http://madamasr.com/content/former-palestinian-leader-accused-fueling-counter-revolution-egypt">counter-revolution</a>
in Egypt).</p>
<p>The same scenario would be repeated in the West Bank.</p>
<p>The future of the Palestinian people is in danger and the enemies of
the Palestinians surround them inside and outside Palestine. The
Obama-Israeli-Egyptian-Gulf plans for liquidating their cause and their
rights continue afoot.</p>
<p>However, just like past corrupt Palestinian leaders were
unsuccessful in liquidating the rights of the Palestinians and their
cause, the Israeli and US betting on the Dahlan horse will only
increase the resolve of the Palestinian people and their supporters
that Palestinian resistance will only cease after the final liquidation
of Israeli state racism and colonialism in all its manifestations
throughout historic Palestine.</p>
<p><em><strong>Joseph Massad is Associate Professor of Modern Arab
Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University.</strong></em></p>
<p><strong><em>The views expressed in this article are the author’s own
and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.</em></strong></p>
<p>Source:
Al Jazeera</p>
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