PA blames Israel for stupid UAE rumor about Abbas

Ma'an Arabic reports that the PA strongly denied rumors that Mahmoud Abbas will leave Ramallah because of fear that he will be treated like Arafat as a result of his intransigence in negotiations.  Meaning that ISrael will imprison him in his equivalent of the Muqata and then they'll poison him, as comspiracy-minded Arabs like to believe.

The Ma'an report says that the PA claims that this rumor was planted by Israel, naturally. 

Only one problem: The rumor came out of the UAE. I reported a version of it on Monday and another version came out of a UAE newspaper, al-Khaleej, over the weekend. It's just another silly Arab rumor that gets tossed around, especially in Gulf-area newspapers who love to publish "inside" stories from far away to an audience that is raised on conspiracy theories.

What makes this especially funny is that the rumor is believed by some Palestine-Firsters. No rumor about Israel can be too outrageous to be wholeheartedly believed by activist "journalists" who dedicate their careers to inciting against Israel.