Abbas ordered monitoring phones of rival Fatah, PLO members

Arabic News sites over the weekend published alleged internal documents from Mahmoud Abbas, marked "top secret," where he demanded to monitor the phone calls of many prominent Fatah and PLO leaders.

They included Fatah Central Committee members such as Major General Tawfiq Tirawi, Major General Jibril Rajoub , and prominent leaders of the Palestinian Authority, such as former Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad and Secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO and Yasser Abed Rabbo.

This was apparently in response to reports of internal criticism of his leadership.

At first I discounted these reports because they originated at a Hamas website and I've seen Hamas forge "confidential" documents before. But now there is news on pro-Fatah sites themselves that Abbas ordered an investigation into who leaked these documents!

Abbas' choice not to deny these rumors and instead to find out who is behind the leak makes a strong case that the published documents are legitimate and Abbas is acting like just another banana republic dictator.

Arabs know very well that their leadership is criminally corrupt. Too bad the Western media chooses to ignore stories like these in order to keep their own precious memes of upstanding, moderate Palestinian leadership alive.