In essence, it is yet another way to control his people.
Indeed, yesterday Abbas revoked the diplomatic passport of his Fatah rival Nasser al Kidwa, who is a former Palestinian envoy to the UN and also former foreign minister - pretty much the definition of a diplomat. But Kidwa created a rival faction within Fatah last year, so he is an enemy of the Palestinian dictator.
Kidwa even said that it makes no sense for him to go through the Palestinian judicial system to protest this ruling, since it is all rigged by Abbas anyway.
Similarly, Abbas withdrew the diplomatic passports of many members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, which is dominated by Hamas, even though the law used to be that they can use these "VIP" passports for life.
This is a clear violation of the right of movement - by the Palestinian leadership. Yet Gisha, the Israeli NGO that supposedly is dedicated to promoting the right of Palestinians to have freedom of movement, has not said a word about this law that passed on February 6.
Gisha, which has embraced the word "apartheid" to describe Israel, suddenly doesn't care about freedom of movement -- its entire purpose -- when Israel cannot be blamed.
Similarly, the non-Arabic media has been silent on this very clear unilateral and dictatorial move by Mahmoud Abbas.
People really care about Palestinian human rights - as long as they can blame the Jews. Without that critical precondition, these same caring human rights professionals don't care about Palestinian human rights at all.
