US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV233

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 000233 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2010 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KWBG, KPAL, KDEM, GZ, IS, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS 
SUBJECT: HAMAS "THE LEAST OF WORRIES" ACCORDING TO ABU 
MAZEN'S TEAM IN GAZA 
 
 
Classified By: A/DCM Norm Olsen, per 1.5(B) AND (D). 
 
This message has been coordinated with ConGen Jerusalem. 
 
1.  (C) Summary: Senior Abu Mazen confidants in the Gaza 
Strip Marwan Kanafani, Marwan Abdul-Hamid, and Abdullah 
Effrangi told Poloff January 11 that Abu Mazen is determined 
to bring the numerous militant splinter groups "back into the 
Fatah fold," but, to do so, must first provide both physical 
security from Israeli attacks and the financial security of 
alternative employment.  Senior Hamas leaders in Gaza have 
apparently walked back from January 10-11 public statements 
casting doubt upon the legitimacy of Abu Mazen's mandate, 
according to PLC Political Committee Chairman Marwan 
Kanafani.  Kanafani and others further categorized dealing 
with Hamas as a lower priority than successfully 
reintegrating the Fatah militias.  End Summary. 
 
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"When We say Fatah Now, We Mean Abu Mazen" 
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2.  (C) Fatah Revolutionary Council member Marwan Abdul-Hamid 
was ebullient in a conversation with Poloff January 11, 
boasting that "when we say Fatah now, we mean Abu Mazen." 
Everyone participated in the elections, Abdul-Hamid crowed, 
even some Hamas members.  The goal of Abu Mazen supporters 
now, he continued, is to strengthen what he called the Abu 
Mazen stream within Fatah in the run-up to the PLC elections, 
now scheduled for July 17. 
 
3.  (C) PLC Political Committee chairman Marwan Kanafani told 
Poloff January 11 that the Gaza political leadership is 
meeting to assess a situation that Kanafani described as 
"going in the right direction for the first time in years." 
Citing what he called a new willingness to cooperate among 
fractious political factions, Kanafani said that expectations 
of Abu Mazen are so high that Kanafani worries about the 
performance of the new government and how it could possibly 
meet them.  Abu Mazen "has six months, at most" to deliver, 
according to Kanafani, and will need to prioritize what has 
to be done. 
 
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"Hamas is the Least of My Worries" 
---------------------------------- 
 
4.  (C) When asked about the January 11 statements from the 
Hamas spokesman and other Hamas leaders in Gaza that 
questioned the legitimacy of Abu Mazen's mandate because of 
claimed low voter turnout, Kanafani said bluntly that "Hamas 
is the least of my concerns." (Note: The charge of less than 
50 percent turnout is only applicable if the turnout is 
calculated from the out-of-date civil registry. 
International observers and the CEC, however, determined 
voter turnout at 71 percent based on the recently compiled 
voter registration list.  End Note).  Kanafani said the he 
met January 11 with senior Hamas members who wished to 
"clarify" that it had not been the organization's intention 
to call into question the legitimacy of Abu Mazen's electoral 
victory.  Rather, the statements were intended simply as a 
"reminder" to Abu Mazen that he should hold a national 
referendum before deciding major issues such as resuming 
talks with the Israelis or "disarming" the Intifadah. 
Despite down-playing the challenge posed by Hamas, Kanafani 
hastened to add that Abu Mazen intends to meet with Hamas 
leaders when he returns to Gaza after his inauguration.  "Our 
contacts with Hamas are constant," he said. 
 
5.  (C) Abdul-Hamid made a similar point with regard to the 
Hamas statements, stressing that the true spokesman of Hamas, 
Khaled Misha'el in Damascus, called Abu Mazen personally 
January 10 to congratulate him on his victory.  Abdul-Hamid 
dismissed Hamas "mutterings" in the Gaza Strip as an effort 
to "remind people they are still here."  Abu Mazen has loudly 
and bravely condemned the rocket attacks in the Gaza Strip, 
he said, despite warnings from some advisors that this 
position would cost him votes.  Instead, the opposite proved 
to be true, Abdul-Hamid claimed, and people who had been 
afraid to criticize militant activity rallied to Abu Mazen 
for having the courage to say the previously unspeakable and 
cast their vote accordingly.  People in Gaza, according to 
Abdul-Hamid, are almost begging Abu Mazen to "save them from 
Hamas's chaotic policies." 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Fatah's Militant Splinters Looking for Security 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
6.  (C) Abdul-Hamid confidently stated that "all" Fatah 
militants are also Abu Mazen supporters, implying that they 
will obey orders intended to increase Israel's security and 
thus reduce the subsequent need for IDF operations in Gaza. 
When pressed, however, Abdul-Hamid admitted that Abu Mazen is 
expected to deliver something in return to the Fatah 
faithful.  What they are looking for, according to 
Abdul-Hamid, are security from targeted Israeli attacks, 
assassinations and arrest operations, and a decent future 
(read: jobs).  Abu Mazen urgently needs to reach an agreement 
with the Israelis to stop "hunting" the militants, said 
Abdul-Hamid, who urged the U.S. to press Israel on this 
point.  Then, Abdul-Hamid continued, Abu Mazen must find a 
way to "absorb" the militants, most likely into the various 
security bodies, so that they can have an income that allows 
them to provide for their families.  Abu Mazen needs help, 
Abdul-Hamid said, and lots of it -- soon. 
 
7.  (C) Fatah Central Committee member Abdullah Effrangi 
recently told Poloff that Abu Mazen had made serious efforts 
to reach out to Fatah's militant splinter groups during his 
pre-election campaign swing through the Gaza Strip (Note: 
Indeed, Abu Mazen boasted to visiting Senator John Kerry on 
January 10 that he had met with all the al-Aqsa Martyrs' 
Brigades leaders, "from southern Gaza to the northern West 
Bank."  End Note).  Despite the difficulty of bringing his 
message home when delivering it from amid the rubble of 
destroyed houses in, for example, Khan Yunis, Abu Mazen will, 
according to Effrangi, continue to work the issue with all of 
the militant factions because it is essential to bring the 
fighters back "inside" mainstream Fatah.  It is simply too 
dangerous for Palestinian society not to do so.  After 
attending a number of campaign rallies, Effrangi said that he 
is confident that Abu Mazen's message is being received and 
that fighters are, indeed, "willing to come back" into the 
Fatah fold.  The Fatah leadership, he concluded, has 
determined that it must give these men a chance and is now 
looking for ways to reincorporate them into official 
structures.  While Effrangi felt that it was easiest to 
funnel the fighters into the security organizations, he did 
not rule out finding them jobs elsewhere. 
 
 
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