U.S. DEMANDS ABBAS APPOINT TERRORIST WHO MURDERED AMERICANS AS DEPUTY

Abbas refuses to name Dahlan his deputy (JPost)
The Bush administration is exerting heavy pressure on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to appoint senior Fatah figure Muhammad Dahlan as his deputy, sources in Ramallah said Sunday.

According to the sources, Abbas has rejected the US demand, triggering a crisis with Washington. They said tensions between Abbas and Dahlan had escalated over the past few weeks after the latter criticized the PA president's performance.

Sources close to Abbas told the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masriyoon that Dahlan had been inciting Fatah cadres in the West Bank and Gaza Strip against Abbas.

They said the Egyptian government was now trying to prevent further deterioration. Egyptian mediators, they added, were expected to visit Ramallah soon to discuss ways of resolving the crisis.

Dahlan, a former Fatah security commander in the Gaza Strip, has come under criticism from several of the movement's leaders for failing to prevent the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip last June.

According to the leaders, Dahlan and his followers in the Strip had received millions of dollars and weapons from the US and other countries to undermine Hamas before the takeover - a claim Dahlan has strongly denied.

AS YOU CAN READ HERE, DAHLAN AND HIS COHORTS ARE SUSPECTS IN SEVERAL TERRORIST ATTACKS, INCLUDING ONE AGAINST AN AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC CONVOY.