What do you call Palestinians who urge Israel to bomb fellow Palestinians?
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wanted unprecedented help from Israel in attacking Hamas during the clashes just prior to the militant group’s bloody coup of the Gaza Strip, according to a classified cable leaked by WikiLeaks on Monday.
In a cable dated June 13, 2007, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones wrote that Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin had told him in a meeting that Abbas’ Fatah movement was “desperate, disorganized and demoralized” over the situation in the Gaza Strip.
The cable was released as the violent clashes between Fatah and Hamas were underway; three days after the meeting between Jones and Diskin on June 9, Hamas began seizing control of the coastal territory and within five days had displaced the Palestinian Authority government there.
Israel has “established a very good working relationship” with Abbas’ forces, Diskin told Jones in their meeting. As Hamas was overrunning Gaza, Diskin said, some desperate Fatah leaders even wanted Israel to attack Hamas.