Covert Palestinian Authority-Iranian get-together in Caracas

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Covert Palestinian Authority-Iranian get-together in Caracas

    DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

    May 1, 2009
    Venezuelan, Palestinian foreign ministers in Caracas

    Authorative sources in the Venezuelan capital have told DEBKAfile that
    Monday, April 27, Iran's foreign minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar and
    intelligence chiefs secretly got together with visiting Palestinian
    Authority officials, led by Palestinian foreign minister Riyadh
    al-Maliki. The matchmakers were Hugo Chavez and the Qatar ruler Sheikh
    Hamad bin Khalifa, following on the former's visits to Tehran and
    Qatar in late March.

    If true, this would signal a drastic policy turnabout by Palestinian
    Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas away from Cairo and over to the
    radical Tehran and Damascus. The Ramallah-Tehran opening, if
    confirmed, could help bury the hatchet between the warring Fatah and
    Hamas and pave the way for a Palestinian unity government governed by
    rejectionist ideology.

    This would shut the door to future Palestinian negotiations with
    Israel's Netanyahu administration.

    Najjar's visit to Caracas was formally presented as a move to
    strengthen "defense cooperation" between Iran and Venezuela.

    "Iran pledges its full support to promote the Venezuelan military's
    defense capabilities in the framework of mutual defensive agreements,"
    he said, Thursday, April 30, after calling on Chavez. The Iranian
    visitor also met Venezuelan vice president and acting defense minister
    Ramon Carrizalez to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on
    military cooperation which encompassed "training and mutual exchange
    of military experiences".

    The large Iranian and Palestinian Authority delegations met under
    cover of celebrations marking Venezuela's decision to sever its
    diplomatic ties with Israel and open a Palestinian embassy in Caracas
    instead.

    Chavez is quoted as maintaining during his visits to Tehran and Doha
    that if US president Barack Obama is willing to talk to him, with Cuba
    and with Iran, there was no reason why Mahmoud Abbas should not engage
    Tehran directly. This would help overcome his Fatah's quarrel with
    Hamas, which Iran is actively supporting with arms, cash and military
    training.

    Abbas is said to have welcomed the proposal when it was put to him by
    Sheikh Khalifa.

    Caracas sources say the Iranian-Palestinian meeting lasted about four
    hours and ended with a decision to continue the encounters in Moscow,
    Doha and Ankara, where Iran and the Palestinians both maintain large
    diplomatic legations.

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