The Palestinian street follows with great interest the leaks from the commission of inquiry into the circumstances of Yasser Arafat’s death.
For 18 years, the Palestinians accused Israel of being responsible for Arafat’s death, but from the leaking of the testimonies of PA senior officials in the investigative committee, it is clear that PA Chairman Abu Mazen had bad personal and political relations with Yasser Arafat, undermined him and had a clear interest in getting rid of Arafat.
Abu Mazen is furious. As a result of the leaks his position in the Palestinian street has been further undermined and he is looking for revenge.
The main suspect in the leaking of the evidence in the investigation committee to the media is a member of the Fatah central committee Tawfik al-Tirawi who headed the investigation committee from 2009 until today.
PA Chairman Abu Mazen took three immediate steps against Tawfiq al-Tirawi, he deprived him of his personal security guards and removed him from the presidency of “Al-Istiklal” University in Jericho, he forced him to freeze his membership in Fatah’s central committee and removed him from the position of responsible for the popular organizations on behalf of the Fatah movement and appointed senior Fatah official Muhammad Al-Madani to the position in his place.
Al-Tirawi’s associates claim that he gave up these positions of his own will due to the heavy pressure on him from senior Fatah officials and out of a desire to prove that he was not the leaker.
However, senior officials in Fatah claim that the investigation by the Palestinian security officials to find evidence that he is a leaker is at an advanced stage and that he will be prosecuted.
According to them, he will not only be accused of leaking the investigation detalis into the death of Yasser Arafat, but also of acts of corruption.
Another option is not to prosecute him in a military court but to conduct an internal trial against him in the Fatah movement and remove his member ship in Fatah .
Sources in Fatah movement they say that Tawfik al-Tiravi fears for his life and may take the initiative himself and move to live in Jordan.
Fatah officials said that the head of Tawfik Al-Tirawi’s office fled abroad and that he is suspected of leaking audio recordings to the media in which al-Tirawi is heard slandering senior Fatah officials Hossein al-Sheikh and Jibril Rajoub.
It was also reported that in the al-Tirawi family conflicts erupted over the leaks.
The al-Tirawi family refused to comment.
Tawfik al-Tirawi’s prosecution is only a matter of time or his dismissal from the Fatah movement.
There are two main beneficiaries of this affair, the first is Hussein al-Sheikh, the designated successor of PA Chairman Abu Mazen.
The affair politically eliminated Tawfik al-Tirawi and excluded him from the succession battle, al-Tirawi accuses Hussein al-Sheikh and Majed Faraj, the head of the General Intelligence, of leaking the protocols from the investigative committee in order to create a conflict between him and Abu Mazen.
The second beneficiary is Israel, putting the responsibility on PA chairman Abu Mazen that he is the main suspect in Arafat’s death is a heavy blow to the Palestinian propaganda machine that accused Israel of being responsible for Arafat’s death.
Israel needs to leverage the affair and expose the lies of the Palestinian Authority.
