Senior Palestinian officials are enraged after an Israeli report claimed that President Mahmoud Abbas had served as a Soviet KGB agent in the past.
Recently published KGB archival documents reportedly show that Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas served as a Soviet KGB agent in the 1980s.
Israel’s Channel 1 reported Wednesday that documents brought to the West by a KGB defector Vasily Mitrokhin, and which were said to have been released recently for research purposes, exposed Abbas’ ties to the notorious spy agency.
Code-named “Krotov” (mole), the documents characterized Abbas as a KGB agent up until 1983. At the time, Abbas was a member of the Fatah Executive Committee based in Damascus. It is unclear if he continued in this role after 1983.
The Israeli journalist reporting on the revelation said that senior officials in the intelligence world consider the documents provided by Mitrokhin as highly reliable, and that his documents have assisted in exposing hundreds of ex-spies.
Senior Palestinian officials and Fatah members dismissed the report, claiming there was no substance to it and that it was part of an Israeli plot against Abbas.
Senior Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub told Israel Radio that the report does not even warrant a reaction. He charged that those behind the report want to weaken Abbas.
Saeb Erekat claimed the report was another Israeli attempt to slander Abbas, part of a huge campaign to discredit him.
Hussein A-Sheikh, a member of Abbas’ Fatah party, told Israel Radio that he is sure that the report is untrue, charging Israel with waging war against Abbas. This “stupidity,” as he called it, was another Israeli attempt to avoid diplomatic talks. It is unclear how these two issues are interlinked.
A senior figure in the PA told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency that Israel is running a smear campaign against Abbas, possibly on the path to killing him, just as Israel “killed Arafat,” he claimed. Multiple international inquiry bodies have debunked the myth that Israel assassinated former PA head Yasser Arafat.
By: World Israel News Staff