Who is Mohammad Dahlan, exiled security chief the Shin Bet chief allegedly met with?

Prof. Kobi Michael: Israel perceives Dahlan as pragmatic, as responsible, reasonable, and Israel wants to see Dahlan in an effective position, even if he was less certain that Palestinians felt the same.

Any sort of contact, negotiation, [or] cooperation with him is a finger in the eye of Abu Mazen (Abbas) and the Palestinian Authority, and maybe this government has an intention to do that, maybe they do it deliberately… maybe they want to weaken Abu Mazen – they want to weaken the Palestinian Authority, evidencing that there was no other reason he could conceive why Israeli media would be handed such a story.

Originally from the Gaza Strip, Dahlan lacks support in the West Bank. Israel sees that there are some factions that are competing with each other in the West Bank, and maybe Israel is a bit worried about a chaotic situation.

Published in The Jerusalem Post, May 26, 2026.

*The opinions expressed in Misgav publications are the authors’ alone.