Special to WorldTribune.com

RAMALLAH — Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been facing increasing opposition from the ruling Fatah movement.

Abbas, long supported by Egypt and the United States, has been battling rumors attributed to Fatah critics regarding his health as well as the loyalty of aides. One rumor claimed that the 80-year-old Abbas was felled by a stroke.

“These [critics] are powerful people with access to the media,” a Palestinian source said.

The rumors on the social media were posted amid reports of increasing tension betwen the chairman and Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. As the rumors peaked on Dec.6, Abbas, accompanied by a television crew, left his home in Ramallah and visited a supermarket.

The social media also claimed that Hamdallah submitted his resignation to Abbas. The sources said Abbas ordered the prime minister to issue a denial.

Hamdallah, linked to Hamas, has been angered by directives from Abbas and Fatah on Cabinet appointments. The prime minister has disclosed that he was forced to agree to appointments ordered by PA intelligence chief Majed Faraj and Abbas aide Azzam Ahmed. Ahmed’s sister-in-law, Khalwa Shakhshir, was appointed education minister.

Abbas has also been at odds with PLO secretary-general Yasser Abbed Rabbo, once a close ally. Abbed Rabbo was said to have joined ousted Prime Minister Salam Fayad and security chief Mohammed Dahlan for a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the United Arab Emirates in November 2014.

On Dec. 2, PA police were ordered to surround the Palestinian Legislative Council and bar entry to another Abbas critic — secretary-general Ibrahim Khreisheh. In November, Khreisheh was fired by Abbas for the former’s support for the civil servants union. outlawed by the PA.

“At a time when parliaments around the world are voting to recognize Palestine, it is unacceptable that the Palestinian police surround our own parliament,” PLO Executive Committee member Tayseer Khaled said.

  Abbas, opposition, Palestinian Authority, Palestinians’ Abbas faces rising dissent, WorldTribune.com