Published Thursday, May 22, 2014
News of the Palestinian left’s objection to Fatah and Hamas sharing power in the government passed quickly and without much attention. But the new public rift between Mahmoud Abbas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) makes significant revelations about what politicians are up to.
Al-Akhbar learned from informed Palestinian sources that the situation has secretly reached a boiling point and a level of unprecedented tension between the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has decided to end his relationship once and for all with the PFLP. He also halted the transfer of the money allocated to the PFLP and financial dues issued by the Palestinian National Fund, and prevented the organization from receiving invitations to attend any official meetings including the session of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee.
The sources reported that “the PFLP’s anger unleashed against Abbas” by leaders in and outside Palestine expresses their rejection of “the political direction adopted by the powerful leadership in the PLO and came after the PFLP’s demands to stop the corruption and unilateral approach adopted by Abbas.” Therefore, these unannounced decisions, in the sources’ opinion, are aimed at punishing the PFLP for its positions “but have no legitimacy and no value, rather they are illegal and strictly punitive in nature.”
The same sources told Al-Akhbar that Abbas’ reaction was not just the result of the PFLP’s rejection of negotiations. “What prompted him was the campaign that was recently launched by the front regarding political and financial corruption in the PLO’s institutions, the way Abbas monopolizes Palestinian decision-making and the limiting of consultations about government formation to Fatah and Hamas.”
Al-Akhbar also learned that a series of secret meetings were held in Ramallah between Abbas and the PFLP’s temporary representative at the the Executive Committee, Abdel Rahim Mallouh, in the presence of the committee’s secretary, Yasser Abed Rabbo, and Palestinian intelligence chief Major General Majed Faraj. Similar meetings were held in the Jordanian capital between the Palestinian National Council chairperson Salim al-Zaanoun and his deputy Taysir Qubaa from the PFLP.
In the last meeting, the front’s leadership was informed of Abbas’ decision to “stop dealing once and for all with the organization and consider it outside the PLO’s institutions because of its withdrawal from a Central Council meeting, statements it has issued, and for describing the Oslo Agreement as a betrayal of the Palestinian people.”
The sources said the PFLP informed Abbas, Zaanoun and other Palestinian leaders of its categorical rejection of Abbas’ decisions describing them as a “cheap attempt to blackmail the organization in order to provide support for the futile negotiations with Israel and to carry on with this unilateral approach in dealing with the PLO’s institutions.” It also affirmed that the front’s positions are steadfast in this context and will not change.
A PFLP leader, who preferred to remain anonymous, denounced the decisions saying at one of the meetings: “Would Abbas have taken such a step had the PFLP abandoned its position on negotiations for example or provided support inside the PLO or recognized Israel?” He wondered: “Does Abbas think that cutting money allocated to the families of martyrs, political prisoners and activists inside the PFLP - which are their inherent right - is going to dissuade it from its principled and historical positions? Does one person, regardless of his political status, have the right to expel a founding faction of the PLO without dialogue and an institutional decision?” He went on to say: “The PFLP is the second organization in the PLO and one of its main and founding factions... Abbas’ decision reflects exactly this unilateral, exclusionist approach that he represents and adopts inside the Palestinian Authority and Fatah.”
Regarding the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, official Palestinian sources revealed that Abbas has put together the final vision for a government of technocrats agreed to by Fatah and Hamas. These sources said that they will likely choose an interior minister from the Gaza Strip so he would be able to reach an understanding with Hamas and other factions freely while the finance minister will be from the West Bank so he could stay close to the president.
Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and member of Hamas’ Change and Reform bloc, Ahmed Baher, said that the sacked government which has been led by his organization since 2007 is preparing to hand over its ministries to the national reconciliation government that will declared in the coming few days. Baher added in a speech at the launching of a novel in Gaza yesterday that “the government urges our brothers to hand over their ministries to their brothers in the unity government.”
Despite this progress in forming the government, Fatah’s spokesperson in Gaza Fayez Abu Aita denied that the Fatah official in charge of the reconciliation effort, Azzam al-Ahmed, is going to visit Gaza today. He explained in a press statement that Ahmed’s visit is still in the works “but it will take place after Abbas finishes studying the results of the previous consultations that Ahmed carried out with the Hamas leadership last week.” Ahmed had announced that the unity government was going to be formed probably in a week, confirming that contacts have been made with several countries to guarantee support for this government. “In addition, the United States and the international quartet will work to ensure that it will be recognized,” he added
Mohammed Dahlan, the Fatah MP who was dismissed from his organization, announced yesterday that he has decided to participate in the next parliamentary and presidential elections despite the two-year prison sentence issued by the magistrate’s court in Ramallah against him on charges of libel and slander. He said on his Facebook page that this latest decision issued against him is meant to impede his participation in the upcoming Fatah conference.
Hamas leader and former advisor to the sacked government’s prime minister, Ahmed Youssef, said the names of the candidates for the next government are now with Abbas. He said in a statement that the PA president is putting his final touches, choosing a name out of three candidates for every ministry. “The government,” he added “is going to be small, consisting of 15 to 16 ministers.”
(Al-Akhbar)
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
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