Mahmoud Abbas slashes funds to PFLP
Mahmoud Abbas slashes funds to PFLP
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has cut funds to leftist faction Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in response to the group's call for the leader to resign.
2 min read
The PFLP have been increasingly critical of Mahmoud Abbas [Getty]
Funds from the Palestine National Fund to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have been cut, a member of the leftist group told The New Arab, after the leftist faction called on President Mahmoud Abbas to resign from government.
The fund was established to support the Palestine Liberation Organisation and distributes funds to various Palestinian factions, but the group said its share of the funds has beene cut in a politically-motivated move by the Fatah leader.
Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, is ultimately responsible for the management of the fund.
"The decision is wrong, it seems like Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] is not well read in modern history. In all of the front's history it has never responded well to pressure - neither regional nor international," Rabah Muhanna, member of the political bureau for the group told The New Arab.
"[People] will not change their positions on matters relating to national interest at any price," he said.
He went on to describe Abbas' decision as one that was taken without consulting the Executive Committee of the PLO.
Mahmoud Abbas' decision was presented orally and he did not submit it in writing.
Muhanna added that the decision reflects the "undemocratic" nature of Abbas and "defies all those who take serious positions to tackle the occupation".
Sources from within the organisation told The New Arab that the action was to punish the organisation for recent statements accusing Abbas of having "crossed red lines" by giving an interview to an Israeli TV station. They went on to call for his immediate resignation.
Following the assassination of Omar Naif, a PFLP-affiliated fugitive who was hiding in the Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria, the organisation has made repeated statements accusing the Palestine Authority of complicity in his death.
Rabah Muhanna stressed that the sanctions against the leftist group were not the first of its kind, and promised the group would continue to defend their positions.
On Saturday a conference organized by the PFLP to launch a campaign aimed at restoring national unity was canceled by Hamas an hour before it was scheduled to take place in Gaza City.
Maan News reported that the campaign was initiated by a group of Palestinian scholars, writers, journalists, and politicians in an attempt to end the rivalry between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah.
The fund was established to support the Palestine Liberation Organisation and distributes funds to various Palestinian factions, but the group said its share of the funds has beene cut in a politically-motivated move by the Fatah leader.
Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, is ultimately responsible for the management of the fund.
"The decision is wrong, it seems like Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] is not well read in modern history. In all of the front's history it has never responded well to pressure - neither regional nor international," Rabah Muhanna, member of the political bureau for the group told The New Arab.
"[People] will not change their positions on matters relating to national interest at any price," he said.
He went on to describe Abbas' decision as one that was taken without consulting the Executive Committee of the PLO.
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The decision is wrong, it seems like Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] is not well read in modern history. - Rabah Muhanna, PFLP |
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Mahmoud Abbas' decision was presented orally and he did not submit it in writing.
Muhanna added that the decision reflects the "undemocratic" nature of Abbas and "defies all those who take serious positions to tackle the occupation".
Sources from within the organisation told The New Arab that the action was to punish the organisation for recent statements accusing Abbas of having "crossed red lines" by giving an interview to an Israeli TV station. They went on to call for his immediate resignation.
Following the assassination of Omar Naif, a PFLP-affiliated fugitive who was hiding in the Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria, the organisation has made repeated statements accusing the Palestine Authority of complicity in his death.
Rabah Muhanna stressed that the sanctions against the leftist group were not the first of its kind, and promised the group would continue to defend their positions.
On Saturday a conference organized by the PFLP to launch a campaign aimed at restoring national unity was canceled by Hamas an hour before it was scheduled to take place in Gaza City.
Maan News reported that the campaign was initiated by a group of Palestinian scholars, writers, journalists, and politicians in an attempt to end the rivalry between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah.
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