Ramallah: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has cut off funds for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in an alleged punitive action against the Palestinian faction which spoke out against Abbas and urged him to step down.
The PFLP, which is a principal component of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), has not received its monthly funds for the past February and March from the PLO’s National Fund under Abbas’s direct orders.
“Abbas in person has ordered the total cut-off of all funds for the PFLP and never even consulted the PLO Executive Committee which is technically and solely in charge of reviewing and deciding the monetary allocations of the various factions under the PLO umbrella on a par with the Palestinian Basic Law which governs the Palestinian political life,” said Dr Rabah Muhana, a member of the PFLP Political Bureau. “This is the biggest and most serious sin ever committed against the PFLP. President Abbas should look again at the PFLP history to find out that the front never caves in to financial blackmailing and extortion.”
“President Abbas should understand and believe that our position against the Israeli occupation is principally unchangeable and our internal national struggle pursuing democracy is sacred and irreversible.
“PFLP will in no way be affected by Abbas’s decision to cut off the funds as the front depends in budget-related issues on its members, friends, and supporters.”
“We will not, however, keep our mouths shut about this unprecedented and unfair decision,” he warned, adding that the front will confront Abbas’s decision in the Palestinian official bodies and institutions and discuss and react to the decision with the other Palestinian factions and political parties.
Last week, the PFLP sharply criticised Abbas and urged the PLO to question him over his recent statement to the Israeli media about the performance of the Palestinian security forces which are working to stop Palestinian knife attacks against Israelis. “Our security forces go into schools to search the pupils’ bags and see if they have knives. You do not know this,” Abbas told the Israeli Channel 2. “In one school, we found 70 boys and girls who were carrying knives.”
Many Palestinians deem such moves as collaboration with the Israeli occupier.
“Abbas’s attitude and the way the Palestinian security forces handle the security situation in the West Bank practically legalise and perpetuate the Israeli occupation,” said Muhana.
Also last week, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) came under fire when an official PNA delegation headed by Fatah leader Abbas Madani, under Abbas’s auspices, paid tribute to the head of the Israel Forces’ Civil Administration in the West Bank, who was killed in a plane crash. The PFLP and Fatah base itself badly criticised Abbas and Fatah leadership for the move.
