PFLP: Canceled funding a 'punishment' for opposition to Abbas

PFLP: Canceled funding a 'punishment' for opposition to Abbas

GAZA (Ma’an) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued an order to cancel funds allocated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) for two months, a PFLP leader told Ma’an on Monday.

Kayed al-Ghoul said Abbas had recently ordered the funds allocated for the PFLP from the Palestinian National Fund for February and March, which had not been paid yet, to be stopped.

The order to stop the funds was believed to be a reaction to recent remarks by some PFLP leaders calling for Abbas to resign, al-Ghoul said.

“We believe the decision was made in light of the PFLP’s opposition to Abbas’ policy concerning security coordination with Israel,” he said, noting that PFLP leaders had repeatedly criticized Abbas over the non-implementation of resolutions made by the PLO’s Central Council to suspend coordination.

The policy of stopping funds allocated to the PFLP was not unprecedented, al-Ghoul added. Abbas has previously cut funds as a “punishment for PFLP political opposition.”

Al-Ghoul demanded the president put an end to this “useless” policy, as “PFLP has undeniable right to accessing the national funds.”

In an interview broadcast by the Israeli Channel 2 last week, Abbas reiterated his commitment to the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination with Israel, arguing that it was a major factor in curbing Palestinian attacks against Israeli targets.

The interview was met with outrage from across the Palestinian political spectrum. 

The PFLP reacted by saying that remarks to the “Zionist” media and other deferential moves by Abbas to Israel exhibited “subservience to the structures of the occupation and its mechanisms of repression.

“These actions cross all of the lines and traditions of the Palestinian people and undermine the Palestinian national liberation movement and its principles and decisions.”

The PFLP also denounced Abbas’ admission that PA security forces raided schools in the occupied West Bank and confiscated knives from young students, “while Palestinian children face the Zionist war machine daily.

“This is a direct attack on the Palestinian education system [...] and the stigmatization of the intifada and resistance as ‘terror,’” the left-wing political group said.

The Hamas movement also condemned Abbas’ interview and called on the Palestinian president to “abandon positions which offer cover to Israeli crimes and encourage the occupation to carry out further repression against Palestinians.”