THE Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, last Sunday issued a statement headlined ‘PFLP condemns occupation onslaught against our people in Nablus and Gaza and threats to assassinate Secretary-General Ahmad Sa’dat’.
An official spokesman for the PFLP also denounced the organised onslaught by the occupation government and its army against the Palestinian people throughout the homeland.
He also denounced what is currently taking place in Balata, Askar, Nablus and in the northern Gaza Strip.
The spokesman said that this onslaught not only falls within the context of an Israeli election campaign but also within the context of a well-conceived plot devised in light of the outcome of Palestinian elections seeking to put more pressure on our people, to make them kneel down before the Zionists.
The spokesman explained that the recent Israeli escalation is part of an integrated plan to eliminate the democratic Palestinian experiment and anticipate the formation of a Palestinian government, pointing out that this coincides with installing and consolidating a racial segregation regime through designating streets in the West Bank to be used by the Palestinians and others to be used by the Israelis.
He said that the occupation government aims through this to implement a gradual and unilateral disengagement in the West Bank, thus maintaining and expanding the settlements and transforming the West Bank into isolated areas within a Palestinian entity under the name of an interim Palestinian state as a long-term solution that really seeks to eliminate the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people’s rights.
The spokesman also explained that Israel’s threats to assassinate the PFLP’s secretary-general, should he be released, fall within the framework of this Israeli onslaught.
The spokesman expressed astonishment at statements attempting to hold the PFLP responsible for the repercussions of releasing the secretary-general who was arrested and put under US-British custody following an agreement sealed by the Palestinian National Authority.
He noted that the protection of a Palestinian Legislative Council member should be the responsibility of the PNA and its security services and a top priority for the Presidency which is ridding itself of such responsibility.
The spokesman underlined the need to confront and expose the latest Israeli onslaught, saying that the response to this onslaught lies in the immediate engagement in a comprehensive national dialogue, the construction of a unified interim national leadership to lead the struggle of our people, the establishment of a national coalition government by all sides and reconstruction of the PLO in its capacity as the higher national authority for our people and their national struggle, by all the forces of our people on a democratic basis through elections so as to achieve our people’s goals of ending occupation and settlement, national independence and the return of all refugees.
On Sunday the Voice of Palestine radio reported: ‘The Israeli occupation forces continued their barbaric artillery shelling of northern and eastern Gaza Strip at dawn today.
‘Citizens said that occupation tanks stationed at the northern and eastern borders of the Gaza Strip fired several shells on the towns of Bayt Lahiya and Bayt Hanun in the north and Al-Shuja’iyah neighbourhood, near Al-Shuhada cemetery, in the east.
‘In another development, the Israeli occupation forces advanced into the town of Bayt Fajjar, in southern Bethlehem, and arrested 11 people after storming citizens’ houses at dawn today.
‘In Nablus, the Israeli occupation advanced into the area of Rujib, neighbourhoods in the old city, and the environs of Balata and Askar camps, where they arrested eight citizens.
‘Our correspondent said that occupation bulldozers bulldozed land in the peripheries of Bayt Dajal and Bayt Furik towns, east of the city, and imposed tight security measures.
‘The occupation forces also arrested eight citizens in the governorates of Jenin and Ramallah.’
Meanwhile the Fatah Movement spokesman Ahmad Abd-al-Rahman has denied press reports of Egyptian pressure being put on Fatah to participate in the next government, noting that the movement’s leadership institutions will make a final decision regarding participation or non-participation in the government.
Speaking on Radio Palestine, Abd-al-Rahman stressed that the Fatah Movement is impregnable in the face of pressure and that its participation in the government is contingent on Hamas’ announcement of its commitment to international law and agreements sponsored by the international community.
The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper had quoted what it described as informed sources as saying that Egypt is exercising pressure on currents inside Fatah to participate in the government and that Deputy Muhammad Dahlan and Samir Mashharawi, a Fatah official, visited Egypt recently for this purpose.
For his part, Fatah Revolutionary Council member Nabil Amr stressed that the general atmosphere inside the movement rules out the possibility of participating in the next government.
Speaking to Radio Palestine, Amr added that there is no contradiction between consultations held by the head of Fatah’s parliamentary bloc and the Revolutionary Council’s decision regarding the issue of participation, noting that the final decision will be taken by Fatah’s institutions.
It is expected that the Fatah Central Committee and Fatah Revolutionary Council will hold two separate meetings on 3 and 4 March to discuss the matter of participation and issues pertaining to preparations for holding the general conference of Fatah.
Also, Islamic Jihad has issued a press statement by its Deputy Secretary General, Brother Ziyad Al-Nukhalah.
He said: ‘We will press forth with our jihad, and legitimate resistance; we will not be discouraged by Zionist war minister’s threats’.
He added that the Zionist escalation and aggression in Palestinian cities and refugee camps demand a strong response on the part of the Palestinian resistance.
He said: ‘The Zionist threats to invade Gaza lie within the context of the electoral activism of the enemy’s generals, who are competing among themselves in the destruction and murder of our Palestinian people and cities via the US-backed Zionist war machine.’
