Popular Front won’t be part of PNC if held in Ramallah

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) “will not be part of the Palestinian National Council [PNC] if it is held in Ramallah,” a member of PFLP’s Central Committee Maher Mezher said yesterday.

Speaking to Shehab news agency, Mezher said that the PFLP supports a PNC meeting that “unites” the Palestinians; therefore it should be held abroad.

Mezher’s preference for the meeting is Egypt, a location he said was agreed upon during preparation discussions in Beirut among the Palestinian factions earlier in the year.

The PFLP official said that Mahmoud Abbas’ call to hold the PNC meeting in Ramallah reinforces internal Palestinian division. Hamas has said in the past that as it stands the PNC does not represent all Palestinians.

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If the PNC meeting was held in Ramallah, Mezher said: “This meeting would be a worthless jump in the air due to the inevitable absence of effective Palestinian factions.”

He reiterated that the PFLP has had a certain political agenda since it was established and Abbas or others cannot bully it into changing this agenda, stressing that the PFLP has a clear vision regarding internal division, the liberation of Palestinian and the holy sites.

Concluding his speech he said that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are genuine Palestinian movements and none of the internal or external powers can ignore them in response to an announcement in August by a senior Fattah official who said that discussions for a PNC meeting would go ahead without Hamas and Islamic Jihad.