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Abbas has turned against PLO, says DFLP

August 2, 2018 at 10:33 am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas holds a cabinet meeting in Ramallah, West Bank [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) has accused Mahmoud Abbas of turning against the Palestine Liberation Organisation. According to a statement from the group, the head of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah and PLO is trying to oust the DFLP’s Tayseer Khalid from his position as chairman of the PLO’s Committee for Palestinian Refugees in the Diaspora and handing it to Nabil Shaath, one of Abbas’s close aides.

“This measure goes against the PLO’s decision, which was taken by the overwhelming majority of the Executive Committee on Saturday,” the DFLP explained. “This also undermines the prestige, credibility and respect of the PLO’s members, which must remain established values among the organisation’s members and institutions.”

The DFLP argued that this act by Abbas reiterates the fact that he has a “monopoly” over Palestinian national institutions and national agenda decisions. It also pointed out that the PLO committee in question plays a “special role” in uniting Palestinian refugees in the diaspora and rejecting any discrimination between them.

Read: Palestine and Palestinians should not be defined by Mahmoud Abbas

The group insisted that it will continue to fight the decision to remove one of its senior members from an important PLO role, as it goes against the principles of partnership and national agreement.

Earlier this week, the DFLP announced the suspension of its membership from the PLO in response to Abbas’s decision, but then pulled back from such a move. It is, however, continuing to study all other options to keep the PLO from being monopolised by Abbas.

One member of the DFLP’s Political Bureau, Ziyad Jargon, said that his organisation is not simply against Abbas’s decision regarding the refugee committee, but also his “complete coup against all the PLO’s institutions.”

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