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PFLP rejects participation in PLO government

February 4, 2019 at 9:18 am

Palestinians gather to attend a rally marking the 49th anniversary of the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Rafah, Gaza on 13 December 2016 [Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu Agency]

The Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) yesterday announced its refusal to participate in the Palestinian government slated to be formed by PLO factions, Quds Net News reported.

During a meeting with Fatah officials the PFLP called on the PLO, Fatah and Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw his decision to form a new government.

“The current Palestinian crisis, including the deep internal division and the increasing threats against the Palestinian cause and rights, necessitate an urgent halt of everything that would complicate the situation, including the formation of a new government,” the PFLP said.

Instead it called for the urgent convention of a national committee to activate and develop the PLO in order to agree on a common national political programme that “enables us to face all the challenges.”

The PFLP stressed that the expected political programme “must be based on the bases of national partnership, including the formation of a national unity government that leads the Palestinians out of the internal division and prepares for general elections… and a national council that repairs the PLO, which is the most important Palestinian achievement in modern Palestinian history.”

Meanwhile, the PFLP urged Abbas and Fatah’s Central Committee to “cancel the decision of forming the government, which is not a priority” for the Palestinian people.

The PFLP recalled its position, which is based on rejecting participation in PA governments, because of the restrictions stipulated on those governments by the Oslo Accords. “This renews our demand to cancel these accords and free ourselves from their restrictions,” the PFLP concluded.

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