PFLP denounces Fayyad-Barak meeting as dangerous cover for occupation crimes

July 10, 2010

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine).

PFLP denounces Fayyad-Barak meeting as dangerous cover for occupation crimes

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemned the meeting between Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad and occupation defense minister Ehud Barak on July 5, 2010, noting that such a meeting with this criminal racist has no justification whatsoever, and takes place amid ongoing occupation, attacks on our people in Jerusalem and the continued siege on the steadfast Gaza Strip.

The Front said in a statement that this meeting is part of preparation for direct and/or indirect negotiations, and provides cover for the schemes of Netanyahu in his meeting with U.S. President Obama, and the crimes of U.S. imperialism and Zionist brutality. Furthermore, the PFLP said, these meetings serve only the enemy, harm Palestinian interests and provide cover to the occupation settlements. It demanded that any such meetings must end immediately, as they only harm the Palestinian cause and provide cover to ongoing crimes against our people.

Furthermore, Comrade Marwan Fahoum (Abu Sami), member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP, commented in response to media reports of PA President Mahmoud Abbas' meeting with Zionist organizations in the U.S., “If Abbas has no ability to defend the rights of the Palestinian people, it is better for him to step down from his position and make way for others who would be better able to bear the burden of defending the interests of the Palestinian people.”

Comrade Fahoum said that “Abbas' statements reflect issues at the heart of the Palestinian national project. The Palestinian national project is founded mainly upon the right of the Palestinian people in restoring their lands occupied since 1948, as well as the right to liberate the territories occupied in 1967.”

Ha'aretz newspaper reported on Abbas' meeting with Zionist organizations in the United States on June 10, 2010, where it was reported that he remarked that he “would never deny the Jewish right to the land of Israel,” striking at the core of the rights of the indigenous Palestinian people (of all religions) to their own land.

Comrade Fahoum said that such a statement is a “strike at the heart of the right of refugees to return to their homes from which they were expelled by force. How can we achieve the return of refugees to the land, if this land is being recognized as “the right of the Jews”? This statement is a dangerous acceptance of the concept of a 'Jewish state', the very definition of Zionism, in a meeting with Zionists in the United States,” saying that this represents a clear danger to the Palestinian cause.

Comrade Fahoum said that Abbas “has gone too far” in attempting to waive or undermine the rights of the Palestinian people. Comrade Fahoum said that “the repeated statements by Abbas overstep his authority as well as being dismissive of the rights of the Palestinian people, when it is supposed to be his job to defend those rights,” calling for him to step down to make way for those who will uphold the rights of our people.