Press Conferences

Abdel Rahim Malouh: PFLP Tries Uniting Palestinian Factions

13/03/2008

Middle East Times
http://www.metimes.com
March 13, 2008

By Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH, West Bank - As the power struggle and the yawning chasm between the ideologies of Fatah and Hamas continue to divide a future Palestinian state into two separate political entities, with Hamas in control of Gaza and Fatah in control of the West Bank, the third largest Palestinian political faction is trying to bridge the divide.

The secular and Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was founded in 1967 by George Habash, a Christian Palestinian and doctor, and a graduate of the American University of Beirut. In 1968 the PFLP joined forces with Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization and became the second largest faction within the PLO.

Today Hamas, which is not a member of the PLO, and Fatah are the two biggest players on the Palestinian political scene. However, following Hamas' takeover of Gaza in June 2006 and the establishment of an emergency government in Ramallah by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction, the two groups have been at each other's throats politically and militarily.

The deputy-secretary of the PFLP, Abdel Rahim Malouh, a member of the Palestinian Executive Committee told the Middle East Times that Palestinian unity was the only way forward politically.

"We have been holding meetings with both Hamas and Fatah in an effort to reconcile the two as we believe that the continued infighting is counter-productive to our cause," Malouh said.

"I also believe that the infighting between Fatah and Hamas was in fact facilitated and planned by both Israel and the United States as a way of fomenting internal divisions and thereby preventing the establishment of a feasible Palestinian state," he said.

Various media reports, the latest in Vanity Fair, detail how the United States and Israel supplied arms and money to Fatah, under the Dayton Agreement, in an endeavor to encourage an uprising against Hamas in Gaza. Hamas, however, pipped Fatah to the post after defeating its rival militarily.

"All the peace agreements and meetings, from Annapolis to President [George W.] Bush's visit to Ramallah, are based on the beliefs and hopes of both Israel and the U.S., that a weakened and divided Palestinian leadership would facilitate a settlement favorable to Israel," Malouh stated.

He went on to explain how, although the Israeli leadership speaks about peace, they have a different strategy on the ground. Israel's continued settlement building, the right of return of refugees, the future borders of a Palestinian state and East Jerusalem as a future capital of this state, as enshrined under international law and U.N. resolutions, are being ignored.

Furthermore, part of this divide and conquer strategy, besides promoting infighting between Hamas and Fatah, would later involve pushing the dispute into one between the Arabs and the Palestinians, according to Malouh.

"Former Mossad official, Uzi Arad from the Israeli think-tank, the Herzliya Center, which is attended and supported by many in Israel's military and political establishment, is promoting an idea which involves the Egyptians giving part of Sinai to the Palestinians and the creation of a corridor between Sinai and Jordan.

"Jordan would give Israel part of southern Jordan, Syria would agree to Israel keeping part of the Golan Heights while Lebanon would agree to handing over to Syria disputed territory currently under Lebanese control," Malouh told the Middle East Times, adding, "In return the Israelis would agree to an exchange of territory from northern Israel where the population is predominantly Israeli Arab."

"But I doubt the Arabs will buy the idea," he said. "This is all proof that the establishment of a viable Palestinian state is not an issue the Israelis are serious about and therefore our unity is essential."

As part of intense efforts to reconcile Fatah and Hamas, the PFLP meets regularly with them, and Malouh believes the organization has won the respect of both groups due to its impartiality.

Malouh added that although the Front agrees with some of the standpoints taken by both sides, it hasn't hesitated to criticize them both as well. Hamas for their takeover of Gaza, and Fatah for continuing negotiations with the Israelis under the current circumstances where the Palestinians have sacrificed so much while Israel continues to ignore the core issues.

The Marxist group now espouses the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine, although initially it had an idealist stand of one state with two peoples, living together equitably.

Currently, the PFLP is pushing a new initiative after having laid the groundwork for a new Palestinian unity deal, which has the backing of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salah and Abbas. This initiative will be discussed in depth at the forthcoming Organization of the Islamic Conference to be held in Dakar, Senegal which Abbas will attend.

Part of the initiative involves Hamas declaring that the division between Gaza and the West Bank is unacceptable. A new unity government has to be formed where there is a partnership between Hamas and Fatah and this will also involve a hudna, or ceasefire, between the two.

Fatah has to accept the dissolution of two security forces into one common security agency which will answer to the Palestinian Authority, not to either Hamas or Fatah.

"But first we have to get an agreement from all Palestinians concerned to sit down and put all the issues on the table for discussion, and I'm not sure how long this will take. The alternative of failure is too terrible for me to even contemplate," concluded Malouh.

13/03/2008

http://www.thecrimson.com
March 13, 2008

By Roy Kohen

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called last night for the establishment of a Palestinian state to include refugees who currently reside outside of Palestinian territories in an address in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics.

“A Palestinian state is the answer for the national aspirations of Palestinians wherever they are,” Livni said, emphasizing her support for a two state solution.

Livni, Israel’s second female foreign minister, 40 years after Golda Meir, spoke last night about Israel’s regional conflicts as well as the attention it garners from the international community.

“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the sexiest conflict in the world, and everybody wants to be involved,” Livni said.

Livni said that she expects the international community to support Israel’s refusal to negotiate with Hamas, the party that effectively controls the Gaza Strip, because “it’s not only about Israeli security, but also about the stability of the entire region.”

Livni, who labeled Hamas “extremists,” said that Israel’s policy is to talk with the Fatah, the Palestinian party that controls most of the West Bank.

“The idea now is to negotiate with the more pragmatic leaders,” she said.

When asked about the Israeli government’s policy of founding new settlements, Livni expressed some unease.

“It doesn’t help [the peace process],” she said, “but it doesn’t make it impossible for the future.”

Abigail E. Schiff ’11, a board member of the Progressive Jewish Alliance, said that Livni did not provide a satisfactory response to explain the expansion of settlements.

Echoing the voices of many left wing activists in Israel and outside of it, Schiff said “at a time when the peace process is in a shaky place, it doesn’t seem like a good time to expand the settlements.”

Livni also addressed the recent casualties among Palestinian civilians caused by Israeli soldiers. She asserted a “distinction between a terrorist who is looking for a child to kill and a soldier who defends his own people and does it by mistake. This is according to the values of the international community.”

Among the factors that contributed to the recent escalation between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza, Livni mentioned the weapon smuggling that makes way through Egypt to supply militants there. The control over the Philadelphi corridor, a buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza, was handed over to the Egyptian government by Israel in 2005. Livni expressed hope that Egypt will do “a better job” in preventing the weapon smuggling, and added that “maybe we did make a mistake in leaving the Philadelphi corridor and maybe we will have to change it.”

When asked about whether she could think of a potential role for American Jews in the conflict, Livni answered simply “no.”