[News] Palestinian factions reject US/Zionist pressure for direct negotiations

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Palestinian factions reject US/Zionist pressure for direct negotiations

http://www.pflp.ps/english/?q=palestinian-factions-reject-uszionist-pressure-dir

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine joined with Hamas, 
Islamic Jihad, the DFLP and 7 other Palestinian factions to issue a 
joint statement in Damascus in opposition to the resumption of 
negotiations, direct or indirect, with Israel on August 15, 2010. The 
joint statement, read at a press conference by Comrade Dr. Maher 
al-Taher, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the 
Liberation of Palestine and leader of its branch in exile, warned of 
"serious repercussions of continuing the policy of concessions and 
compromises of Palestinian national rights."

The 11 factions, including the PFLP, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the 
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the General Command 
and others, met on Sunday in order to discuss the issue of a 
potential Palestinian Authority return to negotiations and to make it 
clear that resuming such negotiations under U.S. authority, whether 
direct or indirect, places the fundamental rights of the Palestinian 
people as subject to the dictates of the U.S. and Zionism. The 
factions' statement was issued jointly and read by Comrade Taher; it 
said that the goal of the U.S. and its strategic ally, the Zionist 
state, "aims at the liquidation of the national rights of the 
Palestinian people, while covering up the criminal practices of the 
occupation in building settlements, Judaizing Jerusalem, and 
besieging Gaza." The statement went on to say that the occupation 
intends to create "facts on the ground" whereby the perennial 
presence of occupation Israeli forces on Palestinian land is 
legitimized through such negotiations.

Comrade Taher said, "The Zionist/U.S. pressure to conduct direct 
negotiations is an attempt to provide cover for the U.S. and Israel's 
aggressive plans for the region." The statement went on to say that 
"in a time of a growing international movement in solidarity with the 
Palestinian people and their just cause, and increasing isolation of 
Israel as a racist state, the U.S. and Israel are insisting on direct 
negotiations in order to provide a lifeline to lift the isolation of 
the criminal occupation state."

The statement called for an end to internal division and urged that 
instead of negotiations, the Palestinian Authority concentrate on 
building national unity, "and to stop betting on the futile 
negotiations, and instead adhere to Palestinian national rights and 
constants and the choice of resistance to liberate the land and end 
the occupation."

The head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said the 
meeting of the factions was "exceptional in terms of the quality and 
number and weight of the factions in the Palestinian arena and what 
the meeting represents in the Palestinian political context. It is 
exceptional in its timing in light of the Israeli aggression and the 
ongoing American pressure on the region," emphasizing that the 
statement rejected both direct and indirect negotiations and 
reflected a wide range of Palestinian political opinion.

The PFLP also issued a statement on August 15, 2010, emphasizing that 
there is an urgent and historic mission for national salvation and 
national unity of the Palestinian people, their political and social 
forces and their national institutions, and that the Palestinian 
leadership must reject any U.S. pressure to push Palestinians into 
direct negotiations, which provide a cover for the continuing 
settlement project and attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause. 
It called for a comprehensive national forum of all national and 
Islamic forces to end the division and restore unity in the national 
interest of the Palestinian people to defend our rights to return and 
self-determination and all national rights. The Front urged that no 
one should be fooled by any statement of the "Quartet", saying that 
there is no political value or obligation to abide by the wishes of 
the Quartet that continues to allow the ongoing Israeli crimes 
against our people.




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