[News] Palestine - PFLP holds symbolic funeral for member 'assassinated' in Bulgaria

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*PFLP holds symbolic funeral for member 'assassinated' in Bulgaria*


Feb. 29, 2016
*http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770489*


GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the streets of 
Gaza City on Monday to hold a symbolic funeral for an escaped 
Palestinian prisoner believed to have been assassinated by Israel in the 
Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria last week.

Palestinians gathered to pay their respects to Omar al-Nayif, a 
well-known member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine 
(PFLP), who was was found dead inside the embassy on Friday.

He sought refuge there late last year after Israel demanded his 
extradition so he could see out a life sentence over the killing of an 
Israeli in Jerusalem's Old City in 1986.

The "funeral" was organized by the PFLP in Gaza, with many other 
factions in attendance.

Hani al-Thawabta, an PFLP official in the Strip, said the "negligence" 
of the Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry, as well as the embassy 
in Bulgaria, had led to al-Nayif's death, and was "the major reason 
al-Nayif was assassinated."

Al-Thawabta told Ma'an that "if there the case was taken seriously and 
responsible actions were taken, Israeli intelligence would not have been 
able to reach al-Nayif."

Senior Hamas official Ismail Radwan urged the PA to form a committee to 
investigate al-Nayif's death.

Nayif was found lying in the Palestinian embassy's garden covered in 
blood early Friday last week. The 52-year-old from Jenin had been living 
in Bulgaria for decades, but fled to the embassy in December after 
Israel demanded his extradition.

While some Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas, were 
cautious about pointing fingers, other officials quickly accused Israel 
of being behind the death, saying Israel's overseas intelligence service 
Mossad had carried out an "assassination."

Nayif was originally arrested by Israeli police in 1986 and sentenced to 
life imprisonment for killing an Israeli settler. Four years into his 
sentence, he went on hunger strike, and after 40 days was transferred to 
a hospital in Bethlehem.

Shortly afterward, on May 21, 1990, he escaped the hospital and slipped 
out of the occupied Palestinian territory, living in several different 
Arab nations until 1994, when he was able to travel to Bulgaria.

He had lived there since, marrying a Bulgarian woman with whom he had 
three children, and acquiring Bulgarian residency. Israel considered his 
case legally active until 2020 -- or 30 years after he escaped their 
custody.

Nayif should have been released by Israel as part of the 1993 Oslo 
Accords, which obligated Israel to release all Palestinian political 
prisoners held until that point. Had he not escaped, he would have been 
one of around 30 pre-Oslo Palestinian prisoners still in Israeli custody.
____________________________________________________________________


  PFLP mourns and salutes the martyr Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed,
  assassinated in Bulgaria
  <http://pflp.ps/english/2016/02/26/pflp-mourns-and-salutes-the-martyr-comrade-omar-nayef-zayed-assassinated-in-bulgaria/>

Feb 26, 2016

*http://pflp.ps/english/2016/02/26/pflp-mourns-and-salutes-the-martyr-comrade-omar-nayef-zayed-assassinated-in-bulgaria/*

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine salutes and mourns the 
martyr, Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed, the former Palestinian political 
prisoner and lifelong struggler for the freedom of Palestine, 
assassinated this morning in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed had taken refuge in the Palestinian embassy 
after he was pursued by Zionist and Bulgarian forces for extradition 25 
years after he escaped from Zionist prisons in 1990 following a 40-day 
hunger strike. He had been imprisoned for an operation targeting illegal 
Zionist settlers in Jerusalem, along with fellow strugglers including 
his brother, and including Samer Mahroum, recently re-imprisoned by 
Zionist forces following his earlier release.

Escaping Zionist imprisonment, Comrade Nayef Zayed traveled through the 
Arab world and to Bulgaria, a model of steadfastness, creativity and 
ongoing resilience and resistance. It became clear that he was a target 
for Zionist occupation intelligence and security services in an attempt 
to eradicate this model of resilience and example of a Palestinian 
living free of Zionist jails.

We in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hold fully 
responsible for this nefarious crime the Zionist State and the Israeli 
Mossad who targeted Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed for assassination, as we 
hold responsible the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Embassy 
in Bulgaria who failed to protect him and his security, and the 
Bulgarian government and security forces who pursued Comrade Nayef Zayed 
for arrest and imprisonment for over three months. We note the full 
responsibility of the Palestinian Authority at the highest levels for 
failing to protect Comrade Nayef Zayed from assassination, up to and 
including PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki 
and Ambassador Ahmad al-Madbouh.

This crime took place as the highest officials of the Palestinian 
Authority met with the highest officials of the Bulgarian state in 
Ramallah, with no apparent demands made for our pursued comrade, the 
martyr Omar Nayef Zayed.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine vows to pursue in all 
ways the truth of the assassination of the martyr Comrade Omar Nayef 
Zayed, to stand by the family of our martyred comrade, and to hold 
accountable those responsible for his targeting and assassination. We 
pledge as always to remain on his path of unremitting struggle for 
liberation of Palestine, its land and people, as he joins the convoy of 
the great martyrs of our people whose lives have been taken inside and 
outside Palestine by the murderous Zionist colonial project.


-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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