The leader of a Syrian-based radical Palestinian group is planning to
assassinate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah claimed on
Saturday.
The claim followed statements made by Ahmed Jibril, leader of
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, General Command, in which he
strongly denounced Abbas and his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, for signing the
Oslo Accords with Israel.
“Ahmed Jibril is a hired agent,” Fatah said in
a statement released in Ramallah. “He is operating on instructions from his
handlers in the region who seek to eliminate President Abbas.”
The
statement did not name the “handlers.”
However, a Fatah official in
Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that the statement referred to Syria and
Iran.
According to Fatah, Jibril’s attacks on the PA leadership came
after he “failed to exploit ‘Land Day’ to achieve political gains.”
Fatah
accused Jibril of planning to dispatch Palestinians to the borders of Israel as
part of the Global March to Jerusalem, an event that was organized last Friday
by a coalition of pro-Palestinian organizations around the world.
“Ahmed
Jibril is a merchant for Palestinian and Arab blood,” Fatah charged. “He is
desperately trying to appease outside parties in an attempt to destroy the
political achievements of our people and their wise leadership.”
Jibril
belongs to a group of Syrian-based terror organizations that are strongly
opposed to peace with Israel.
His close ties with the Syrian authorities
have won him many enemies among the Palestinians, especially the PA
leadership.
The PA recently accused Jibril’s supporters of killing 14
Palestinians in a refugee camp near the Syrian capital of Damascus.