GAZA CITY, 15 January 2008 — The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) announced yesterday that they have decided to boycott a Hamas-led conference scheduled to be held in Syria on Jan 23. But Islamic Jihad movement and other radical parties based in Syria agreed to participate in the conference to protest against what they called “the concessions on legitimate Palestinian principles.”
Ziyad Jarghon, a senior leader in the DFLP, told Arab News that, “We are not going to participate in a conference that is deepening divisions among Palestinians — such conferences will mount differences among the Palestinian people, in a time we are in need for unity.” The PFLP also announced that it has decided not to join the Damascus conference.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Front, Popular Front, Palestinian People’s Party, the Palestinian National Initiative and the Palestinian Democratic Union called on the Palestinian Liberation Organization, mainly the Central Council, which will hold its meeting today, to remain firm to the resolutions of the international legitimacy.
In a statement yesterday, the factions said that, “they will continue to work to end the divisions and put and end to the state of separation between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. They also called on Hamas to retreat its military coup and to hand the security apparatuses to President Mahmoud Abbas in order to pave the way for direct national dialogue.”
In other news, three Palestinian militants were killed and three others were wounded late Sunday night when the Israeli warplanes targeted their car in Al-Shati refugee camp western Gaza City, witnesses and medical sources said. Local sources said that the air raid targeted Nidal Al-Amodi 35, a leader in Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah movement. They identified the two others as Mahir Al-Mabhouh who was affiliated to the Army of Islam and Hamoud Rizqa affiliated to the Al-Naser Brigades the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees.
