The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on Tuesday evening said that it had agreed with a delegation from Fatah movement on the need to lift the punitive measures imposed on the Gaza Strip.
The PFLP said in a statement following the meeting that both parties discussed the serious repercussions of these sanctions on the life of Gazan citizens and the Palestinian cause in general in view of the US-Israeli conspiracies being plotted to liquidate the major Palestinian issues.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas in April 2017 announced a series of punitive measures against the Gaza Strip to force Hamas to hand over full administration of the coastal enclave to the PA government. New measures were added following the alleged assassination attempt that targeted the PA government’s premier Rami Hamdallah’s convoy in Gaza.
These sanctions included cutting 30%-50% of the salaries of the PA employees in Gaza forcing thousands of them into early retirement reducing power and medical supplies and halting medical referrals.
The Palestinian factions accuse Fatah of not taking any serious step toward easing the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza even after the signing of the reconciliation agreement in October 2017.
Abbas’s punitive measures have added insult to injury given the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip which is inhabited by over two million Palestinians due to the 12-year-long Israeli blockade.
The Great March of Return was at the top of the meeting’s agenda. The PFLP and Fatah stressed the importance of escalating the protests and maintaining their national and popular character.
Both parties agreed that a real national reconciliation must be achieved in accordance with the previously-signed agreements as soon as possible followed by a Palestinian National Council meeting that includes all Palestinian factions and truly represents the Palestinian will.
