PFLP's armed brigades warn of PA crackdown

Sunday November 18, 2007 18:13 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC&Agencies

The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa brigades, on Sunday warned of a percieved security crackdown against their fighters. 

A PFLP masked man/ photo by Maan News Agency

The warning came hours after hundreds of PA security personnel cordoned off the el-Ein refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

According to the PFLP, the security services rounded up four members of its armed wing, and a fifth of the al-Aqsa Martyrs brigades of Fatah, following a shooting during a funeral procession.

Maan News Agency reported today that a high-ranking three-way meeting was held in the West Bank city of Ramallah between Palestinian, Israeli and American officials, to deal with the PFLP's allegations.

A senior Palestinian security official, speaking to Maan on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the PA's security forces had attacked a number of fighters who had been involved in so-called 'security lapses' across the city.

PFLP sources, for their part, asserted that those who have been apprehended by the security bodies are wanted by Israeli occupation authorities for resistance activity, and are not criminals.

In Gaza, Abu Mojahed, spokesperson for the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, known as the Salah Eldin Brigades, described the crackdown as a "great loss".

nablus | internal unrest | news report rami at imemc dot org