The al Aksa Martyr Brigades put out a leaflet advocating the assassination of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.
Fatah’s armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, on Sunday called for the murder of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad for “collaboration” with Israel and the US. This was the first time the group has openly called for Fayad’s assassination. In the past, the group distributed leaflets strongly condemning Fayad and calling for his dismissal.
Fayad has been under heavy criticism from some Fatah leaders and activists, who accuse him of denying them public funds and plotting to undermine Fatah’s grip on power. Other Fatah leaders have also accused Fayad of seeking to consolidate his power with the hope of replacing Mahmoud Abbas as PA president.
The threat was made in a leaflet distributed by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the Gaza Strip. Some Fatah officials in Ramallah sought to distance themselves from the threat, claiming that the leaflet had been forged. They even went as far as accusing Hamas of being behind it.
“The command of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the Gaza Strip calls on all its elements and striking forces in the West Bank to immediately eliminate the so-called Salaam Fayad,” the leaflet said. It claimed that Fayad’s Ramallah-based government was working for Israel and the US.
Lovely. This demonstration further illustrates that the Palestinians aren’t ready for self-government and thereby undermines the Aksa Martyrs Brigades’ putative objective. But the old adage “the perfect is the enemey of the good” is never more apt than in the case of the Palestinian radicals, who see anything less than the annihilation of Israel and the having every square inch of the 1948 territory under Palestinian rule as surrender.
