I was disappointed to read the statement on Aleppo from the PFLP that I posted but despite that I think Michael is a bit too harsh in his judgment of them. When Assad turned on the Palestinians in the Arab Spring, the PFLP had been amongst the groups that came out in support of the Syrian people. They closed their Damascus office and it remains closed to the best of my knowledge. I don't think they have a presence in Syria currently.
The Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades have been active alongside Hamas, the DFLP and other factions in Gaza and still represent the most significant left secular faction in the Palestinian resistance. The fact that Germany recently criminalized Samidoun (the PFLP's external solidarity group) and the fact that the (relatively) recent Israeli banning of Palestinian aid groups included Front affiliated organisations indicates that Israel still considers them a threat. Israel has moved against thw PFLP in the West Bank with arrests, including the rearrest early this year of Khalida Jarrar, who is in solitary confinement. When, early in the post Oct7 2023 fighting, Hamas attempted to negotiate a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, the two named individuals they specified for release were not Hamas members but Marwan Barghouti (whom polls suggested would beat Hamas in elections) and Ahmad Sadaat, General Secretary of the PFLP. This suggests to me that they are taken seriously within the resistance. Events in Syria are still confused. Cutting off supplies to Hezbollah, if that happens, would be bad for the Palestinians but I don't believe this is an Israel/US planned overthrow, despite Israel and Turkey seizing the opportunities it presents. On this morning's radio I heard Netenyahu quoted describing Syria as the new front in the war, as he announces plans to double Israeli settlement in the Golan. Comradely regards, John On Mon, 16 Dec 2024, 04:34 Michael Karadjis via groups.io, <mkaradjis= [email protected]> wrote: > "Writing in Lebanon's Al-Akhbar newspaper > <https://www.al-akhbar.com/lebanon/816122/%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%AB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A--%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%A6%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%AD%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9>"- > that's usually a good place to stop. > I did read elsewhere that "Al-Rifai [the Palestinian ambassador to Syria] > said the new government’s security forces had entered the offices of three > Palestinian factions and removed the weapons that were there, but that it > was unclear whether there had been an official decision to disarm > Palestinian groups." > > > https://apnews.com/article/syria-palestinian-refugees-yarmouk-8bd010cb60086e55f7d3c0abcc315983 > While it is unclear which "three" or if it is "all", a few points should > be made. > > Firstly, there has been no ability for any armed Palestinian factions to > engage in resistance to Israel under the Assad regime(s). The regimes never > fired a shot over the Golan for 50 years as widely appreciated by Netanyahu > and countless Israeli leaders, and they certainly kept Palestinians away. > From this perspective, even if "the worst" is true, it makes no practical > difference at all. > Secondly, which factions are allowed to have an armed presence in Syria > under Assads and why? Essentially they are organs of regime intelligence > which it used to police Palestinian camps, and were therefore regime > agencies that caused the arrest, jailing, torture, disappearance and > killing of Palestinians. From what I can gather, the main Palestinians with > "armed presence" in Syria were as listed in this tweet: > > • Popular Front - General Command (PFLP-GC) (ineffective in the > Palestinian case, affiliated with the Syrian regime). > > •Palestinian Islamic Jihad (active in the Palestinian case). > > • Fatah al-Intifada (ineffective in the Palestinian case and affiliated > with the Syrian regime). > > •Al-Sa’iqa and the Palestinian Liberation Army (affiliated with the Syrian > Army and Syrian Intelligence). > > If the news of the closure of training camps in Syria is true, it will not > change anything, because the main training camps of the Islamic Jihad are > located in Gaza, as it is the only Palestinian faction among those present > in Syria that is still active and working in the Palestinian situation. > https://twitter.com/ehajjarr/status/1867576348388339968 > > Of these, PFLP(GC), Fatah al-Intifada and Al-Saiqa are pure and simple > regime intelligence outfits. Fatah al-Intifada was born in Assad senior's > war on Fatah in the 1980s, it was the regime-owned rebellion against > Arafat. Saiqa is just the Palestinian wing of the Syrian Baath party. The > PFLP(GC) is the most disgusting of all, a little story below will explain > why. The Palestine Liberation Army is just a regime-owned section of the > armed forces composed of Palestinians, it is not an armed Palestinian > faction. > > Thirdly, in removing the arms from groups like these but allowing them to > maintain offices, that would be quite remarkable for groups like THESE. > That is, groups affiliated to the Auschwitz-Sednaya regime just overthrown > by the Syrian people. If Palestinians in Gaza were victorious over the > genocide there, would they allow local froces who acted as direct agents of > the genocidal Zionist regime to maintain poilitical offices? > > Two notes. > One - PFLP (proper, not GC). I don't know if they have an official armed > presence in Syria. The regime has in the past imprisoned and killed some of > their cadres, and in the 1980s, despite sharp differences with SArafat, > they actually opposed the Syrian regime;s war on the PLO and Arafat. > Whatever the case, given the absolutely disgusting genocidal > counterrevolutionary statement they made when the Aleppo offensive began, > that John Edmundson sent to the list, it is clear that whatever the past, > they have been in a highly advanced state of degeneration for some time. It > is abundantly clear why they have remained absolutely tiny in the > Palestinian arena and ever since being fully eclipsed by Hamas in the > 'rejectionist' space in the 1990s, they have never regained anything like > what they once were. If they had an armed presence in Syria and they have > also been closed, that's somewhat unfortunate compared to the gangs I > listed above, but with statements like that you would not expect to survive > in a de-nazified environment. > > Two - Hamas as we know supported the Syrian revolution and hence quit > Syria in 2012, after which its offices were raided by the regime. So the > dominant Palestinian resistance faction, whatever one may think of it, is > not part of whatever the truth is of what is happening. > > Incidentally, "Syrian opposition releases 67 members of Al Qassam > Brigades [ie Hamas] in addition to 630 other Palestinians —some of them had > been declared killed years ago— from the notorious prison of Sednaya!" > > > https://www.facebook.com/MiddleEastEye/posts/pfbid02TQ44VvptExpm3Bt4eBi2kqbDfWjaEtPMatNqUpDuoZ2hfX2maQsYSVpcAWpX9zDUl > > One other point: HTS has made no statement about "heading towards > “neutrality” in the conflict with Israel." That is just straight al-Akhbar > lies. > > Finally, here is a story that tells us something about the PFLP(GC) and > why it has no right to any presence in Syria, as well as further background > I wrote to the story: > > Palestinian Bashar Saleh released after spending 40 years in Assad’s > dungeons because he remained seated while greeting Ahmed Jibril rather than > standing https://x.com/doamuslims/status/1867192327795519635 > <https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2Fdoamuslims%2Fstatus%2F1867192327795519635%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR31nSUCI6YenltaYfECoH49UyHScpZCNaIinEo2pf0fga025lLOIU6-Q1k_aem_EB_dFHoPdi9s_hL265BysA&h=AT3fNJ4fiALV3iGOIPFu-_3NXSDDT2-S699_yUKHO_u_PqbmJI-8yWzXjtBO6uC3dwZVcsdrEJIDmoh4oOrYu3vRuD6MkENt4iJzc7WAtKe9xTISm2X4lB03b0oBr2q-FG6URzEteP1Zxy3PKA&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT0IcuxWCfNvKUsebXkT-rCOBTC7jJeAT13CTtIdsQMODw_Qvzkb-E_43g-rgTt9H6ThIt0tWlw7WhVACEyYlfiJslNnYXt90Yoo4ZjHND6txP8zBklJMi-CdviWzCI-Qnek3NNPWnUY5IFAhnuuM3Fip7vJgzJr7BrY8OSNfA2YvzypoMa6> > > Background: Ahmed Jibril was the head of the Popular Front for the > Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), which split from the > PFLP in 1969 and has ever since been an organ of Assad regime intelligence > in policing Palestinians in Syria. In the 1980s, Jibril's gang led attacks > on the PLO and on Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon on behalf of the > Assad regime which was trying to take over and destroy the PLO. Most > famously, in late 1983, Syrian troops and Jibril's gang were besieging and > firing missiles into Palestinian camps in Tripoli in northern Lebanon, > where Arafat was with his people, and the Israeli navy was blasting > Arafat's people and the camps from the sea *at the same time.* In 2011, the > first year of the Syrian revolution, Palestinians were encouraged to cross > the Golan occupation line. As Palestinians jumped the fence and got > murdered by Israeli troops, Jibril's armed troops were sitting up back > sipping tea from a distance. Back in Yarmouk camp south of Damascus, rage > exploded against these thugs running the camp on behalf of the regime which > had killed jailed, tortured and disappeared so many Palestinians. The > PFLP(GC) responded by firing into the crowds with live ammunition, killing > six Palestinians and wounded lots more. I don't know if Bashar Saleh > deliberately tried to insult Jibril by greeting him seated or it was just > an oversight or didn't think anything of it, but this monster ensured that > this poor guy spent 40 years of his life in Assad's torture dungeons for > it. > > Final PS - the al-Akhbar article is also a pack of lies in how it > describes the conflict in Yarmouk camp during the revolution. The Assad > regime bombed, besieged and starved the camp for years before the ISIS > invasion of the camp in 2015 (after which they continued to bomb it and > level it, but that is a different story). There is plenty of good > literature on this. > > Having said all this I'm not saying we should necessarily agree with the > move or assume it is all well-motivated. We don't have to assume that about > any regime.But let;s first get the full picture from places other than > propaganda rags, and second let's remember all this background. > > > > > On Sun, Dec 15, 2024 at 7:10 AM John Edmundson via groups.io > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I think that they were (and still are) being sensitive to the situation >> and at that point expected Assad to survive. Now they have to face the new >> reality. I was sure I saw a Hamas statement congratulating rhe Syrian >> people for overthrowing Assad but now I can't find it. Of course Israel and >> Turkey will take maximum advantage of the chaos and things may be worse for >> the Palestinians. I'm not convinced though that this was all a plan by the >> US and /or Israel. Rather they're good at making the most of things. >> >> Ejecting the Palestinian factions, if true, is a real blow. >> >> Comradely, >> John. >> >> On Sun, 15 Dec 2024, 08:46 Mark Baugher via groups.io, <mark= >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> > On Dec 14, 2024, at 10:59 AM, John Edmundson via groups.io >>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> > >>> > Popular Front: The terrorist gangs' attack on Aleppo is a Zionist and >>> Western plot to undermine Syria's stability and its role in supporting the >>> resistance >>> >>> I think they're lying. >>> >>> Mark >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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