Iran-PA relations continue to nosedive
Palestinians criticized the Fatah parliamentary bloc’s participation in the Iranian opposition conference held recently in Paris, and considered it to be interference in Iran’s internal affairs.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A Palestinian parliamentary delegation from the Fatah movement participated July 1 in the annual Iranian opposition conference for the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, or Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), in Paris. During the conference, member of parliament Najat al-Astal delivered a speech in which she stressed “supporting the struggle of the Iranian opposition for freedom, democracy and human rights, as well as eliminating the mullahs’ regime in Iran and replacing it with a free democratic regime that will bring justice to the Iranian people.”
The stance the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah have taken against the Iranian regime stems from two main points. First, they accuse Iran of supporting Hamas financially and militarily and encouraging its military takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Second, Fatah and the PA coordinate with Arab countries that have expressed hostility toward Iran, namely Saudi Arabia.
Astal added, “The Iranian regime has financially supported Palestinian division in order to strong-arm the Palestinian leadership. We will prevent this regime from reaching the level of control it dreams of imposing on the Arab region while it supports extremist groups in Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Palestine,” in reference to Iran’s support for Hamas.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian participation in the Paris conference will add more fuel to the fire of the troubled relations between the PA and Iran, as it represents a new link in the rapprochement with the Saudi-backed Iranian opposition. This rapprochement culminated in a meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and head of the Iranian opposition Maryam Rajavi in Paris on July 30, 2016.
