PFLP vows to wreak 'hell'; Palestinians close ranks
AMIRA HASS
Ha'aretz, 28 August 2001
Israel's assassination of Mustafa Zabri, 63, more commonly known by the name Abu Ali Mustafa as one of the founders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, galvanized the Palestinian political spectrum yesterday into a united front and prompted calls for revenge that promised "hell" for Israelis.
The unity was clearly evident at the mourning tent in El Bireh set up by the PFLP, which Zabri led for the last two years after its founder, George Habash, retired. The calls for revenge came from across the political landscape, including a promise by PFLP activists to "return to the days of the 1970s," when the PFLP was one of the most active international terrorist groups, hijacking airplanes and attacking Israeli and Western embassies and institutions.
Within hours after two rockets slammed into Zabri's third-story office in an El Bireh apartment building (in which almost all the other residents were Palestinian Americans), killing him, the PFLP opened a mourning tent that drew together the full gamut of political and intellectual figures in a rare display of unity.
PA leader Mohammed Abas (Abu Mazen), poet Mahmud Darwish, Taiser Zabri, the dead man's brother, senior leaders from Fatah, the PFLP and its rival, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well as representatives of the Hamas and representatives of the Israeli Communist party and Hadash, were there.
From ardent secular leftists to fundamentalist Muslims devoted to Hamas, it was a political demonstration of Palestinian unity.
PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, who was in Gaza City, announced a three-day mourning period. Upon hearing the news of Zabri's death, Arafat withdrew to his office for about half an hour, his aides said. Arafat, his eyes rimmed in red, later emerged to greet Palestinian demonstrators who shook his hand and kissed him on the cheeks. They included the leaders of militant groups that have carried out the deadliest bombing attacks against Israel, including Abdullah Shami of Islamic Jihad and, according to sources in Gaza, Sheik Ahmed Yassin of Hamas.
Spokesmen from all the Palestinian organizations made the same points yesterday. They called the assassination a "cowardly, criminal act," and said that the Israeli government "had crossed all the red lines and opened the gates to all-out war."
Both Palestinian Authority and PFLP spokesmen called for "an appropriate response," since "the attack proves that all Palestinians have become targets for Israeli weapons."
PFLP spokesmen said that "the assassination opens the gates of hell to the Israeli government."
A spokesman for Arafat condemned the assassination, calling it an "awful crime against a top Palestinian leader in the PLO. This is a very new development and a new dangerous stage. Israel has defied all red lines and the Palestinian Authority is warning Israel against the results which will come out of this assassination," Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.
PA cabinet secretary, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, said that "Sharon's policies will bring a disaster down on both peoples," adding that "Israelis may be safe inside their country but they have to understand that the Palestinians are now fighting a war against occupation and for their independence."
Many of the spokesmen condemned the U.S. and Bush administration, for backing Israeli policy and "giving the green light" to the assassination policy. Cabinet secretary Rahman said Abu Ali Mustafa had been killed "with U.S. political support and under U.S. cover."
Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo called the hit "a crime unequalled by any other crime that Israel had ever committed against the Palestinians. Abu Ali Mustafa is one of five major leaders who founded the PLO 30 years ago. He is a chief political leader. His assassination is a crime and Israel will pay a very heavy price," he said.
The PFLP leadership in Gaza issued a statement saying that a reaction to the assassination would come "as soon as possible" and would be "the toughest ever in the history of Israel".