Israeli Arab party meets leftist Palestinian faction led by convicted terrorist

A far-left Israeli political party met in Ramallah on Thursday with representatives of left-wing Palestinian factions, one of whose leaders was sentenced on Thursday to 30 years in prison for being a member of the group.

Hadash, the predominantly Arab political party which is represented by three Knesset members, began a round of meetings with leftist Palestinian factions, including the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Palestinian People's Party.

An Israel Defense Forces military tribunal on Thursday sentenced PFLP head Ahmed Sadat to 30 years in prison for his ties with the group. Although he was originally arrested on suspicion of taking part in the planning of the assassination of then-minister Rehavam Ze'evi, he was ultimately convicted on lesser charges.

Hadash's official Web site reported on Friday that the parties agreed to continue a dialogue and to make efforts to network with other left-wing movements around the world in the hopes of promoting Palestinian interests.

Senior officials from the four factions met Thursday in Ramallah to coordinate future steps and to consider ways to strengthen the cooperation between them. Hadash was represented in the meeting by MK Mohammed Barakeh; the secretary-general of the Israeli Communist Party, Mohammed Nafa'; and the secretary-general of Hadash, Iman Udeh.

It is worth noting that this is the first time a meeting has been held in which representatives from all four factions were in attendance.

"The Palestinian arena is today in desperate need of a progressive, leftist dialogue of unity," Barakeh said.

Last week, Barakeh traveled to the Jordanian capital of Amman where he met with the secretary-general of the DFLP, Nayef Hawatmeh. According to the Arab-language news Web site Ma'an, Hawatmeh stressed to his interlocutor the need to forge "a united resistance front" against Israel.

The DFLP chief also expressed concern over the strengthening of Israeli rightist factions for the upcoming Knesset elections, specifically taking aim at the Likud's stated goal of "economic peace" or "peace in exchange for peace."

Hadash officials recently stated that the party intends to make inroads with Jewish voters for the upcoming general elections, though they did say Friday that the talks held with Palestinian left-wing factions are a routine matter. The party has maintained contacts with these groups since the 1970s, Hadash officials said.

"The Hadash platform and its fundamental stances are clear and they are expressed everywhere and at every opportunity," a party official said. "Ties with PLO groups have been held uninterruptedly since the 1970s, and all of the factions know the positions taken by [the Israeli communist party] Maki and Hadash as a political, Jewish-Arab organization that espouses a two-state solution."