PFLP to Participate In Upcoming Palestinian Elections

Palestinian members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) take part in a military show in Gaza
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) take part in a military show in Gaza (photo credit: REUTERS)
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PFLP to Participate In Upcoming Palestinian Elections

Palestinian members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) take part in a military show in Gaza
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) take part in a military show in Gaza (photo credit: REUTERS)

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has announced its decision to participate in the Palestinian parliamentary election, scheduled for May 22.

In a statement published on Sunday, the PFLP said that its central committee held a meeting after which it decided to run in the elections according to its political program.”

The PFLP stressed that its participation in the elections “does not mean that it is a partner in the consecration of the humiliating and disastrous Oslo Accords.”

“Our participation in the elections is an attempt to adjust the internal balance of power, especially regarding the decision-making process” the statement read.

In 2006, the Front has participated in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections and has only won three of the 132 seats.

For his part, Fatah Central Committee Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub said that his group “highly valued” the PFLP’s decision to participate in the parliamentary election.

He expressed hope that the decision would encourage all Palestinians to participate in the “democratic process.”

Last month, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas announced dates for the first Palestinian elections in more than 15 years, setting legislative polls for May 22 and a July 31 presidential vote.

The last Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 saw Hamas win an unexpected landslide.

The polls resulted in a brief unity government but it soon collapsed and in 2007, bloody clashes erupted in the Gaza Strip between the two principal Palestinian factions, with Hamas ultimately seizing control of Gaza.



Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports Restart is Not Imminent

An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
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Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports Restart is Not Imminent

An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP

A restart of Iraq's Kurdish oil exports is not imminent, sources close to the matter said on Friday, despite Iraq's federal government saying on Thursday that shipments would resume immediately.

Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government have been in negotiations since February to end a stand-off that has halted flows from the north of the country to Türkiye's port of Ceyhan. The KRG was producing about 435,000 barrels per day (bpd) before the pipeline closure in March 2023, Reuters reported.

On Thursday the federal government said that Iraqi Kurdistan would resume oil exports immediately through the pipeline to Türkiye's despite drone attacks that have shut down half of the region's output.

But on Friday a source at APIKUR, a group of oil companies working in Kurdistan, said that a restart depended on the receipt of written agreements. Another at KAR Group, which operates the pipeline, said that no preparations had been made for a restart.

Baghdad and the companies have not yet agreed how to restart the exports, a KRG government source said, while a source at Türkiye's Ceyhan said there was also no preparation at the terminal for a restart of flows.

On Thursday, a statement from KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the government had approved a joint understanding with the federal government and it was awaiting financial details.

Similar agreements in the past failed to secure a resumption in exports and it remains unclear if this deal will succeed.

Oil companies working in Kurdistan have previously demanded that their production-sharing contracts should remain unchanged and their debts of nearly $1 billion be settled under any agreement.

Oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan have been attacked by drones this week, with officials pointing to Iran-backed militias as the likely source of the attacks, although no group has claimed responsibility.

They are the first such attacks on oilfields in the region and coincide with the first attacks in seven months on shipping in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen.

On Thursday a strike hit an oilfield operated by Norway's DNO in Tawke, the region's counter-terrorism service said.

It was the week's second strike on a site operated by DNO, which operates the Tawke and Peshkabour oilfields in the Zakho area that borders Türkiye.

No casualties have been reported, but oil output in the region has been cut by between 140,000 bpd and 150,000 bpd, two energy officials said.