Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to cut off funding to the Yasser Arafat Foundation, a nonprofit organization headed by Nasser al-Kidwa, a nephew of the former PLO leader, the London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed media outlet revealed on Monday.
Last week, Abbas dismissed Kidwa from the ruling Fatah faction because of the latter’s decision to form his own list to contest the upcoming Palestinian general elections.
Abbas accused Kidwa of violating Fatah’s internal regulations by deciding to run outside of the faction’s official list.
Kidwa recently announced that he would run in the elections as part of a new list named National Democratic Forum. He invited jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and other Palestinian activists to join his list.
Barghouti was sentenced to five life terms in Israeli prison for his role in terrorist attacks against Israel during the Second Intifada.
Palestinian sources said that Abbas was also considering dismissing Barghouti from Fatah should he run in the elections on a separate list.
The decision to expel Kidwa from Fatah was taken after he was given a 48-hour deadline to backtrack on his intention to form an independent list. The ultimatum was issued on March 8 by the Fatah Central Committee, the faction’s highest decision-making body, which is headed by Abbas.
Kidwa condemned the decision to expel him from Fatah as “sad and pathetic.”
Established in 2008, the Yasser Arafat Foundation states that its mission is to “preserve, benefit from, and pass on to future generations the memory and heritage of the late leader and president, Yasser Arafat, as well as to continue his legacy of benevolence.”
According to the foundation, “the preservation of Arafat’s heritage contributes to the historical record and documentation of this phase of the contemporary Palestinian struggle in its political, social, economic, humanitarian, local, regional and international dimensions.”
Among the foundation’s goals: collecting, organizing, and presenting Arafat’s written, oral, and visual archives; contributing to his annual commemoration; and managing his mausoleum and a museum carrying his name.
The foundation has been receiving financial support from the PA government.
The decision to cut off funding to the foundation was taken by the Palestine National Fund (PNF), which was established in 1964 to finance the activities of the PLO in the political, military, social and cultural fields.
A letter signed by PNF director-general Ramzi Khoury instructs PA Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara to halt all direct and indirect payments to the Yasser Arafat Foundation on orders from Abbas as of March 11.
The letter was published on Monday by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed and some Palestinian news websites.
Kidwa said that he learned about the decision to cut off the funding to his foundation through the media.
Describing Abbas’s decision as illegal, Kidwa said that there should be a separation between him and the foundation.
He revealed that the PA has decided to withdraw the bodyguards assigned to protect him after his decision to form a new list.