Senior Fatah Critic Targeted

Sufian Abu Zaydeh came under fire outside his home in Ramallah on early Nov. 19. Fatah said a gunman shot some 20 bullets at Abu Zaydeh’s parked car. Abu Zaydeh, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, was not hurt.

“This is rejected and condemned,” council secretary-general Amin Maqboul said. “This is not in accordance with our traditions and customs.”

The 53-year-old Abu Zaydeh, said to be close to ex-PA security chief Mohammed Dahlan, has been deemed one of the most powerful members of Fatah.

A lecturer at Al Quds University, he has been a leading critic of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and in June 2013 called him a tyrant. Two days later, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa denounced Abu Zaydeh’s article.

“The president now heads everything connected to the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause,” Abu Zaydeh wrote in an article published on Palestinian websites. “He is the sole decision-maker.”