Special to WorldTribune.com

RAMALLAH — A leading Fatah critic has been targeted in the West Bank.

Sufian Abu Zaydeh came under fire outside his home in Ramallah on early Nov. 19. Fatah said a gunman shot some 20 bullets into Abu Zaydeh’s parked car.

Abu Zaydeh, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and former Palestinian Authority minister, was not in the car and was unharmed.

“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.”

This marked the second attack on a Fatah critic of Abbas over the last
month. The previous target was Majed Abu Shamaleh, a Fatah member of the
Palestinian Legislative Council, also believed close to Dahlan, now in
exile.

Palestinian sources said PA police and intelligence agencies were
investigating the attack. No arrests have been reported in either the Abu
Zaydeh or Abu Shamaleh shootings.

“I hold President Abbas, in his capacity as president of the Palestinian
Authority and commander of the security forces, personally responsible for
what happened to me and my colleagues and what could happen in the future,”
Abu Zaydeh said. “I call on Abbas to reveal the identity of the perpetrators
of this crime and previous ones.”

  Fatah Revolutionary Council, Leading Fatah critic of Palestinian Authority’s Abbas survives assassination attempt, Mahmoud Abbas, Majed Abu Shamaleh, Sufian Abu Zaydeh