Supporters of the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) organized rallies in the northern occupied West Bank district of Jenin and in the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday, to mark the anniversary of the death of PFLP member Omar Nayif in the Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria last year, which the group believes was an assassination carried out by the Mossad (Israel’s foreign intelligence agency).
Nayif, a 52-year-old man from Jenin, had been living in Bulgaria for years, but in 2015 sought refuge in the Palestinian embassy after Israel demanded his extradition so he could see out a life sentence over his alleged role in the killing of an Israeli in occupied Jerusalem’s Old City in 1986. Nayif was one of a number of prisoners that should have been released by Israel as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords, which obligated Israel to release Palestinian political prisoners held until that point.
Bulgarian police reportedly gave Nayif 72 hours to turn himself in but Nayif refused, considering the procedure illegal, the Palestinian Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs reported at the time.
Omar Nayif Zayed Gazze'de yapılan temsili bir yürüyüş ile selamlandı. FHKC savaşçıları Zayed'i omuzlarında taşıdı. pic.twitter.com/eIB90mBKIp
— Baader Meinhof (@baaderrmeinhof) February 29, 2016
Palestinian Authority (PA) officials had said that embassy staff found Nayif in the embassy’s garden covered in blood, was rushed to hospital, and died en route.
According to Palestinian ambassador Ahmad al-Madbuh, Nayif had been alone at the embassy and had been locked in for his own protection and there was no visible evidence of anyone having broken in to the three-storey villa. However, al-Madbuh later told reporters that the death was “murder” and said it was “a result of the continuing persecution by Israel.”
Omar Nayif’s brother Ahmad Nayif said shortly after the incident that his family held the PA responsible the death, which he said was an assassination by Israel. “My brother was being directly and indirectly threatened by some individuals at the embassy — especially the ambassador — who demanded him to leave the embassy where he was taking cover after being threatened by Mossad.”
PFLP demonstrates on anniversary of alleged assassination of Omar Nayif https://t.co/2ZdYi4HQHT pic.twitter.com/a29CAhxRuU
— Ma'an News Agency (@MaanNewsAgency) February 25, 2017
Ahmad demanded the Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Palestinian ambassador to Bulgaria be dismissed for not providing enough protection for al-Nayif.
Ahmad challenged the PA’s version of events, saying that “a group of people raided the embassy and Omar’s room in order to assassinate him, when a fight erupted and they threw him out of the embassy’s balcony, killing him.”
In the wake of the incident, the PFLP also blamed “the crime” on PA officials, who met with Bulgarian counterparts just two days prior the incident but failed to make any demands on behalf of al-Nayif, according to the PFLP.
(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)
