FIDA denounces raid on Gaza offices

[oberliner]

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Gaza government security forces on Tuesday shut down the Rafah offices of the Palestinian Democratic Union and detained several leaders of the party, the union said.

The leftist faction, known as FIDA, said the move was "a violation to national conventions that had prevailed during all the years of the Palestinian struggle," in a statement issued Wednesday.

FIDA said the attack was a strike to efforts to end national divisions among Palestinians. Internal unity was vital to confront the escalation in Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave and the threat of war, the party added.

The secular faction urged the Hamas-led government to respect democratic freedoms and political plurality and to return the party's belongings seized during the raid.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=346423

[oberliner]

1. Some info about FIDA (Source: Wikipedia)

Beliefs and ideology

The slogan of FIDA is "freedom, independence, return, democracy and socialism". It presents itself as a progressive, secular and democratic socialist party, and espouses the Marxist vocabulary of "scientific socialism".

It advocates a two-state solution based on the borders of 1967 and with East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state. A prominent FIDA leader, Mamduh Nofal, in 2002 signed an appeal to stop suicide bombings.

They are called the Palestinian Democratic Union - FIDA is an acronym for their Arabic name.