Palestinian National Salvation Front
PALESTINIAN NATIONAL SALVATION FRONT
Palestinian organization (Jabhat al-Inqadh al-Watani al-Filastini, in Arabic) created in March 1985 by Khalid al-Fahum, who, being opposed to the policies of Yasir Arafat, had resigned as president of the Palestine National Council (PNC). Backed by Syria and gathering together the Fatah-Intifada, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General Command (PFLP–GC), the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), al-Saʿiqa, the Palestinian Revolutionary Communist Party (PRCP), and a part of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Palestinian National Salvation Front (PNSF) strove to constitute a true oppositional front to Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), opposed to all foreign interference in Palestinian affairs, refused to join because of the Syrian backing. Torn by personality conflicts and ideological divergences, the PNSF did not succeed in forming a viable opposition to the PLO, or proposing a real alternative to the policies of Arafat. From 1989 its activities were reduced to the publication of simple press communiqués. In 1993, after the signature of the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Accords in September, Palestinian opposition forces formed a new front, the Alliance of Palestinian Forces (APF), which replaced the PNSF.
SEE ALSO Alliance of Palestinian Forces;Arafat, Yasir;Fahum, Khalid al-.