PPP

Palestinian People‘s Party (PPP) Politburo

The PPP (Hizb al-Shaab) is a leftist PLO faction founded in February 1982 in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) as the Palestinian Communist Party. The PPP joined the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1987. It broke off from its Marxist-Leninist roots in 1991 and re-established itself under a new foundation as a democratic, pragmatic and popular party. It was a member of the United National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU) during the First Intifada and played an important role in mobilizing grassroots support for the uprising. The party was supportive of the Oslo Accords.

Between 1982 and 1998 the PPP was led by Bashir Barghouthi. In October 1998 the party held its third convention in Ramallah and elected a three-member committee called the general secretariat, consisting of Hanna Amira, Abdel Majid Hamdan and Mustafa Barghouthi. Mustafa Barghouthi left the party with a few supporters to establish the Palestinian National Initiative in 2002. The Secretary General of the PPP is Bassam al-Salhi, party’s presidential candidate in 2005. The PPP is represented in the PLO executive committee by Hanna Amira, but plays a more important role in local politics.

At the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 the PPP formed a joint list called al-Badeel (“the Alternative”) with other left wing parties, including the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) the Palestine Democratic Union (FIDA) and independents. It received 2.8% of the vote.