RAMALLAH, April 23, 2018 (WAFA) – The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), one of founders of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said on Monday that it categorically rejects attempts by some groups and factions to convene an alternate meeting from the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the top Palestinian decision-making body and the parliament in exile that is scheduled to convene in Ramallah on April 30, or to form a parallel framework for the PLO.

Member of the PFLP political bureau, Zahir al-Shashti, told the official Voice of Palestine radio that his organization is fully committed to the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people and will not leave it or any of its institutions.

The leftist PFLP had to explain its position after it decided to boycott the upcoming PNC meeting, mainly because it will be held in Ramallah, which it says allows Israel to decide who can or cannot attend the meeting since its military controls the  borders to the Palestinian areas.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, two Islamist groups who are not members in the PLO, have also said they will boycott the meeting because of the venue and what they said was Fatah dominance over it. They proposed forming an alternate meeting for the PNC to be attended by the opposing factions and suggested the creation of an umbrella organization that may eventually replace the PLO.

Shashti stressed that the PFLP would not be part of any parallel group to the PLO or the National Council and would defend its representative role of the Palestinian people.

He said the PFLP and Fatah recently held talks in Cairo following the former’s decision not to attend the PNC meeting. He explained that the meeting with Fatah was positive and that his organization’s objections were over the date of convening the PNC.

Meanwhile, senior Fatah officials and representatives of other factions, strongly denounced calls by Hamas to hold an alternate meeting and leadership, while praising the PFLP’s position of not going along with Hamas on that.

Member of Fatah Central Committee, Jamal Muheisen, described the PFLP’s position as “patriotic.”

He told Voice of Palestine radio that the PFLP’s decision not to participate in the PNC does not mean that it agrees to having an alternative meeting to the PNC or be part of what Hamas wants, which is to create an alternative leadership to the PLO.

Wasil Abu Yousef, secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Front, also said that all attempts to undermine the PLO would fail, stressing in an interview with Voice of Palestine that the PLO is the title of the Palestinian struggle and attempts to find a parallel framework will be an impossible task.

He said that the PNC is not ed to the political factions of the PLO, rather there are three other basic components, namely the civil society organizations, independents and the security forces, who are no less important than the factions.

Deputy Secretary-General of Fida party, Saleh Rafat, stressed the party‘s adherence to the PLO as the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people, stressing that any attempt to form parallel frameworks for the PLO by Hamas or any other party would not succeed.

He also told Voice of Palestine radio that the Hamas attempts are doomed to failure.

He pointed out that the PNC will present a new political vision for the next phase in the struggle for liberation and conduct a comprehensive review since the 1994 Oslo accords because Israel has renounced all the signed agreements, which demands a reconsideration of the overall Palestinian-Israeli relationship.

The PNC will also tackle the US administration‘s policies toward the Palestinian-Israeli conflict particularly after US President Donald Trump‘s recent decisions on Jerusalem and the United Nations Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA, and its attempt along with Israel to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

K.T./M.K