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Hawatmeh won't attend PLO meeting
The head of the Syria-based Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine will not travel to the West Bank to attend a meeting of the PLO's top policy-making body called for by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the leader's office in Damascus said Monday. Nayef Hawatmeh has decided not to attend the meeting scheduled in the West Bank city of Ramallah this week, the DFLP said in a statement. The DFLP statement said it "rejects any Israeli conditions" to the visit. On Sunday, Israel said it would allow Hawatmeh to return from exile to attend the PLO session. The DFLP carried out a 1974 raid on a school in the northern town of Ma'alot in which 24 Israelis were killed, most of them children. Four DFLP members - Abu Lyla, Saleh Zaidan, Taysser Khaled and Fahd Suleiman - who live in the Palestinian territories, will attend the meeting instead of their leader, the DFLP statement said. Abbas, who is locked in a bitter power struggle with Hamas, has called for the meeting, during which the PLO's Central Council is expected to be asked to approve Abbas' recent moves against Hamas following its takeover of the Gaza Strip last month. The Palestinian Liberation Organization considers itself the representative of all Palestinians, including those living in exile, but Hamas is not a member. Posted by: Fred 2007-07-17 |
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