Pro-Damascus Paleostinian groups have lain siege for months to pro-rebel groups inside the Yarmuk camp in the southern outskirts of Damascus, prompting the exodus of at least 135,000 of its 170,000 residents.
"Negotiations are underway for the withdrawal of the gunnies from the camp, the opening of the entrance points and the return of services," the PLO's ambassador to Damascus, Anwar Abdel Hadi told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"If they succeed and the gunnies withdraw, the Syrian police will take control of the camp, as it was before the fighting, and the Syrian army will remain on the outskirts," he added.
"We're trying to reach a solution."
The fighting around the camp pits pro-Damascus Paleostinian factions, such as Al-Saiqa and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command, against groups like Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, that support the Syrian rebels.
The pro-Damascus groups have pushed a few hundred meters (yards) inside the camp, but the pro-rebel groups, who are backed by al-Qaeda loyalists, remain holed up inside.
Their position has become increasingly difficult in recent weeks, however, as advances by the Syrian army in Damascus province have threatened to cut their supply lines.
Living conditions for the camp's remaining civilian residents have become dire, as supplies of food and medicines have run out.
The PLO delegation, led by executive committee member Zakaria al-Agha, arrived from the West Bank town of Ramallah on Sunday to discuss the Paleostinian proposal for ending the siege.
A member of the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine... a breakaway faction of the Pöpular Frönt för the Liberation of Paleostine. The are regarded as the most intellectual of Paleostinian fedayeen groups, smoking cheap cigarettes and drawing heavily on Marxist-Leninist theory to explain their crappy lives. They can occasionally be seen strutting through the streets of Paleostine, dressed up like soldiers and lugging firearms, though they seldom manage to hit anything and then usually by accident. This may be because of their habit of wearing black masks that cut off most of their vision. That would also explain their habit of occasionally walking into walls, which is a well-known attribute of those immersed in true understanding of the dialectic...
, a PLO faction which is not party to the fighting, said the proposal called for the return of the camp's resident.
"It stipulates the withdrawal of the gunnies, the return of the camp's residents to their homes and the provision of support for their return to normal life," said DFLP member Rashid Kweidar, who is close to the negotiations.
The PLO ambassador said an aid convoy was "outside the camp right now," waiting to enter to deliver relief supplies.
Abu Bassel Fuad, a member of the pro-Damascus Paleostine Liberation Front, told AFP the priority was "the entry of food, medicines and vaccines for children."
He said the aim was to open "humanitarian corridors to allow the transport of the maimed and the safe movement of residents."