Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Fatah Pushes for National Council Session, Hamas Rejects | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55381015
Caption:

(FILES) This file photo taken on July 25, 2017 shows Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas speaking during a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The 82-year-old president was discharged from hospital in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on July 29 after a brief “routine checkup”, the official Wafa news agency reported. / AFP PHOTO / ABBAS MOMANI


Ramallah- The Fatah Movement is pushing to hold a Palestinian National Council (PNC) session in Ramallah next month before Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas travels to the UN headquarters in New York to deliver his usual yearly speech.

However, other Palestinian factions want the session to be held outside Ramallah to allow the majority of PLO members to attend.

Observers believe that the meeting will convene via videoconference between Ramallah and Beirut as a middle solution after several suggestions were lately made in this regard.

The PNC is considered the legislative body of the PLO, which represents all Palestinians and includes more than 750 members. But, on Monday, the Hamas movement lashed out at Fatah for its attempts to hold a session of the PNC in the near future.

Hamas co-founder and senior official Mahmoud al-Zahar said that “in its current structure, the National Council does not represent all Palestinians, but only factions that are currently left with no content.”

He added that the efforts exerted to convene the PNC session next month aim to affirm the fake legitimacy of Abbas.
Meanwhile, Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Muhaisen said it was important to hold the session next September and he called on all Palestinian factions to act responsively and not waste time.

In comments broadcasted by the official radio, Muhaisen said it was currently important for Abbas to attend the UN meetings in New York now that the PLO was re-offered some consideration.

The Fatah Movement seeks to agree with other Palestinian factions within the PLO to hold the National Council in order to elect a new executive committee and central council for the PLO.

The decision to renew the Organization came as Abbas is facing a staunch opponent represented by the Hamas movement and other factions within Fatah led by Gaza-based Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan, who lately forged new alliances with Hamas.