New PLO to compete with U.S.-backed group

JERUSALEM – The chief of Hamas has advocated creating a new umbrella body to represent all Palestinians and to compete with the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO, the group headed by the successor to Yasser Arafat, U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

As WND reported exclusively in December, sources in Hamas stated the group would propose creating a new PLO-like organization as part of a larger campaign to de-legitimize Abbas.

The move could have enormous consequences, since the PLO – as the main representative body of the Palestinians – is the signatory of all peace agreements with Israel. Any new group purporting to represent all Palestinians could declare past agreements null and void.

According to sources close to Abbas, of all the moves Hamas is planning, the PA figure is most worried about the creation of a second PLO to compete with the group he heads, which has long been dominated by his Fatah party.

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Over the weekend, Hamas chieftain Khaled Meshaal pushed for the creation of the new PLO-like group, as Hamas officials told WND he would. Meshaal's proposal was echoed Friday in similar statements to cheering crowds by senior Hamas political leader Khalil al-Hayya, who shouted that the PLO was dead, sent to the morgue by those who founded it.

"It is high time the Palestinian people have a new leadership," al-Hayya declared.

Hamas officials told WND their group is in the process of building a second PLO, which would be a grand coalition of major Palestinian groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in Lebanon. The coalition even would include part of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which until now has leaned toward Fatah.

According to sources in Hamas, some members of Fatah, including Faruq Al-Khadumi, chief of the political bureau of the PLO, assisted in a recent meeting in which Hamas presented the possibility of creating a new PLO.

The original PLO was founded by Arafat and other Palestinian figures in 1964. It incorporates major Palestinian groups friendly to Fatah, including the PFLP. The PA was established in 1994 after the signing of the Oslo accords with Israel as a subsidiary of the PLO to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza.

The creation of a new PLO could have major ramifications for U.S. and Israeli policy. Both countries consider Fatah to be moderate and have engaged in talks seeking to create a Fatah-led Palestinian state.

Also, since most major Israeli-Palestinian agreements are signed by the PLO – and not the PA – the creation of a new organization could signal the end of Palestinian responsibility to the agreements if a second PLO-like group takes off.

Meanwhile, Abbas has successfully enlisted the help of Egypt to slow down the emergence of a new PLO.

According to officials in Hamas speaking to WND, the group originally planned to debut the competing PLO before January. But the officials said Egypt in November pressed Syria to petition Hamas to halt their efforts for a time.

Hamas officials told WND in December they would wait until at least the end of January to propose a new PLO.

 

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