The PLO Central Council will convene on Sunday night for its 31st session, but of its 142 members, many are expected to boycott it due to internal disputes within the Palestinian Authority and the PLO. The conference, which was scheduled to take place in mid-January and was postponed due to pressure on PA head Mahmoud Abbas and boycott threats by factions in the PLO, will begin with a special speech delivered by Abbas, which is of great interest.
Abbas’ speech will deal with “developing and operating the PLO and defending the national project and popular resistance” but Ramallah is waiting to see whether he will adopt the decisions of the PLO Executive Committee and the domestic pressures to cancel recognition of Israel, or surrender to Israeli and US pressure.
PA Arab sources, including members of the Central Council, told TPS that Abbas is expected to face heavy pressure and demands to adopt a series of decisions already made in recent years, including withdrawing the PLO’s recognition from Israel, ending the PA’s security coordination with Israel, joining the UN, joining UN institutions and more. In recent years, Abbas has been avoiding implementing them, under American and Israeli pressure.
Sources in Ramallah estimate that Abbas is also expected to face the demand to appoint a deputy for himself as chairman of the PLO, as well as to appoint a new chairman of the National Council and the Palestinian National Fund, and even to demand the convening of the National Council soon.
The pressure on Abbas is growing in light of recent allegations about his withdrawal from the threat he made against Israel at the UN last September and because he ordered, according to many in the PA, to cease Palestinian Authority activities against Israel in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
“Since Abu Mazen met with Minister Benny Gantz, there has been continuous contact between the Muqata and the Israeli Ministry of Defense with the aim of preventing the Palestinians from making difficult decisions and maintaining security coordination,” a senior Palestinian official said this morning. ”
“Abu Mazen is unable to make any decision against Israel because he is under heavy pressure from the Americans,” the PA Arab source said, adding that even in Abbas’ recent conversation with US Secretary of State Antoney Blinken, he heard an American warning not to make harsh decisions against Israel.
As far as Fatah officials are concerned, including Mahmoud al-Alul and Azzam al-Ahmed, Abbas is expected to make it clear beyond any doubt that he will not accept the continuation of the situation vis-à-vis Israel and also act in the face of American hesitation.
Mahmoud al-Alul, Abbas’ deputy in Fatah, said that “the message of the Central Council will be that the current situation is unbearable in the shadow of the great challenges facing our people and the American attempt to deny promises.” Al-Ahmed said in this spirit that the Council will make decisions regarding relations with “the Israeli occupation” and the US and “we will return and review all our decisions and commitments” with Israel.
Al-Ahmed also clarified that the PA Arabs are disappointed that the consulate in eastern Jerusalem and the PLO embassy office in Washington have not yet opened, and therefore the PLO and PA chairman Abbas is expected to make a “series of difficult decisions.”
However, Abbas’ opponents showed great contempt for his dramatic statements and emphasized that the decisions have already been made in the PLO Executive Committee and have not yet been adopted by Abbas himself. “We do not have to make decisions but to adopt what has been decided upon,” a senior Palestinian official told TPS.
The conference is being held in the shadow of threats and boycott measures. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), whose relations with the PLO have experienced ups and downs in recent years, is expected to boycott the convention. Its improved relations with Hamas will also contribute to this. On the other hand, the Democratic Front (DFLP), which has held internal consultations, is expected to attend the 31st Council meeting.
A member of the Central Council told TPS that “Abu Mazen’s [Abbas] situation is serious due to the decline in popularity and the boycott on the part of independent factions and personalities, and especially under the expected pressure from the conference participants.”
A number of PA Arab public figures, led by Hanan Ashrawi, who was a member of the Legislative Council disbanded by Abu Mazen due to Hamas control, and had already left the PLO a few months ago while criticizing Abu Mazen, announced that they will boycott the conference because the organization under Abu Mazen does not make the organizational and political decisions.
Meanwhile, within Fatah, the political conflict is growing and the harsh criticism against the conference is provided by members of Muhammad Dahlan’s faction, who was expelled from Fatah. Dahlan’s people told TPS that “the Central Council has no validity as long as the Palestinian National Council does not convene” and emphasized that “Abu Mazen is using the conference only to advance a series of appointments that will fortify his power in Fatah.”
Dmitry Daliani, a member of the Revolutionary Council, told TPS that the convening of the Central Council is an attempt to replace the role of the National Council and abolish the PLO, in order to fortify Abu Mazen’s status. The PLO is losing its legitimacy because the National Council lacks decision-making power while Abu Mazen allows himself to cancel the parliamentary elections.
This is said against the background of the aging PLO chairman’s intention to ask the Central Council to approve the appointment of Hussein A-Sheikh, the Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs who is very close to his position on the PLO Executive Committee and may even serve as the committee’s secretary-general instead of Saeb Erekat who died from the corona. This puts A-Sheikh in an excellent starting position for the succession battles that Abu Mazen will leave behind, even if it is a poor inheritance.
Another appointment is by Ruhi Fathi as the Fatah candidate to head the National Council in place of Salim Zenon, who recently resigned.
Hamas is not a member of the PLO but is keeping an eye on the Palestinian umbrella organization while the precarious situation of the PLO under Abu Mazen increases its appetite. Hussein Abu Koik, a senior Hamas figure, opposed the convention and called for a national plan for the next phase, which will ensure the renewal of the structure of PLO institutions through elections.
