Palestinian National Council to convene this month without Hamas

PLO’s Executive Committee decided yesterday to hold a meeting of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the highest national body, at the end of the month, Quds Press reported.

In a statement, the Executive Committee said that the convention of the PNC on 30 March aims to choose new members for the Executive Committee.

The PNC, which includes representatives for the Palestinians from the occupied territories and diaspora, MPs, factions’ leaders and independent politicians, was established in 1948.

It does not include Hamas, which achieved an overwhelming majority in the last general election held in 2006, nor does it include Islamic Jihad.

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Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, along with many other Palestinian factions criticised the decision to hold the PNC meeting in the occupied West Bank and without getting a Palestinian consensus.

Senior Hamas leader Izzat Al-Reshiq said: “Inviting the Palestinian National Council to convene without the participation of Hamas and Islamic Jihad reinforces monopolising the Palestinian decision and undermines reconciliation efforts.”