Palestine: widespread opposition to PNC meeting without national agreement

A range of Palestinian individuals and major factions have expressed their opposition to holding a meeting of the Central Council of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) without a national agreement in place, Safa news agency reported on Monday. The meeting has been proposed by Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, to take place in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

According to well-known Palestinian figures and academics from within and beyond Palestine, Fatah’s insistence on holding the meeting despite the lack of a national agreement is intended to ensure that certain Fatah and PA figures are appointed to major positions within the PNC. This opposition to the meeting follows the announcement by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in which it reaffirmed its boycott of PNC meetings under the present set up headed by Fatah.

“We are calling for the election of a new PNC that represents all the Palestinians around the world,” explained Salman Abu Sitta, the Secretary General of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad. The veteran Palestinian rights campaigner described the planned “reformation” of the PNC as a “coup” against Palestinian interests and a “stab in the back” of the body which represents the people of occupied Palestine.

Amal Khreesheh of the Popular Alliance for Change said that the call to hold the PNC meeting is an “indication of the deepening exclusivity and domination over the PLO and its bodies.” She warned that the outcomes of the meeting would undermine the Palestinian cause, reinforce the internal division and lead to an agreement on “economic peace” with the Israeli occupation state.

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