Democratic Palestine : 24 (ص 7)
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- Democratic Palestine : 24 (ص 7)
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ticipation in the PLO leadership if
changes were made in the resolution.
Still Arafat’s tactics of delay con-
tinued. This led the PFLP to withdraw
from a meeting with the Fatah Central
Committee delegation. At that point,
the council session entered its most
severe dilemma. Palestinian leaders met
for several hours without reaching
results. Then seven members of Fatah’s
Central Committee applied pressure by
threatening to appear before the coun-
cil and «expose the lie of independent
Palestinian decision-making.» In addi-
tion, the Algerian leadership exerted
immense efforts to ensure the success of
the council on the basis of adherence to
the agreements previously reached.
Yasir Arafat also received a message
from the Soviet leader Mikhail Gor-
bachev, reaffirming the Soviet Union’s
urgings that the PLO achieve a unified
position, and warning that the division
of the PLO would be more dangerous
than ever this time. Comrade Gor-
bachev affirmed that without the
presence of independent Palestinian
representation, the Soviet Union would
not attend any international conference
on the Middle East.
Finally, after all these efforts, the
formula previously agreed on was
reaffirmed, and unity was saved. Thus
the PNC session was able to conclude
by reestablishing Palestinian unity on
the basis of a nationalist political and
organizational program, which was
presented to the council and adopted
unanimously.
In the PNC’s concluding session,
Yasir Arafat announced the reunifica-
tion of the Palestinian Liberation
Front, thanking the Algerian leadership
for the efforts it had expended to that
end. The reunification was achieved
after the work of an arbitration com-
mittee composed of Abu Ali Mustafa,
Abu Jihad, Yasir Abed Rabbouh and
Abdul Rahim Ahmed. It was agreed
that Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Abbas)
would represent the PLF in the PLO
Executive Committee for a _ limited
period, during which time Talat
Yacoub would continue in his post as
Secretary General of the PLF. The two
factions agreed to convene a unification
congress for the organization during
that limited period.
Press Conference
In a press conference held on May 7th in Damascus, Comrade
George Habash answered questions pertaining to the last Palestinian
National Council held in Algiers. Following are excerpts from that
press conference.
PRESS CONFERENCE WITH
COMRADE HABASH
In answer to a question on a possible
reconciliation between Yasir Arafat
and Syria and the liability of Salvation
Front member organizations joining
the PLO’s leadership, Comrade
Habash answered:
«Despite our pride in the success of
the PNC, we consider this success in-
adequate unless it is followed by conso-
lidating relations between the PLO and
Syria. This is because Syria is the only
frontline country preparing to confront
the Zionist enemy by achieving a stra-
tegic balance of power which the
Syrians are always referring to. The
Egyptian regime-not the Egyptian
people - has surrendered to the Zionist
invasion. Syria, however, declares and
practices confrontation of the Zionist
danger threatening the Arab nation.
The sacrifices of the Syrian people and
army made in defence of the Palesti-
nian cause further underscores Syria’s
national stand. We therefore consider
that all efforts must be exerted towards
rectifying the relations between the
PLO and Syria and towards restoring
the natural alliance which existed
through the seventies up till the Pales-
tinian resistance leadership’s evacua-
tion from Beirut.
No mater how difficult it is, we, in
the PFLP, along with the nationalist,
progressive and socialist forces, on the
Palestinian, Arab and_ international
levels, will continue our efforts to
remove the obstacles obstructing the
path to the natural situation which
should exist between the PLO and
Syria.
As for the second part of your ques-
tion, we in the PFLP, are within the
framework of the PLO, which auto-
matically means that we are outside the
framework of the Salvation Front. It is
natural, however, that contacts with the
Salvation Front’s member organiza-
tions will continue. Only when these
member organizations join the PLO
will Palestinian national unity be con-
sidered 100% accomplished.»
In another question, Comrade
Habash was asked for his evaluation of
his meeting with President Hafez Assad
and about the essence of the dispute
bewteen Syria and the PLO. Comrade
Habash answered:
«Ours is a relationship of freindship
and respect. This relationship is based
on the common political view of oppo-
sition to the Zionist danger to the Arab
world. We are agreed on the impossibi-
lity of accepting this colonialist entity,
the impossibility of recognizing it and
the necessity of isolating it as a prelude
to uprooting the Zionist danger from
our region.
The long discussion which took place
between President Assad and myself
had to do with the PFLP’s assessment
of the PNC’s political and organiza-
tional resolutions..... In short I was
glad to hear from the president that
what had happened in Algiers was
considered positive; secondly, that this
unification process should be followed
by unifying all Palestinian organiza-
tions within the-PLO.»
«As regards the relationship between
the PLO and Syria the president condi-
tioned it on the leadership’s practices
on the ground, because in the light of
prior experiences great importance is
attached to political practices which are
in accordance with written agreements..
On the whole I can frankly say that I
was relieved after our meeting given the
complicated situation between the PLO
and Syria during the past four years.»
Comrade Habash was then asked
about what guarantees there were
which would prevent Yasir Arafat from
not abiding by the latest PNC resolu-
tions. Comrade Habash:
«Through our representative in the
PLO’s Executive committee, we would >»
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