Democratic Palestine : 33 (ص 10)
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- Democratic Palestine : 33 (ص 10)
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PLO Central Council Meeting
whether conditions are ripe at this
stage.
The right wing tried to distort the
truth during the discussions by claiming
that the concessions they have given are
in harmony with the PNC’s resolutions,
rather than being contrary to these. In
From March 31st to April 3rd, the Palestinian Central Coucil held its
ordinary (biannual) meeting in Tunis. As the highest decision-making
body in the PLO between sessions of the National Council, the Cen-
tral Council focused its attention on the uprising, as well as the
PLO’s political moves since the last PNC. The latter topic was the
subject of intense debate.
The convening of the Central Coun-
cil coincided with the 13th anniversary
of Land Day and the uprising com-
pleting its 16th month. Naturally, the
council’s agenda was concentrated on
the continuation and escalation of the
uprising. Related to this, there were
long and heated discussions about the
results of the PLO’s political moves
and the means for reaping the political
fruits of the uprising on the local,
regional and international levels. These
moves should be based on the national
invariable principles and on the resolu-
tions of the consecutive PNC sessions,
in order to accumulate further gains
and eventually achieve the Palestinian
people’s goals of repatriation, self-
determination and an_ independent
state. In this light, there was disagree-
ment about the right wing’s policies of
giving concessions, particularly since
the last PNC session, for these policies
have grave effects on the uprising and
the Palestinian national struggle in
general.
In the first session of the council
meeting, the participants listened to the
report of the PLO’s political depart-
ment read by its head, Farouq Qad-
doumi. The report included an over-
view of the PLO’s political moves since
the PNC’s 19th session, the
achievements of the Palestinian cause
and the directions of the PLO’s
political work in the coming period.
The second report was read by
Mohamed Milhem, the head of the
PLO’s department for the affairs of the
occupied territories. It concentrated on
the uprising, its main characteristics,
the role of the masses and the situation
of the mass organizations in the oc-
cupied territories.
In all of the following sessions, the
discussions revolved around the PLO’s
political moves. The council members
mainly discussed to what extent these
moves are in harmony with the resolu-
10
tions of the last PNC and with the
demands of the uprising. There was
unanimous agreement on the impor-
tance of national unity, on con-
solidating the uprising economically,
organizationally and politically, and on
adhering to the Palestinian national
goals. However, sharp differences sur-
faced over one main issue, namely the
concessions that were given at the ex-
pense of these goals. In the discussions,
there were two political points of view
based on differing understandings of
the nature of the enemy and thus of the
means of directing the struggle on all
fronts.
POLITICAL HASTINESS
The first point of view is that of the
right wing within the PLO, which ex-
aggerates the possibility of the enemy
forces’ recognizing Palestinian rights,
provided that the PLO gives conces-
sions in response to their conditions
and demands. The advocates of this
point of view justify their concessions
with their idea that the Palestinian state
is within reach. They call for moving
quickly to reap the fruits of the uprising
before it is too late, meanwhile
disregarding the balance of forces and
other instances, they tried to retract
some of their declared positions that
clearly deviated from the resolutions of
national consensus, by accusing the in-
ternational press of having falsified
their statements or taken them out of
context. PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat
was the main advocate of this point of
view, and he insisted that his statements
had not’ deviated from the PNC’s
resolutions, but were rather his own in-
terpretation of these resolutions.
Here we recall that in the press con-
ference Arafat held in Geneva in
December 1988, he explicitly recogniz-
ed the legitimacy of the Zionist entity.
In addition, he spoke about «renounc-
ing terrorism» and accepting Security
Council resolution 242, without men-
tioning the Palestinian right to self-
determination, whereas the PNC
coupled acceptance of 242 with this
right. Moreover, Arafat later on ex-
pressed willingness to visit Jerusalem -
as did Sadat - provided that he has
overall Arab support for such a move.
He also offered a ceasefire in South
Lebanon, i.e., ending attacks on the
Zionis. occupation forces from there.
In March, he proposed an economic
union between Jordan, Lebanon, Israel
and the State of Palestine. Moreover,
on several occasions, Arafat has
declared his willingness to have direct p>
Abu Ali Mustafa, PFLP representative. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 33
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