Toward expelling the People's Front from the Palestinian opposition alliance
Syria, Politics, 11/15/1999

Members of the follow up committee of the opposition Palestinian groups, which takes Damascus as a headquarters, held a meeting on Sunday in Damascus in the absence of the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which was not invited to the meeting, which is considered a step toward expelling it for its contacts with the Palestinian Authority.

The assistant secretary general of the People's Front - General Command, Talal Naji, said the PFLP was not invited to the meeting because its representative to the follow-up committee, PFLP Deputy Secretary General Abu Ali Mustafa, has "moved to inside the Palestinian territories and that he did not give official answers as he had promised at the last meeting of the follow up committee held in August about inquiries and questions made by members of the follow-up committee on the dimensions of the dialogue between the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian Authority and what is the next step."

Naji asserted that matters for the follow-up committee "will not go smoothly if the People's Front will continue its dialogue with Arafat, especially as he (Arafat) is considered as of no legal status together with his supporters in the Palestinian National Congress."

Palestinian opposition sources in Damascus reported that Sunday's meeting in Damascus witnessed one team's calls for expelling the PFLP because of its dialogue with Arafat as well as the chairman of the follow-up committee Khaled al-Fahoum because of his contacts with the Palestinian leader during his visit to Amman. This team includes the assistant secretary general for Fatah- the uprising, Abu Khaled al-Amleh; the secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Front, Abu Nidal al-Ashqar; and the secretary general of the Revolutionary Communist Party, Arabia Awad.

This time is opposed by another team which agrees to expel the PFLP quietly, but it refuses to expel al-Fahoum, "a historical Palestinian figure." This team includes the Hamas resistance movement, the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine, and the People's Front - General Command for the liberation of Palestine.

Previous Stories:
  Expected changes in behavior between Syria and Israel regarding Palestinian opposition   (10/7/1999)
  Democratic front to open office in Cairo shortly   (9/8/1999)
  Sharm agreement to affect dialogue between Arafat, PLO factions   (9/6/1999)

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