Third Palestinian conference convenes in Damascus

Palestinian sources told the London-based al-Hayat daily that the National Front for the Liberation of Palestine, chaired by Neyef Hawatmeh will convene its third conference in Damascus next Wednesday with the participation of the Front's members from the self-rule territories, who recently arrived in Damascus.

The sources added that Hawatmeh will be reelected as the front's secretary-general and that the conference will call for a national dialogue on the grounds of a February 1997 initiative to rebuild the PLO coalition and resume negotiations with the Israelis in a national delegation comprising all Palestinian sides -- the opposition and the authority -- on the ground of international legitimacy resolutions.

The conference's political report, of which al-Hayat has a copy, stressed that the policy pursued by the front continues pressure on the Palestinian government and Fatah leadership to continue dialogue.