Israel allows Abu Ali Mustafa to return to Palestinian territories

Israeli army radio said on Thursday that Israel has permitted the return of the second man in the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Abu Ali Mustafa, to the Palestinian territories at the request of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who hoped to continue the dialogue with the front.

Israel has a say in this matter because it controls all crossing points between the Palestinian self-rule territories and the outer world.

At the beginning of this week representatives of Arafat's Fatah movement and the people's front who met in Cairo agreed to reactivate the Palestine Liberation Organization in order to reach a reconciliation between those who support and oppose the Oslo agreement with Israel.

Before the beginning of the meeting the assistant secretary general of the PFLP, Abu Ali Mustafa, announced that the "Oslo agreements have become a political reality that have translated into facts into the ground" and that the Palestinians "are to be ready for a long political battle with Israel."