Palestinian committee concludes meeting in Damascus, refuses dialogue with Palestinian government

The Palestinian follow up committee, which includes nine opposition groups and several national figures, has stressed at the conclusion of its tumultuous two-day meeting in Damascus refusal to maintain dialogue with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on the grounds of Oslo agreements or final status negotiations.

In a statement read to reporters attending the meeting, the follow-up committee said, "Two days of talks in Damascus the follow-up committee refuses any dialogue on the grounds of the Oslo agreement or the final status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, which has lost its legitimacy by giving up the Palestinian national charter."

The statement also stressed refusal to "give any political cover to any concessions in the rights of the Palestinian people" and announced a "commitment to the national unity of the Palestinian people and forces inside occupied Palestine and the Diaspora on the basis of resisting the Zionist occupation, adherence to the unwavering rights of our people to liberation and establishing their independent states with Jerusalem as a capital."

The Palestinian organizations which took part in the talks were the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, Fatah - the uprising, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian People's Militant Front, the Palestinian Liberation Front, al-Saeqa and the Revolutionary Communist Party.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was expelled from the committee after the handshake between its secretary general, Nayef Hawatemah, and Israeli President Ezer Weizman during the funeral of Jordan's King Hussein in Amman last February.

Sources close to the meeting said the committee's chairman, Khaled al-Fahoum, had submitted his resignation during controversial discussions in which he was criticized for his backing of the dialogue with Arafat.

The sources added that al-Fahoum withdrew his resignation and approved the final statement of the meeting.