Ramallah: Palestinian factions that are not represented in the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) will shortly become a part of a new PLO Leadership Framework, which however will not replace the PLO executive committee, said a top Fatah official.
Ameen Maqboul, who heads the Fatah Revolutionary Council, said the new PLO Leadership Framework will include Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, members of the current PLO executive committee, members of the Palestinian National Council, the secretaries general of the various Palestinian factions and some Palestinian independents.
"Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian National Initiative, which are currently not under the PLO umbrella, will join the framework shortly," he said.
Maqboul, who is a Fatah member, said the new PLO leadership will not be a replacement for the PLO executive committee. "The new leadership framework is not meant to be an alternative Palestinian leadership," he said.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas figure told the Associated Press that Palestinian rival leaders have quietly decided to keep their respective governments in the West Bank and Gaza in place until elections. This proposal would remove a major obstacle to efforts to reconcile the factions: the need to form an interim unity government.
However, an Abbas spokesman denied that such a deal was struck. Azzam Al Ahmad insisted there was no agreement and "no possibility of holding elections without a unity government".
