Exiled Palestinian Leader Calls for Unification of Hamas and Fatah into the PLO

Mohammed Dahlan, a Palestinian leader frequently mentioned when citing the short list for possible successors to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and who is known for his strong ties to the west, has called for the merger of the feuding Fatah and Hamas and all other factions as well into a single entity under the banner of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) – the umbrella for all Palestinian organizations and the voice for Palestinians recognized by the international community. Dahlan, who lives in Doha after a falling-out with Abbas-controlled Fatah, told the BBC Arabic that both the PLO and “the homeland” are in danger, as reported by the Ma’an news agency. The timing of Dahlan’s admonition is not coincidental: the Palestine National Council (PNC), the legislative body that oversees the PLO, is scheduled to meet for the first time in nearly 20-years next month to elect a new Executive Committee. Even the move to convene the PNC is fraught with dissension as Fatah and Abbas are being accused of controlling the process and thereby stacking the deck for control of the slate to be elected. Dahlan, who once headed the PA’s security forces in the Gaza Strip but lost control to Hamas, also wants security cooperation with Israel to be halted and the 1993 Oslo Accords to be recognized and being invalid. It is not clear to what extent Hamas will participate in the PNC meeting.