PLO leaders postpone controversial meeting of Palestinian National Council

Unconfirmed reports claimed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was planning to announce his resignation from his post during the upcoming session.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Updated: SEPTEMBER 8, 2015 01:33
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is photographed after speaking at the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh (photo credit: BRIAN SNYDER / REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is photographed after speaking at the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh
(photo credit: BRIAN SNYDER / REUTERS)
PLO leaders decided on Monday to indefinitely postpone a meeting of the organization’s parliament- in-exile, the Palestinian National Council, Palestinian sources said.
Unconfirmed reports claimed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was planning to announce his resignation from his post during the session, which was scheduled to take place on September 14 and 15 in Ramallah.
Earlier this month, the PLO Executive Committee called for the holding of an extraordinary session of the PNC to elect its new members.
No reason was given for the decision to delay the PNC session.
The planned session, however, had already drawn sharp criticism from several Palestinian factions that claimed Abbas was hoping to take advantage of the PNC meeting to get rid of his opponents in the PLO and Fatah.
Seven Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, had called for boycotting it.
Amin Maqboul, a senior Fatah official in the West Bank, said that no final decision has been taken to delay the meeting. He pointed out, however, that the notion of delaying the meeting was currently being discussed by PLO and Fatah leaders.
PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said that she did not rule out the possibility that the PNC session would be postponed until the end of the year.