Palestinians Said to Get PLO Approval for Moscow Talks
The PLO has authorized Palestinian negotiators to attend the multilateral Middle East peace talks in Moscow, a Palestinian delegate said today.
“The delegation will leave from Amman today. . . . This is a decision from Tunis (PLO headquarters),” Ghassan Khatib said.
Khatib, who took part in previous rounds of the talks, said that contrary to U.S. and Israeli desires, the Palestinian delegation might include people from Arab East Jerusalem and from outside the Israeli-occupied territories.
However, Israel says the Palestinian delegation must have the same composition as in earlier talks--meaning delegates only from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Radical Palestinian groups and activists in the Israeli-occupied territories have been pressing for a boycott of the two-day Moscow meeting, due to start Tuesday.
Earlier, Jordan dispatched a team to Moscow for the talks. Jordanian Foreign Minister Kamel abu Jaber and a seven-man team of ambassadors and experts on military and economic affairs, Palestinian refugees and the environment headed for the Russian capital Sunday despite a boycott by Syria and Lebanon.
“We don’t need an Arab authorization to go to the talks,” Abu Jaber told reporters before leaving. “We have our own independent views, and we are going as a Jordanian delegation.”
The Moscow conference, dealing with regional issues, is the third phase of the fragile U.S.-brokered peace process that began in Madrid in October.
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