Arafat Looks for Support at Meeting of PLO Faithful
Yasser Arafat sought support from old allies Tuesday, gathering PLO stalwarts in Cairo as the stalled peace process and discontent among Palestinians threatened his authority.
During the meeting, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee decided to continue peace talks with Israel and launch an international campaign for a thorough review of the Middle East peace process, committee member Mohammed Zuhdi Nashashibi said.
The meeting followed a new round of Israeli-PLO talks that made progress on peripheral issues but failed to resolve larger disputes.
Arafat had billed the committee meeting, the first outside the Palestinian self-rule areas since he arrived in the Gaza Strip in July, as an attempt to look for ways out of the stalemate over withdrawing Israeli troops from the West Bank and holding Palestinian elections.
Attendance at the PLO meeting testified to Arafat’s waning credibility. Only nine of the 18 members showed up, most of them longtime allies. Two of his former supporters, Farouk Kaddoumi and Mahmoud Abbas, refused to attend.
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