Exiled DFLP leader rejects Israeli permit to visit Ramallah
Head of the Syria-based Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Nayef Hawatmeh decides not to attend PLO meeting called by Abbas because he 'rejects any Israeli conditions' to the visit
Radical Palestinian leader Nayef Hawatmeh will not travel to the West Bank to attend a meeting of the PLO's top policy-making body called for by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader's office in Damascus said Monday.
Hawatmeh, head of the Syria-based Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has decided not to attend this week's Ramallah meeting because he "rejects any Israeli conditions" to the visit, the DFLP said in a statement.
On Sunday Israel said it would allow Hawatmeh to return from exile to attend the PLO session.
The DFLP is loathed in Israel for carrying out a 1974 raid on a school in the northern town of Maalot in which 24 Israelis were killed, most of them children.
Four DFLP members - Abu Lyla, Saleh Zaidan, Taysser Khaled and Fahd Suleiman - who live in the Palestinian territories, will attend the meeting instead of their leader, the DFLP statement said.
Abbas, who is locked in a bitter power struggle with the Islamic militant Hamas group, has called for the meeting, during which the PLO's Central Council is expected to be asked to approve Abbas' recent moves against Hamas following its takeover of the Gaza Strip last month.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization considers itself the representative of all Palestinians, including those living in exile, but Hamas is not a member.
Abbas' decision to dissolve a partnership with Hamas after the Gaza takeover and form a new government without them has been welcomed in the West and has spurred Israel to proclaim a new phase in relations.
