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Thursday, June 23, 2016

What are the "PLO Principles"?



From a press conference with Mahmoud Abbas and EU High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini:
We will also encourage different Palestinian factions to bring the ongoing reconciliation efforts to positive results on the basis of democracy and PLO principles and I know that President Abbas is personally very much committed to that.
What exactly are the "PLO principles"?

Whatever they are, they must be important. Mogherini was not the first to invoke this formula.

In January, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon "urged the Palestinian factions to advance unity on the basis of democracy and Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) principles."

In February, the Quartet said "genuine Palestinian unity, on the basis of democracy and the PLO principles, is essential to reuniting Gaza and the West Bank under one legitimate, democratic Palestinian authority."

I cannot find a listing of the PLO principles on any PLO website - not their UN website, not their Negotiations Affairs site, not in the official PLO website.

The only principles I can find are the ones in the 1968 PLO Charter that supports terror and demands that Israel be destroyed - and which had never been modified.

Plus the principles in the 1974 Phased Plan which included this part which is entirely consistent with how the PLO and PA acts now: "Any step taken towards liberation is a step towards the realization of the Liberation Organization's strategy of establishing the democratic Palestinian state specified in the resolutions of previous Palestinian National Councils" - meaning a step towards Israel's destruction.

If you want to find something more recent, perhaps the Draft Constitution of 2001 includes some principles. For example, this principle that effectively denies Jews the right to visit holy places because Jews just naturally disturb public order by breathing:
The freedom to practice religion and arrive to places of worship shall be guaranteed insofar as it does not disturb the public order or defame monotheistic religion.
(To be fair, they toned this down in the 2003 draft, which says "The state shall guarantee access to holy places that are subject to its sovereignty within the framework of law." - so what is the law? "the law shall regulate [the police] role in the service of the people, defense of the society, and vigilance in preserving security, public order, and public morals." Put them together and you get the 2001 statement.)

So exactly what are the PLO Principles of today? Shouldn't someone ask the EU, the UN and the Quartet since it is so obvious to them?

(h/t Irene)



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