The PLO's "goodwill gesture" to Rice

Israel over the weekend allowed two boats filled with terror supporters to reach Gaza, partly because of the desire to make Condi Rice's visit to the area this week more congenial.

Moreover, Israel released nearly 200 prisoners, including two known murderers, also to placate the US Secretary of State.

And how does the PLO, the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" and organization whose name is often automatically prefixed in the Western press as "moderate," welcome Condoleeza?

From Mathaba.net, quoting Iran's IRNA:

Head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization`s `PLO` Political Department Farouk Kaddoumi on Sunday denounced the US colonial approach in the Middle East.

He told a joint press conference with [Iranian] Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki that the US policy is aimed at supporting Tel Aviv regime in the region.

As to the Palestinian resistance movement to the Tel Aviv regime, he said the PLO and Hizbollah share identical views regarding their approach towards Israel.

Kaddoumi underlined the importance of national unity, saying, "anyone against the resistance movement should go to hell".

Praising resistance of Hizbollah to the Zionist aggressions, the PLO official said the victory achieved by Hizbollah was in fact an Arab-Islamic victory.

Expressing support for Iran's national program to produce nuclear energy, he said that Tehran must achieve its legitimate rights enshrined by Non-Proliferation Treaty.

It should be remembered that the PA is still officially run by the PLO, and even though Kaddoumi has been in a long-standing power struggle with Abbas and has been in exile he is still apparently the secretary-general of the PLO's political department. It is the PLO, not the PA, that has observer status and participates in debates at the UN.