The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Saturday harshly criticized Iran for inviting Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran later this month. “Iran joined the Israeli choir which aims to undermine the Palestinian political system and its elected legitimacies,” the PLO Executive Committee said in a press statement, a copy of which was obtained by Saudi Gazette.Ma'an alludes to a small fact that is simply never explained to Western audiences:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not go to the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Iran if his rival Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas also attends, a minister said Saturday.
“President Abbas will not take part in the Non-Aligned summit if Haniyeh is present, no matter what form his attendance takes,” Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki said in Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority.
A Hamas spokesman earlier on Saturday said Haniyeh would attend the Aug. 30-31 conference in Tehran “in accordance with the invitation from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”
The PLO said it “will not allow any power or regime to bypass the Palestinian people’s institutions and its legitimate representatives.”
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Saturday urged his counterpart in Gaza not to attend, after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited Haniyeh to join the summit of 120 non-aligned nations.Indeed, the PA does not report to the people - it reports to the PLO, which a decidedly non-democratic organization. The PLO is recognized by the UN as the "sole representative of the Palestinian people" and it derives its legitimacy from that, not from elections.
The premier's position is that the Palestine Liberation Organization is legally the sole representative of the Palestinian people, and it has given the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority the task of governing Palestine.
Which means that even if (and when) the people voted for Hamas, the PLO has effective veto power since the PA reports to the PLO.
And Hamas' rival Fatah, of course, dominates the PLO.
Fayyad himself was never elected prime minister - he was appointed to that position by Mahmoud Abbas. it is unclear if he was acting in his capacity as president of the PA or head of the PLO when he did that.
When Westerners think of the PA they think it is democratic because a couple of elections were held there. Nothing could be further from the truth. The PLO is the dominant organization and it is anything but democratic; it is dominated by a political party that also includes the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, a terror group.