Despite a U.S. rebuke of the political program adopted last week by the main branch of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the State Department said Monday it would not terminate its 8-month-old dialogue with the group.
Following a meeting Monday in Tunisia between U.S. and PLO representatives, State Department deputy spokesman Richard Boucher said that PLO reaffirmation of its commitment to take practical steps toward peace was “a very principal focus of the dialogue,” but he added, “We didn’t say if they don’t (reaffirm the commitment) we will stop” the dialogue.
At a meeting last week, also in Tunisia, Al Fatah, the main PLO branch, approved a program that advocates “intensifying and escalating armed action and all forms of struggle to eliminate the Zionist Israeli occupation.”
The State Department last week said the program contains “derogatory rhetoric” and raises questions about Fatah’s commitment to peace.
A major U.S. topic at Monday’s meeting — the fourth formal U.S.-PLO meeting in Tunisia — was urging the PLO to support a dialogue between Israel and Palestinians.
“We continue to believe that through an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, progress can be achieved in moving the process forward to elections and to peace negotiations,” said Boucher.
The United States is seeking a “positive Palestinian response to the Israeli election idea,” he added.
The Israeli plan, which would have Palestinians in the territories vote to elect leaders to negotiate autonomy measures, has been criticized by Arab countries and the PLO for not automatically providing for the creation of a Palestinian state.
For the past few months, the United States has been pressing the PLO to support the elections idea and to allow moderate Palestinians to talk to Israel.
Boucher would not describe the PLO response to any issues raised by Robert Pelletreau, the U.S. ambassador to Tunisia and the sole U.S. diplomat allowed to talk to the group.
Pelletreau said after the meeting that the talks were “serious and probing.” He said the next “milestone,” but not the last in the search for a Middle East peace, is Palestinian elections in the territories.
Yasir Abed Rabbo, a member of the PLO’s executive committee, led the PLO delegation to the meeting, which was held at the request of the United States.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
