The 88-member Palestinian Council has convened for the first time in Gaza under the leadership of Yasser Arafat.
By holding the meeting, lawmakers set a two-month deadline for deleting references to Israel’s destruction from the Palestine Liberation Organization charter.
Under the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords, the Palestinians have days from the council’s first meeting to revise their charter.
Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres reiterated this week, in the wake of a string of suicide attacks by Islamic fundamentalists, that until the charter is amended, peacemaking is on hold.
The Palestine National Council is the body that will actually amend the charter.
But as its first act of business, the Palestinian Council elected Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Karia, also known as Abu Alaa, as speaker of the council.
The body also appointed a legislative committee, which will draw up the council’s constitution and protocol.
Arafat called for a meeting of countries that support peace efforts in the Middle East to condemn terror and call for an acceleration of the peace process.
The council will reconvene in two weeks.
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