Eleven prominent Palestinian political and intellectual leaders have unanimously rejected making changes in the Palestine National Charter, so that it no longer calls for the extinction of Israel. The proposal was put to them by the Arab-owned “Middle East” monthly because of claims that the Palestine liberation Organization could not become a partner in Middle East peace talks until it dropped the extreme passages in its basic document.
The Palestinians, at of whom have been described as moderates, declared that the Charter should not be changed and that this was not necessary for a continuation of the PLO’s pursuit of international recognition.
They include: Prof. Edward Said (Columbia University); Dr. Fayez Sayigh (consultant to the Kuwaiti delegation at the United Nations) Prof-Hisham Sharabi (Georgetown University); Sidky Dajani (PLO executive committee member); Alahmous labadi (PLO spokesman); Zehdi Labib Terzi (PLO representative at the UN); Sabri Jiryis (director of the PLO research center); and Khaled Fahoom (chairman of the Palestine National Council).
They gave a unanimous “no” to the following questions: should the Palestine National Charter be changed? Should the Palestinians set up a government-in- exile with a new provisional constitution for Palestine? Would changing the Charter lead to a U.S. -PLO dialogue or force Israel to recognize the PLO?
Prof. Said, once thought of as a possible Palestinian participant in Middle East talks, stated in the present context, pressure to change the Charter is an assault upon Palestinian rights.” Sayigh also opposed changing the Charter but added that should circumstances warrant it, “consideration might be given to the adoption of a new political program.”
SOME PROVISIONS OF THE CHARTER
The Palestine National Charter was adopted by the Palestine National Council in 1958, four years after the creation of the PLO, of which the Council is the Plenary Assembly.
Among its provisions is that “armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine” (Article 9), and “the Arab Palestinian people, expressing themselves by the armed Palestinian revolution, reject all solutions which are substitutes for the total liberation of Palestine” (Article 21).
However, most of the PLO leaders questioned also claimed that these provisions did not nullify the PLO’s right to pursue a political solution.
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