PLO Reshuffles Negotiating Team

The Palestine Liberation Organization this week reshuffled its bargaining team in an effort to speed up ongoing negotiations with Israel.

In the Gaza Strip, sources with the Palestinian Authority confirmed Sunday that Mahmoud Abbas, one of the architects of the Palestinian self-rule accord, has been named to head a committee that would supervise negotiations with Israel.

Palestinian leader Nabil Sha’ath denied that he was being ousted from his responsibilities as chief negotiator at the talks. He said Abbas was only becoming part of a review committee to oversee the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

The decision to name Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, to the supervision committee came at the end of a stormy meeting of the PLO’s Executive Committee in Tunis over the weekend.

At that meeting, committee members strongly criticized PLO leader Yasser Arafat’s handling of the negotiations with Israel.

After considering whether to suspend the talks, the committee instead decided to reshuffle the negotiating team in an effort to bring some momentum to the talks.

Abbas signed the Declaration of Principles for the Palestinians in Washington in September 1993 along with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Soon after the signing, Abbas had a falling out with Arafat and refused to take part in the ensuing negotiations with Israel.

Abbas has been critical of Arafat’s leadership style, saying his strategies have weakened the Palestinian’s bargaining position.

In Jerusalem, Israeli political sources said they did not thing that the reshuffle would have detrimental effect on the negotiations.

Environment Minister Yossi Sarid, who is also involved in the negotiations, said he welcomed Abbas’ return to the talks.

“He was one of the founding fathers of the original agreements with the Palestinians, and let’s hope that he will be accompanied by the same constructive spirit, as in previous times,” Sarid said.