Israel considering Hawatmeh entry

Israel is considering whether to allow the leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine to visit Palestinian areas. Nawaf Hawatmeh, based in Damascus, heads a group that splintered from the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1968 and that was considered terrorist by Israel until the DFLP’s limited endorsement of the Oslo peace accords in the mid 1990s. The DFLP joined in some limited actions during the second intifada, but says it will not strike Israelis within the “Green Line.” The Ha’aretz daily reported Friday that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wants Hawatmeh to attend a meeting next week aimed at uniting secular Palestinians against Hamas Islamist militants.