A restructured PLO

Without an organisation capable of representing all Palestinians, both in the occupied territories and the diaspora, the future can comprise little beyond internecine conflict

By Azmi Bishara
Al-Ahram Weekly

".......It was a grave mistake to let the PLO die its slow death. But it would also be a mistake to bring it back from the dead as it was. If the PLO is to be revived, it must be done in light of new realities, a major one of which is that new and dynamic resistance forces are out there and have to be represented within the framework of any resurrected PLO.

Arab mediation will be indispensable in creating a new PLO. But mediation producing an understanding between Fatah and Hamas is not enough. As vital as the two movements will be to restructuring the organization they do not comprise the PLO. The PLO must be revived as an umbrella organisation for all Palestinians, including those in the diaspora. And it must be revived as a liberation movement, not to produce a PA clone, ie a local administration and policing agency meant to serve as the kernel for a Palestinian state, without Jerusalem as its capital, without the return of refugees and without the dismantling of all Israeli settlements....."