PLO kicks off meeting to discuss U.S. Jerusalem move amid Hamas, Islamic Jihad's boycott

RAMALLAH, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) started Sunday a major meeting to discuss a new strategy to deal with the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, despite the boycott by two major Palestinian factions.

The meeting of the PLO Central Council, which links between the PLO executive committee and the Palestinian National Council (PNC), or the Palestinian parliament in exile, will also discuss and evaluate the fate of the stalled peace process with Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and PNC Speaker Salim Zanoon, are scheduled to address the opening ceremony of the two-day meeting held at Abbas' headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Jamal Muheisen, member of Abbas' Fatah Party's central committee, urged the PLO Central Council to decide on withdrawing the recognition of the state of Israel.

Muheisen said that it is not reasonable to keep recognizing Israel while it turns its back to the Palestinians and their leadership.

He told local TV station that the Palestinian leadership should launch popular peaceful resistance against the Israeli occupation and its policies against the Palestinian people and their land.

"Leave your seats in the ministries and go out to the streets and smell tear gas like those protestors who join the popular peaceful resistance everyday," Muheisen said, referring to the ministers in the Palestinian government.

Leaders of Palestinian factions in Gaza have called on the PLO Central Council to declare the end of the Oslo peace accords signed in 1993 and withdraw the recognition of Israel.

Earlier on Saturday, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad announced that they would not join the PLO meeting.

Officials from the two militant factions, as well as some civil leaders in Gaza Strip, said in a joint statement that the meeting of the PLO Central Council "was supposed to be held in an Arab country to enable all Palestinians to participate."

"The Palestinian leadership should stop betting on the so-called peaceful projects and search for a new sponsor to what is called the peace process," said the statement.

It also urged the PLO "to take decisive national decisions such as withdrawing the recognition of Israel and declaring the end of the Oslo accords."

Palestinian media reports quoted sources close to Abbas and to the council as saying that the PLO meeting will discuss U.S. President Donald Trump's decision in December to recognize Jerusalem, the disputed holy city, as the capital of Israel.

But it is widely believed that, for now, the PLO is unlikely to withdraw its recognition of Israel or declare the death of the Oslo peace accords. Enditem