RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee adopted Nov. 4 the recommendations of the Political Committee — which is affiliated with the Executive Committee and comprises some of its members — to determine the security, political and economic relations with Israel. The PLO is now faced with a challenge to implement these recommendations on the ground, and questions are raised about its ability to oblige the Palestinian Authority and its institutions to abide by them.

This challenge became clear after the PLO failed to apply the binding decisions of its Central Council on March 5 — most importantly the decision to “hold Israel accountable for its responsibilities toward the Palestinian people in occupied Palestine, as an occupying power under international law; and [the decision] to end the security coordination in all its forms with the Israeli occupation authority in light of the lack of commitment to the agreements signed between the two.”

Eight months after the Central Council issued those decisions — which have yet to be implemented — the most important question remains about the PLO's ability to implement the Political Committee’s recommendations on the ground, as well as the alternative political action that it would adopt should it be able to implement the decisions.

Tayseer Khaled, a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee, told Al-Monitor, “The Executive Committee is obliged to implement the decisions the Central Council took in March, as well as the Political Committee’s recommendations, and it is capable of doing so.”