A post-central committee scandal appears to have opened up a deep wound in Palestinian internal politics. The controversy was initiated when a draft of a presidential decree turning the PLO into an organ of the State of Palestine became public Feb. 19. The Ramallah-based presidential leadership quickly put out the storm that erupted by claiming that this was a mere recommendation by a legal adviser and that it was never issued nor was it published in the official gazette.
The reason for the storm is that the proposed idea reflects the fact that what was a leading revolutionary movement has become an organ of a yet-to-be-declared state.
