Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – Israeli authorities Thursday barred a top Palestinian official from traveling abroad through the Allenby Bridge between the West Bank and Jordan. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said that the Israeli security authorities prevented Abdulrahim Malouh, the group's deputy-head and a member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO's) Executive Committee, from traveling “due to his national positions against the Israeli occupation.” The PFLP said in a statement that Malouh was heading to the Egyptian capital of Cairo to attend the national reconciliation meetings. The statement added that a delegation headed by Rabah Mohanna will represent the movement in the meeting. Ahmad Sa'adat, the PFLP's Secretary General, is serving a 30 years imprisonment term in Israeli jails for overseeing the movement's military operations, membership in an illegal organization, arms dealing and incitement. Palestinians sources said that the meeting will discuss the reformation of the PLO and the holding of election for the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the Palestinian parliament in exile. On January 11, the Palestinian Central Elections Committee (CEC) will start updating voter registration in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections. Meanwhile, the Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mish'al said that he is in talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about forming a national unity government. Mish'al said in an interview with BBC that “we are consulting about forming a government of national accord. Preparations for presidential, parliamentary and executive council elections are under way. We are reinvigorating the PLO and organizing its meetings until new national council and executive committee are elected.” Representatives of Hamas and Fatah met in the last weeks to discuss a timetable and mechanisms for implementing Palestinian reconciliation agreements signed in Qatar's capital of Doha in 2012. According to the deal, signed by Abbas and Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mish'al in the presence of Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, a unified transitional government will be formed for the West Bank and Gaza Strip and be headed by Abbas. The deal also calls for holding elections of Palestinian National Council (the Palestinian parliament in exile), the reformation of Palestine Liberation Organization and the reformation of Palestinian security services in West Bank and Gaza Strip.
