An unprecedented meeting of the Palestinian leadership took place Sept. 3 in a sign of a possible reconciliation and agreement on a national strategy. The local heads of Palestinian factions met in the Ramallah presidential headquarters with leaders residing abroad joining in by video conference from Beirut. President Mahmoud Abbas, who called for the meeting, arrived more powerful than he has been in years due to his steadfast opposition to unilateral Israeli and US plans, as well as the US-brokered normalization agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
Fatah's Jibril Rajoub, who led the recent reconciliation efforts with Hamas, read out the final communique, which committed the assembled leaders to developing a unified national strategy for peaceful popular resistance and reconciliation. Committees focused on strategy, PLO rehabilitation and reconciliation were formed and given deadlines to present recommendations. Abbas — who vowed to be supportive of all recommendations — said that the results of this effort will be presented to the Palestine Central Committee within five weeks.