PLO backtracks on Tunisia stance
Published yesterday (updated) 15/01/2011 20:33
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=351347

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian president's advisor to the PLO said
Saturday that the body's leadership had not taken an official stance on the
situation in Tunisia, contradicting a prior statement expressing solidarity.

PLO advisor Ahmed Abdel Rahman said the Executive Committee had not met and
therefore had not issued an official statement. Still, he extended
condolences to the families of Tunisian victims, the official Palestinian
Authority news agency WAFA reported.

Rahman's remarks came hours after an Executive Committee statement praised
the "unprecedented courage of the Tunisian people and their heroic
sacrifices for their just rights."

The statement also called the spontaneous uprising across Tunisia one
"against corruption and oppression," and reaffirmed that the Tunisian people
possessed creative power in exercising self-determination, democracy and
development.

Tunisian authorities declared a state of emergency Friday following weeks of
violent protests. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali quit after 23 years of
authoritarian rule and fled the country.

Tunisia hosted the PLO from 1982-1992 after the Palestinian leadership was
forced to leave Beirut at the height of the Lebanese civil war.