The Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council is due to convene in the next few days to discuss measures to respond to United States President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the PLO as well as the Palestinian Authority, said that the Central Council, which is the supreme legislative authority of the Palestinian People and which operates on behalf of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), will discuss "strategic issues relating to the future of our people and its just cause, and to making decisive decisions to protect the city of Al-Quds [Jerusalem -ed.] and preserve the rights of our people."
Hamas has yet to receive a summons to participate in the Central Council meeting. The leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Movement are demanding that Abbas establish a new temporary leadership for the "Palestinian people" that will include representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad as a preparatory step towards comprehensive reform in PLO institutions and a strategy of confrontation and struggle against Israel.