Fatah committee to review fate of PA

Fatah is forming a committee to discuss the future of the Palestinian Authority in light of Israel's continued aggression and occupation, the party's Revolutionary Council said Monday. Members will be drawn from Fatah's Central Committee and Revolutionary Council as well as experts, a council statement said. The PLO Executive Committee has already formed a similar committee. The Fatah Revolutionary Council met last week for three days to review the situation of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO. Addressing the council on Wednesday, President Mahmoud Abbas said the future of the Palestinian Authority must be reviewed. "The Authority is not an authority. People and Palestinian institutions are asking me about the benefits of the continuation of the Authority," the president said in comments published by the official Wafa news agency Thursday. The PA was established in 1994 as an interim administrative body intended to govern limited areas for five years until final status issues were resolved with Israel. But 17 years on, peace talks are in a deadlock and the PA is increasingly seen as a compromised body which eases the burden of occupation for Israel. Its rule is limited to West Bank cities and more than 60 percent of the West Bank remains under full Israeli control. Abbas said he would discuss the PA's fate with Hamas in November. No bail out UN special envoy for the peace process Robert Serry has warned Israel to take Abbas' comments seriously. In an interview with the Iraeli daily Haaretz on Friday, Serry warned of a growing alienation toward the Oslo peace process and said many Palestinians were calling for the dismantling of the PA. Serry said the international community would not bail Israel out if the situation in the West Bank deteriorated. "I don't want to sound apocalyptic - but if things go wrong don't expect the international community to bail you out." He added: "We will not pay the bill." Serry said even Abbas was questioning the two-state solution. "Abbas is a wise man and he is committed to non-violence and to the two-state solution, but even he starts to think that it might be impossible." He added: "Israel must not treat it as empty threats. If there will be no hope, it might turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy." The PA's security coordination with Israel was not guaranteed, the UN official added. "On the surface te Israeli public thinks that the situation is good because there is no violence. But in order for the Palestinian leadership to continue to be committed to the security coordination with Israel, there has to be a political horizon. Otherwise it will be impossible." "If people think that now it is just a bad period and that in the future we will renew the negotiations," he added, "it is an illusion."