PLO Session on Statehood Set Nov. 12-14

TUNIS, Tunisia — The Palestinian Parliament will meet Nov. 12-14 in Algiers to declare an independent Palestinian state and a provisional government, the Palestine Liberation Organization announced today.

PLO spokesman Ahmed Abdelrahman said the Palestine National Council meeting “will be a step forward . . . for the Palestinian side to achieve peace in the Middle East on the basis of self-determination and an independent state.”

Abdelrahman said PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat will head the session.

The meeting will follow elections in Israel.

It also will follow a Nov. 3 Algerian referendum on political and economic reforms, the result of internal unrest in the Algerian capital that left at least 200 people dead.

Some experts had speculated that the Algerian unrest might interfere with the meeting of the PNC, known as the PLO’s parliament-in-exile, which had been scheduled to be held in the fall.

Abdelrahman said a Palestinian “declaration of independence” will be made at the meeting in November, the 11th month of a popular Palestinian uprising in the Israel-occupied territories.

He said the council will adopt a political statement on “the conditions for peace in Palestine and conditions for an international (peace) conference that would emphasize the role of the Palestine Liberation Organization on equal footing with the other parties.”