The Palestinian liberation organization (PLO) declared on Tuesday that the only party who represents Palestinians in any summits is the PLO, and "nobody else".

The spokesman of PLO Yasser Abed Rabo said in the day in a press conference after meeting for PLO that "there is one address for Palestine, the PLO and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and this issue is not for negotiation."

He add that "the PLO is responsible to represent Palestine is in any meeting through the Arab world or the world in general."

Abed Rabo's remark was made in response to calls from Hamas leaders that the Islamic movement must be represented in the coming Arab summit called by Qatar.

Hamas has said in the past that the PLO must be reformed since it doesn't represent all the Palestinians.

Qatar has sent invitations to all the Arab countries to hold a special Arab summit to discuss current situation in Gaza.

The adviser for Abbas, Nabeel Abo Roudaina told the journalists Tuesday that Abbas has accepted Qatar's invitation, and he will participate in the summit.

There were expectations among the PNA leaders that Qatar will invite Hamas leaders for this summit, which maybe resulted in Abbas ' boycotting of the summit.

Bloody clashes erupted in June, 2007, in Gaza between the two major Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Fatah. During the infighting between the two movements, Hamas drove Fatah's security forces out of Gaza, and the Palestinian territories were then divided into two, the Hamas-ruled Gaza and the West Bank, which is ruled by Abbas' Fatah party.

Fatah leader Azam Alahmad said Tuesday that "The Palestinian leadership will not participate in the Qatar summit if there are attempts to invite any other Palestinian delegations."

However, one of the Hamas leaders in the West Bank told Xinhua that "Hamas, who is suffering in Gaza right now, must be represented in any coming summits."

Regarding the newly emerged dispute, other Palestinian factions said on Tuesday that there is no dispute among Palestinians on who will represent the Palestinians at the coming summit.

Qais Abed Kareem, one of the leaders of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said, "it's known to all that the PLO is the sole representative for the Palestinians in any Arab or international meetings."

He admitted that Hamas is the only Palestinian faction that is suffering in the war with Israel, but he said that any dispute will be solved if there is negotiations between Hamas and other factions before they go to the summit.

According to media reports, 14 Arab states have accepted Qatar's invitation, a number that is enough for holding an emergency session under the Arab League's charter.

But some Palestinian observers said that the Qatar summit "may not be held, due to disagreements among the Arab countries". The two heavyweights in the Arab world, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, has announced earlier Tuesday that they will not go to the meeting in Qatar.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2009)