Five main factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) announced today the launch of a joint left-wing coalition in the West Bank and Gaza Strip aimed at activating the popular "resistance" against Israel and calling for general elections.

The coalition will be called the Palestinian Democratic Rally, which will include the Popular and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestinian National Initiative, the Palestinian People's Party and the Palestinian Democratic Union (Fida).

Khaled al-Khatib, deputy secretary-general of the Palestinian Democratic Union, said during a press conference held in Gaza that the group aims to provide "a broad framework for the framing of all national democrats and progressive" in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

He added that it was agreed to establish the Democratic Rally as a coalition formula operating within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people, as he put it.

Khatib pointed out that the group will seek to "advance and advance the Palestinian national and social liberation program towards achieving self-determination and independence and building the social justice of a free people in an independent and sovereign state on the borders occupied in 1967."

He also stressed that the group will "protect public and individual freedoms, criminalize political detention, guarantee freedom of opinion and expression and the right to meet or demonstrate and ensure economic security for the Palestinians."

It is hoped that the leftist coalition is a third force in the face of polarization in the Palestinian arena between the Fatah and Hamas movements, and the ensuing conflict between the two internal Palestinian division continued since the middle of 2007.