Some 2,200 delegates from the West Bank and the diaspora will choose new leaders, writes MICHAEL JANSEN.
THE MAINSTREAM Palestinian Fatah movement opens its first congress in 20 years today in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. The object of the meeting, convened by president Mahmoud Abbas, is to reclaim Fatah’s leadership of the Palestinian cause and unite Palestinians behind his policies.
Some 2,200 delegates from the West Bank and diaspora will choose new leaders and adopt a political programme that would provide guidance to Palestinian negotiators if and when talks with Israel resume.
But the meeting is taking place at a time of confrontation and confusion.
The rift with Hamas is widening, Fatah is torn by factionalism, its leaders are accused of mismanagement and corruption, and Palestinians have lost faith in negotiations as a means of achieving their state.
Hamas blocked representation from Gaza by preventing most delegates from the Strip from attending because the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority refuses to release 900 Hamas supporters imprisoned in the West Bank. Key Fatah figures in Gaza say they would not attend in any case because Mr Abbas, party chairman, has packed the convention with appointees who follow his line.
Israel, which controls the borders of the West Bank, has refused to admit some delegates accused of violence against Israelis but admitted others.
Exiles disagree with West Bankers on the choice of members for the governing central council and on provisions in the programme.
Exiles seek to reassert control of the council, lost when the late Yasser Arafat and his entourage moved to the West Bank in 1994. But West Bankers are determined to dominate.
Exiles want to retain the option of resisting the Israeli occupation by force, while West Bankers are committed to negotiations combined with civil disobedience. Exiles demand implementation of the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel, but West Bankers call for a token return and resettlement of refugees in a West Bank-Gaza state.
It is not clear whether West Bankers can overcome these differences with exiles by adopting tough stands on other issues.
One provision states that there can be no talks until Israel halts all settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The document also contains a flat rejection of Israel’s demand that the Palestinians must recognise it as a Jewish state.
Fatah’s credibility is certain to by affected by the contest for a seat on the 21-member central council between Marwan Barghouti, a popular figure confined to an Israeli prison, and Muhammad Dahlan, a deeply unpopular Gazan who tried and failed to mount a coup against Hamas in 2007. But Mr Abbas is wary of Mr Barghouti, who could triumph in a future presidential election.
Mr Abbas seeks to strengthen his position as Fatah chairman because his presidential term expired last January, depriving him of legitimacy. He and other elderly Fatah founders are being challenged by younger leaders, untainted by the corruption and failed negotiations that have undermined Fatah’s authority and boosted Hamas’s influence.