Fatah congress continues amid confusion and some good points
The meeting of more than 2,000 delegates in Bethlehem was scheduled to end yesterday, but discussions and rows over how to elect the party’s main decision-making bodies, the central committee and the ruling council, failed to reach a consensus.
Some reformers even walked out of the conference on Wednesday after accusing Abbas of manipulating the choice of delegates.
After years of delay under Yasir Arafat, the congress was miraculously held to revive the secular-oriented movement, which includes Muslims and Christians, after it lost support among Palestinians and saw its power base sapped by Hamas, Fatah’s Islamist and fundamentalist competitor. The goal of renewal was intended to prepare the party for the upcoming parliamentary elections next January.
Tensions remain high however. Younger members continue to feel marginalised by the old guard. Reformers have had little leeway so far in a party seen as corrupt and ineffective, controlled by vested interests.
There have also been widespread calls for a full report on how party funds have been spent over the last two decades.
But the hottest issue remains the absence of 400 delegates from Gaza. Hamas, which effectively rules the Gaza Strip, refused to allow them to attend.
Gaza delegates still insist that a number of seats be set aside for them in the party’s two main decision-making bodies. Others have suggested that quotas are not needed because Gazans can vote via e-mail or telephone.
One of the few unifying points is to blame Israel for keeping the ailing Arafat under siege in his headquarters in Ramallah. Some delegates even said they would continue to investigate the circumstances of his death on suspicion that Israel poisoned him.
Still dialogue with Israel and the party’s new constitution which downplays the armed struggle are crucial elements in the Bethlehem meeting.
This is a far cry from Hamas, which under the influence of Iran, still wants to pursue the armed struggle in order to eliminate Israel.
This has not been lost on careful observers. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper in an editorial today stressed this positive element because it means that “Israel does have a Palestinian partner” to work on the solution “two states for two peoples”.
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