The Fatah Conference

The Sixth General Conference of Fatah is due to start in Bethlehem on
Tuesday after a break of 20 years. There will be 2,260 delegates from
several Arab countries, including Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, and
of course from the West Bank (PA) and even some from Gaza. Hamas refused
to allow Fatah representatives from Gaza to leave unless Hamas members
were released from Fatah-controlled prisons in the West Bank.
Nevertheless, some 60 Fatah representatives managed to elude the border
guards and entered in disguise or in drag. Israel also aloowed delegates
to enter although entry was refused to a few hardened terrorists.
The main aims of the conference is to elect a new Central Committee of 21
members and a new Revolutionary Council of 120 members. This conference
was called after pressure from the so-called "young guard" of the party,
who had been complaining for years that the "old guard", namely those who
run the party and who were colleagues of Yasir Arafat, have prevented any
change within Fatah for 20 years.
However, according to veteran Palestinian correspondent of the Jerusalem
Post, Khaled abu Toameh, writing on Sunday, the "old guard" still want to
keep the young reps out of the Fatah leadership. In order to do so they
are using the millions of dollars they stole from the aid that was
supposed to be paid to the Palestinian people. In effect they don't want
to be prevented from continuing to control the source of funds to the
people they are supposed to support. Since Pres. Abbas and his cronies
appointed more than half the reps, there is considered to be little
chance that the sweeping changes demanded after the electoral defeat of
Fatah by Hamas in the PA 2006 parliamentary elections are likely to take
place.
One very disturbing feature of the conference is that they will discuss
the status of the "peace process" with Israel and decide on a
new "political plan." A draft of that plan leaked in advance over the
weekend to Arab media indicates that the Fatah conference will reiterate
Fatah's commitment to the "armed struggle" against Israel as one of the
options to achieve an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its
capital. Fatah, according to the reports, is also expected to
reemphasize its opposition to Israel's demand that it be recognized as a
Jewish state. The draft plan calls for the Palestinians to unilaterally
declare an independent Palestinian state on all the territories that were
captured by Israel in 1967 if the peace talks fail. This situation is
very unfortunate, since it represents a step backwards from the previous
position in which Pres. Abbas of the PA was negotiating with PM Ehud
Olmert under the terms of the Bush "Road Map" Plan.
There are two reasons why this hardening of positions has occurred, first
whenever Palestinians get together to publicly discuss their positions,
it is always the harder line which is always adoped, since no leader can
afford to be considered "soft" on Israel. Second, Pres. Obama has been
pressuring Israel to accept a "freeze" on all settlement activity in the
West Bank and Jerusalem. Since this is the Fatah position, then why
should they negotiate over this issue when the Americans are pressuring
Israel to adopt this position as a precondition to continued talks. In
fact, with the recent rejection by Saudi Arabia of any reciprocal
concessions to Israel, that means in effect that a stalemate now reigns
in Israel-Arab relations, and this Fatah conference is only likely to
confirm that situation.
The results of the conference, presaging both a retrenchment of the "old
guard" and a hardening of attitudes, is likely to be the cause of
instability and conflict for years to come.