Word: fatah
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While much of the younger generation of Fatah - and many of its leaders who remain in exile - are contemptuous of the leadership of Abbas, to which they attribute their movement's political demise, they don't plan to try to unseat him just yet. Instead, they'll seek to tie his hands. But there is a move afoot at the conference to take down Abbas' national-security adviser, the Bush Administration's favorite strongman, Mohammed Dahlan. The conference will hear proposals for an investigation into the events that saw Hamas eject Fatah forces and take control of Gaza by force...
Indications from within Fatah suggest that the conference political document will reaffirm the Palestinians' right to resistance, specifying nonviolent challenges to the occupation but remaining silent on the question of armed resistance and the future of the Fatah-affiliated militants of al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade. It will flatly reject Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, on the grounds that this undermines the rights of Palestinian refugees and of those with Israeli citizenship. It will also insist on a complete freeze on Jewish settlements in occupied territory as a precondition...
Then again, making a deal on the terms currently on offer is clearly not the priority for much of Fatah, which believes that such an agreement would kill its organization. Instead, the conference will seek to rebrand Fatah with a more radical stance in order to more effectively compete with Hamas. Unlike Arafat, who framed his negotiation strategy with Israel in revolutionary language (which, of course, heightened Israeli suspicions over his bona fides as a peacemaker), Abbas is unable to couch his positions in the language of struggle, and without Arafat's charisma, he is seen as lacking a clear...
Abbas is likely to fight back fiercely, seeing the conference as integral to maintaining his prestige. Critics within Fatah have complained about his decision to hold the event in the West Bank, which remains under Israel's control, giving it veto power over which delegates from abroad will be allowed to attend. Many Fatah members in Arab countries and even some in Gaza have challenged the decision to hold the event in Bethlehem, and Abbas has also been accused of summarily expanding the delegate list to boost his support. The debate at the conference will certainly be intense...
...shadow of Hamas looms large over the conference, and not only because the movement is blocking Fatah delegates in Gaza from traveling to Bethlehem until Abbas agrees to release some 1,000 Hamas prisoners being held in the West Bank. Hamas, quite simply, has eclipsed Fatah in leading the Palestinian fight against Israel. It directly controls Gaza, and only the ongoing suppression of free political activity in the West Bank prevents the Islamists from making a far stronger challenge to Abbas on his own turf. The steady stream of Western officials and journalists traveling to Damascus to meet with Hamas...