The Palestinian group Fatah concluded its eighth Normal Convention late Saturday however the outcomes of the elections of the group’s management our bodies, the Central Committee and Revolutionary Council, weren’t introduced till Monday afternoon. The delay compelled Wael Lafi, the pinnacle of the elections committee within the Normal Convention, who can also be the authorized advisor of the Palestinian President, to defend the method and delay.
Even earlier than convening, questions on membership, funding, and the final political path of the group – which dominates the Palestinian Authority – overshadowed preparations for the Normal Convention.
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Sixty candidates competed for 18 seats within the Central Committee, Fatah’s highest management physique.
Mahmoud Abbas, the 91-year-old Palestinian President, was unanimously voted as chair forward of the vote, foreshadowing the outcomes of the elections and Abbas’s tightening grip on energy.
Dr Nasser al-Qudwa, who was the one member of the Central Committee to boycott the Normal Convention, instructed Al Jazeera, “Mahmoud Abbas engineered this assembly to provide the result he needs and he succeeded”. Many Fatah members agree with that evaluation.
The election outcomes of Fatah’s high physique noticed the substitute of half of the incumbent previous guard. These included all however certainly one of Gaza’s representatives within the Central Committee, with Ahmed Hilles, an in depth ally of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the one one remaining.
Abbas’s shut ally and intelligence chief, Majed Faraj, additionally received a seat on the Central Committee. Faraj is seen by many in Fatah as a competitor to Hussein al-Sheikh, who Abbas appointed as vp a yr in the past.
One other sign of Abbas’s grip on the Congress was the nomination and victory of his son, Yasser, to the Central Committee. That was although Yasser Abbas has by no means held a management place at any stage in Fatah, and the event has overshadowed Fatah’s argument that the Congress was an indication of democratic vitality and inclusion.
Palestinian detainees secured three seats in Fatah’s high management physique, with Marwan Barghouti – imprisoned by Israel for greater than 20 years – incomes the very best variety of votes amongst all rivals.
One other winner is Zakariya al-Zubaidi, a outstanding Fatah determine who has been imprisoned repeatedly by Israel over time. Al-Zubaidi notoriously escaped with 5 different Palestinian prisoners from Gilboa jail in 2021 solely to be recaptured after which freed once more in one of many prisoner change offers struck between Israel and Hamas through the Gaza genocide.
Fatah and Hamas make up the 2 fundamental Palestinian political factions, with Hamas dominant in Gaza, and Fatah within the occupied West Financial institution.
Victory for Abbas?
There have been 450 members competing for the 80 seats of the Revolutionary Council, which serves as Fatah’s legislator and in idea has sturdy sway over Fatah coverage selections.
Nevertheless, the winners seem like dominated by the occasion’s insiders.
Absent from the Central Committee for the primary time is a consultant of Fatah exterior Palestine, which is seen by many as a worrying precedent for a motion that has followers throughout the widespread Palestinian diaspora.
However the brand new Central Committee has an abundance of technocrats and senior officers working within the Palestinian Authority (PA), like the favored Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam or the pinnacle of the PA’s Normal Personnel Council Musa Abu Zaid.
“These usually are not leaders. They’re workers. They may do as ordered,” one Fatah official, who spoke to Al Jazeera on situation of anonymity, mentioned.
Dr al-Qudwa views the outcomes as a victory for the Palestinian president, not Fatah.
“President Abbas is the most important winner,” al-Qudwa mentioned. “He succeeded in fully subduing Fatah to his will.”
A big proportion of the winners are additionally present or former PA workers, particularly within the safety sector.
Many of the previous guard had been changed by youthful members, however lots of that new cohort themselves rose by way of the ranks of Fatah’s youth motion. A number of little children of former Fatah leaders had been additionally elected regardless of having no historical past of involvement or membership within the group, just like the daughter of the late chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, Dalal.
Going through crises
Kifah Harb, a outstanding Fatah determine who ran unsuccessfully for the Central Committee, confirmed to Al Jazeera that many members had considerations and misgivings concerning the organisational committee of the Congress.
However she struck a conciliatory tone concerning the course of as an entire.
“As members of the Congress, we’re main members of Fatah and regardless the result of the elections, we should stand by it and assist Fatah march ahead in main the Palestinian nationwide motion,” Harb mentioned. “There are not any alternate options.”
Fatah’s Congress was carefully adopted by world governments and the Palestinian public, who noticed the competitors inside the group play out in commercials and posts on social media platforms.
Governments around the globe see Fatah leaders as their Palestinian counterparts relating to bilateral relations, however Western governments are additionally demanding reforms in return for elevated help to the Palestinian Authority.
Fatah leaders say the Congress is proof of their dedication to reform, pointing to the change of some names and a youthful demographic rising, even when the steadiness of energy in the end remained firmly in Abbas’s palms.
Whether or not that placates the worldwide neighborhood is one matter, however Fatah could have a troublesome time getting the Palestinian public on facet.
Fatah’s new leaders are confronted with the duty of resolving a number of continual crises, together with the PA’s incapability to pay civil servants and Israel’s hostile insurance policies – together with the illegal withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, unprecedented land grabs, settler assaults, and the Israeli-made humanitarian catastrophe turning into entrenched in Gaza.
On Monday, after the announcement of the election outcomes, Fatah provided normal coverage strains in a press release, however offered no solutions on the way in which ahead.
And now it has to content material with that future, and a public demand for presidential and legislative elections that may doubtless turn out to be extra urgent – one of many many exams that awaits Fatah’s reformulated management.
