Can Abbas Save Fatah?

More than one participant at the opening of this week's Palestinian Fatah convention in Bethlehem likened the scene to "a really big wedding." Only the sixth such meeting since the movement was founded a half century ago and the first one in 20 years, it comes at a key moment for a party struggling with declining popularity, internal discord, and a violent rivalry with Hamas. Everyone who was anyone in Fatah was there.

Between Fatah's West Bank leadership, young Fatah loyalists, diplomats representing dozens of countries, and exiled Fatah members convening from Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, the streets were lined with a mix of luxury cars and armored autos. Talk of the conference monopolized radio discussions, taxi chats, and conversations on the streets. Security was tight: The roads around the Church of the Nativity, near the school hosting the convention, were shut down, and Palestinian security perched on every rooftop. The convention hall was closed even to the majority of credentialed journalists.

COMMENTS (0) SHARE:

Digg

 

Facebook

 

Reddit

 

More...

There are countless issues on the table for Fatah to address this week, but the biggest triumph will no doubt be that the multiday convention is even happening at all. It's a long-overdue reunion for a party that has been in steady decline since the 1993 Oslo Accords and the formation of the Palestinian Authority. Now, Fatah must face up to a trio of challenges: reconciling with Hamas, pinning down its strategy for either negotiations with or resistance to Israel, and repairing internal rifts within the party. The conference won't solve all, or maybe any, of these problems. But many Palestinians hope the gathering will be a reckoning of sorts, an acknowledgement, at least, that Fatah needs a new approach to solve its many crises.

The most apparent, and urgent, quandary is the high-profile rivalry between Hamas and Fatah, which has split the Palestinian territories literally in two, with Hamas controlling the Gaza Strip and Fatah retaining hold of the West Bank. The logistical complexity of the conference shows just how deep the trouble runs. From the outset, many Fatah members in exile protested the event's being held in the occupied West Bank, claiming that the setting itself would drain legitimacy from a party committed to ending the Israeli military presence on Palestinian land. But Hamas was the more formidable obstacle; the Gaza rulers prevented about 400 Fatah delegates from traveling to the West Bank for the conference. Some Gaza-based attendees made it to the West Bank by sneaking out in the days before the conference, but one such delegate reportedly returned home the night before the opening in solidarity with those who remained trapped.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is well aware just how sour relations between the two factions have turned, and he devoted much of his two-hour opening speech to the Hamas-Fatah rift. Although offering positive overtures in favor of unity talks and reconciliation, he also had harsh words for Hamas. He called the party "coup makers," in reference to Hamas's forceful 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip. Hamas members were "forces of darkness," Abbas said, condemning them for denying Fatah delegates the ability to travel to the conference (Hamas says it did so in hopes of securing the release of Hamas prisoners detained in the West Bank by Abbas's forces).

The splits, however, don't end there. Since the death of its founder Yasir Arafat in 2004, Fatah itself has grown ever more divided, as is evident at the conference. The delegates here, draped in the black-and-white checkered scarves of the Palestinian national movement, range from hard-line party founders in exile, who, having seen several rounds of peace talks with Israel fail, still prefer armed resistance, to the West Bank leadership, whose painful experiences living through two intifadas have convinced them to pursue negotiations.

12NEXT