Fury mounts within Fatah - IS FATAH SPLITTING UP? I said so long time ago

On Friday, May 15, 2009

I Commented:

Like March 14 in Lebanon, PLO and Fateh are cracking. Thanks to the patience steadiness and wisdom of Resistance

Abbas Forced to Delay New Gov’t after "The Happy family" Warned to Revolt



Qaddoumi: I am still the legitimate secretary of Fatah

[ 12/08/2009 - 08:12 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Fatah strongman and veteran political leader Farouq Qaddoumi has asserted Wednesday that regardless of the outcome of the elections in Fatah’s sixth congress he is still the legitimate secretary of the faction.

He lashed out at some Fatah leaders who, according to him, garnered their seats in the new set-up of the faction’s central committee although they were behind many national catastrophes that rocked the Palestinian community that should bring them before justice.

“I am still the secretary of Fatah, and I don’t need a recommendation from anyone as my record in the Movement testifies for me”, said Qaddoumi in an interview with the Shehab new agency Wednesday commenting on rumors that Mahmoud Abbas, the former PA chief and Fatah leader, might reinstate him in the central committee.

Moreover, the Fatah leader categorically rejected legitimacy of the entire process in Bethlehem and raised doubts on the way Abbas was elected as Fatah’s supreme leader, explaining that Fatah’s laws and regulations stipulate that the voting process should be made secretly and not publicly.

“This form of voting is considered as indirect coercion to influence the will of the electorate and give absolute power to the ruler to banish his opponents”, Qaddoumi pointed out.

Qaddoumi had publicly accused Mahmoud Abbas and the disgraced Fatah leader Mohammed Dahalan of killing Yasser Arafat, the late Fatah founder and leader in 2004, but after he was elected unopposed to the highest post in Fatah Movement, Abbas urged Qaddoumi to “repent” for that accusation but Qaddoumi refused.

The Fatah leader added that he strongly rejects the idea of concentrating authority in the hand of one man, and that he was against the idea of making one man beyond accountability because, he added, it is against the principles and the history of Fatah.

He also underlined that that the Israeli occupation government wouldn’t have allowed the conference to be held inside occupied Palestine without getting the “price” for that permission.

“That is why we say that the entire process was illegitimate being held under the occupation”, he highlighted. Furthermore more, Qaddoumi opined that the conference had deepened the rift inside Fatah instead of curing its wounds.

Mass resignation:

In Gaza Strip, the Fatah supreme leadership committee rendered its resignation to Abbas protesting the way the election process was made, said Fatah leader Ahmad Nasr.

According to Nasr, more resignations within Fatah would take place as dissatisfaction among Fatah members in the Strip was mounting.

“I want to explain that the resignation was made due to the worsening condition in Fatah, in addition to the forgery that occurred during the voting process", underscored Nasr, adding that many of Fatah members in Gaza Strip were denied their right to vote.

IS QUREI LEAVING THE HAPPY FAMILY?

Qurei rejects results of Fatah elections as fury within Fatah mounts

[ 13/08/2009 - 10:15 AM ]

LONDON, (PIC)-- The prominent Fatah leader Ahmed Qurei (Abu Al-Al’a) has asserted Thursday that a state of anger was prevailing within Fatah members due to the forgery that occurred in the faction’s central committee elections.

In an interview with the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, Qurei pointed out that there was a big question mark on the method of the elections and the way the canvassing process was carried out.

“I believe that certain arrangements were being made behind the scenes to cross-out names and to impose other names… the method that we all agreed upon to supervise the election process wasn’t followed as we have agreed to cast all the votes of the central committee in one ballot box, but it was made in ten ballot boxes”, Qurei underlined.

He also hinted at “external” interference in the elections process, jokingly saying “It seems that what had happened in Tehran is less than what had happened in this elections process”, alluding to the alleged forgery in Iran’s presidential elections.

“The current stage is hard and difficult, and there were offers for a temporary state and a solution without the Right of Return and without Jerusalem, and it seems that there were people in the Palestinian arena who were ready to accept those offers”, he highlighted.

He also put a big question mark on the elections of four PA security leaders known for their coordination with the Israeli occupation to the central committee, saying “Did this happen incidentally?”

In this regard, Qurei confirmed that he wasn’t contesting the results of the central committee’s elections only but he rejects the whole elections process.

He underscored, “I was against holding the conference in Palestine under the Israeli occupation but when things happened opposite to my will, I tried my best to put the congress on the right track; but unfortunately everything became up-side-down because there was a group that wanted something against the will of the majority”.

“It seems they were searching for Yes-men”, he stressed, adding that he would go public in a couple of days and tell about everything in detail.

He also described the insertion of Tayyab Abdul Rahim into the central committee as “shameful”, wondering “how could this happen? Is it as simple as put this and kick out that?”

Furthermore, Qurei supported claims of Gaza representatives that they weren’t given the chance to cast their votes, disclosing that Mohammed Al-Sayyad, the chairman of the congress election committee, rendered his resignation due to the forgery in the voting process from Gaza members, but he was pressured to change his mind.

Finally, Qurei acknowledged that he was no longer supporting the “two-state” solution, saying, “What kind of a state they are talking about that has no borders, no army, no sovereignty, and no Jerusalem”.

Fatah leaders: Results of voting in Fatah congress rigged

[ 12/08/2009 - 10:23 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Two prominent Fatah leaders from Gaza Strip accused officials in the Fatah’s sixth congress in Bethlehem city of forging results of the elections for the faction’s central committee, urging Mahmoud Abbas not to announce the official results till the issue is resolved.

Ahmad Nasr, who contested the elections for the central committee but failed, asserted that the results were forged and did not reflect true opinion of the participants in the conference.

“What had happened is indeed a catastrophe that would lead to a new stage of political degradation that the entire Palestinian people would pay the price for” underlined Nasr in a statement he issued in this regard.

He added, “Simply, I want to say that those who were declared as winners weren’t the real winners, and results of the elections express only the personal will of those who have money and political influence”.

“It is not Fatah only that would be buried but the entire Palestinian issue if those fabricated results were endorsed and ratified, and I urge the honorable people in Fatah to profoundly read the results and to take decisive decisions on what had happened”, Nasr underscored.

Another comrade of Nasr, Ibrahim Abul Naja decried deliberate marginalizing of a broad sector of Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip, explaining that the congress ignored votes of most of Fatah leaders in the Strip.

He said that Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip weren’t given an equal chance to vote as their peers in Bethlehem did although they were full-fledged members of the congress and registered with the conference’s preparatory committee.

Abul Naja, who had also run for the central committee post but failed, claimed that the congress failed to contact many Fatah members in the Strip to cast their votes, and that those members were still waiting their turn to vote.

At least 14 of the 18 unofficially proclaimed winners of the central committee were “new faces”, including the disgraced Fatah leader Mohammed Dahalan who was accused by Farouk Kaddomi, the veteran Fatah leader, of assassinating the late Fatah legend Yasser Arafat along with Mahmoud Abbas who was elected to the highest post in the central committee.


Slate of “Younger Leaders” Elected at Fatah Landmark Congress
Hanan Awarekeh

11/08/2009 Polling officials say the Palestinian Fatah movement has elected a slate of younger leaders to its highest body at its first conference in 20 years.

The results of the vote will show whether Fatah — the West's best hope for eventually delivering a peace deal with Israel — has succeeded in reinvigorating the movement by bringing in new faces.
Early results show that at least 13 of the 18 elected members of Fatah's Central Committee are from the movement's younger generation. Four other members will be appointed by the Palestinian president, also a Central Committee member.

Palestinian politician Marwan Barghouti (50 years), serving a life sentence in an Israeli jail, was elected to occupy a top post in the executive body as well. Barghouti was jailed on charges of organizing the killing of Israelis. He denies the charges. Barghouti is a popular and articulate figure among many Palestinians and was once seen as a successor to Yasser Arafat.

President Mahmoud Abbas has said the party needed to show disillusioned voters a new beginning.

However, the victory of the new generation in Fatah party raises new-but-old questions by Palestinian analysts about their connection with the US General Keith Dayton project, who is cooperating with Fatah Prime Minster Salam Fayyad.
Dayton is appointed by former US President George W. Bush and maintained by the new Obama administration, to the post of Coordinator for US Security in the Palestinian Territories.

Last month, Palestinian analyst, Mounir Chafik, said that the goal od Dayton’s existence in the Palestinian territories is not to repress the factions of the Palestinian resistance, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but also to eradicate Fatah elements from the circles of the Palestinian Authority and civil security services.

Thus, Dayton was able to train and arm a 900-strong force dependent on the paramilitary leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. The force is named Bader and it is aimed at replacing the various Palestinian security forces under Fatah, founded by the late Arafat. Having participated actively in the second intifada against the Israeli enemy, the decision was made to sack them.

Effectively, Keith Dayton dismissed 7000 Fatah members to recruit new ones, teaching them a whole new ideology hostile to the resistance, and whose mission is to perform the dirty jobs of the soldiers of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank: liquidate the cells of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah. Charity associations, educational and health facilities belonging to those factions will not be spared as well.

Quoting the words of Dayton, in his speech at the Washington Institute in May 2009 that "the performance of Bader force has stunned the Israelis," Chafik concludes that it is through this Palestinian force that Israeli troops in the West Bank were able to go to Gaza, to conduct the war in December-January.

Chafik also discussed Fayyad’s last speech on June 21, which he delivered at the University of Jerusalem, in the town of Aboudiss. The US-backed PM designate said he would "create institutions of an independent state within two years, based on a mature power…"

Fayyad’s comments suggest a process similar to that adopted with the security forces: a smooth removal of the remaining Fatah officials to replace them with "elements loyal to Fayyad and the duo (George) Mitchell-Dayton," says Chafik.

Also among those elected to 21-strong body were former Palestinian internal security Chief Jibril Rajub, 56 and former Fatah strongman in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan. Top Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Queria suffered the most serious defeat in the elections, failing to secure a place in the Fatah Central Committee. Queria's defeat came after he had enlisted hundreds of delegates to take part in the committee vote, in an attempt to strengthen his standing.

Some members of the Fatah "Old Guard" lost their positions when the faction elected a new executive body, the initial results showed after more than 90 percent of votes had been counted for the 18.

The movement headed by Arafat for 40 years before his death wants to shed a reputation for corruption and cronyism that led in 2006 to a stunning election loss to its Islamic resistance movement rival Hamas, which opposes recognizing Israel.

The Fatah congress began last Tuesday with about 2,000 delegates attending in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Most of its proceedings have been held behind closed doors.

Abbas, 74, was reaffirmed unopposed as leader in a show of hands that made it impossible to tell if anyone voted against him but critics say he is weak and that the congress may not strengthen his position.

Fatah is ready to negotiate a peace deal with Israel but it is struggling to reverse a decline in popularity among Palestinians. Abbas has no vice-president and no natural successor waiting in the wings.