Fatah strangled at rebirth

Contrary to many reports, Fatah's conference was marred by claims of vote-rigging, rejection of criticism and even beatings

Ben White
guardian.co.uk, Monday 17 August 2009

".....There was certainly a change in personnel at the highest decision-making levels of the organisation; into the central committee came Mohammed Dahlan, Marwan Barghouti and Jibril Rajoub. But whether what one commentator in Dar al-Hayat called "the return of ex-security chiefs" somehow represented the kind of victory for transparency and political integrity that the Fatah rank and file were looking for is more dubious.

In fact, the reality of Fatah's conference was a good deal different to how it was portrayed in many typical western media reports. There was limited acknowledgement of the fact that many Palestinians and Arab commentators were pointing out, as Abdel-Beri Atwan did in Al-Quds al-Arabi on 4 August, that "this is the first time in history that a national liberation movement holds its general conference under the spear of the occupation and with the blessing of its government". Al-Sharq newspaper also noted that the conference was taking place "with Israel's sponsorship, and protection"......

With some Fatah members already preparing their protests, the future of Fatah is barely less gloomy than it was before the conference. With no acknowledgement of past mistakes and key leadership positions viewed as sources of personal power and privilege, the conference may not have been a rebirth so much as an exercise in prolonging the inevitable."