Fatah movement faces serious internal crisis

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Fatah movement faces serious internal crisis

The Palestinian National Liberation Movement, better known as Fatah, chaired by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat since 1965, has been facing a real serious internal crisis recently.

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The Palestinian National Liberation Movement, better known as Fatah, chaired by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat since 1965, has been facing a real serious internal crisis recently.

Problems arose as reformists call for internal reforms, democratic elections and replacing the aged leaders, except Arafat,with younger generations within Fatah, the number one faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The crisis began to emerge among heightened disputes between former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, and Arafat over arrangements of Palestinian security forces and other problems.

Mohamed Dahlan, former minister of internal security in Abu Mazen's cabinet, is one of the younger generation leaders of Fatah who are leading the campaign of reforms within the group.

"There have been no internal elections for Fatah institutions over the past 15 years. According to the internal charter of Fatah,elections should be held every five years for the Central Committeeand the Revolutionary Council," Dahlan told Xinhua.

He noted that the current Fatah leadership had expired a long time ago, describing the central council that leads the movement as "illegal."

"Elections for a new committee should be held soon," he claimed.

Disputes among Fatah members intensified even further after Dahlan and his fellows were accused of opposing Arafat and acting against him, an allegation Dahlan categorically rejected.

"For me personally, Yasser Arafat is the leader, the father, thebrother and the symbol for our struggle. I have nothing against that," he said.

"But this doesn't mean that we don't disagree and disagreement is democratic and healthy within an institution," Dahlan said.

He also dismissed rumors in the Gaza Strip that he is leading a rebellion within the Fatah movement.

"Our arguments over reforms would never lead to rebellion and a split in Fatah. This is totally rejected, not only by me, but also by all our people," he said.

Hussein Al Sheikh, a senior Fatah leader, called on Saturday forimmediate convening of the sixth general conference of Fatah to prepare a series of measures relevant to the election of a new leadership.

The aim of holding the conference is to decide on a clear and unified political program to define the future of the movement, Al Sheikh told reporters in Ramallah.

He noted that the reported resignation of nearly 400 lower-levelFatah members came as a result of the disorganization and tension among Fatah members.

"The resignation is an indication of the tragic situation that Fatah movement has been suffering from during the last few years," Al Sheikh said.

"It is the first time that such a massive resignation happened,"he added.

Earlier reports said that nearly 400 Fatah members tendered their resignation in protest at the unbearable situation in the movement.

In a letter of resignation signed by them, the discontented members accused Fatah of ignoring the calls for reform.

"After discussions and hesitance that lasted for several months,we decided to put an end to our long-term designation and our growing pain and present a massive resignation from the movement," the letter said.

But many Fatah leaders cast doubt over the authenticity of the sensational collective resignation letter as it turned out that some of the signataries were not Fatah members at all.

There were people without any political affiliation and members of Palestinian militant groups such as the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), they said.

The signataries even included militants and suicide bombers who had been killed long before the list was prepared, they added.

However, this does not mean that there is no crisis in Fatah andits leadership. Many voices within the movement are calling for internal elections and reforms.

Source: Xinhua

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