"Its old guard has been accused of rampant corruption and nepotism"
Yeah, that's why "Hamas overwhelmingly won Palestinian Parliament elections in 2006," and why "Abbas has been fighting for his own political survival, as the popularity of Hamas grows."
"Abbas calls for resistance to Israel; Urges nonviolence in Fatah address" by Richard Boudreaux, Los Angeles Times | August 5, 2009
BETHLEHEM, West Bank - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas opened his Fatah movement’s first congress in 20 years yesterday with a call to step up nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation and to keep faith in peace talks despite years of setbacks to the dream of statehood.
Pffft! The WHOLE WORLD KNOWS that Fatah and Abass and Dahlan and all their thugs are USreal's Zionist agents. Not fooled by this garbage anymore.
But he stopped short of renouncing a clause of Fatah’s founding charter that prescribes “armed revolution’’ against the Jewish state. “Although peace is our choice, we reserve the right to resistance, legitimate under international law,’’ he said, using ambiguous language that covers violent and peaceful action.
Yeah, it's always ambiguous when it applies to those resisting USraeli domination or control! That doesn't apply to Fatah (the right of resistance does apply for Hamas); however, it doesn't hurt the Zionist propaganda program if you draw that wrong conclusion.
He added that Palestinians must find consensus on “the proper forms’’ of resistance at any given time but made it clear now was not the time for bloodshed.
So if there is any, blame Hamas.
Abbas spoke at the inaugural session of a long-delayed gathering to elect a new generation of Fatah leaders. The aim is to rally the secular movement, stigmatized by defeat and paralyzed by internal division, as a vibrant alternative to the Islamic militants of Hamas.
Also see: Israel’s Lies
You know and I know I'm sick of the j**s***!
Abbas’s position as Fatah chairman was not on the line. But as more than 1,800 delegates began three days of private debates, it was unclear whether the 73-year-old leader could hold together the movement founded by the late Yasser Arafat and nurtured by the West as the mainstream Palestinian champion of compromise with Israel.
And NOW it's USRAEL'S FRIEND!!!
The congress opened in discord, with 400 delegates from the Gaza Strip absent because the territory’s Hamas rulers had barred them from leaving. About 200 other Gaza delegates, who had left before the clampdown, showed up but threatened to walk out if the gathering held elections without the participation of their missing comrades.
Related:
Flashback: Israel Helped Create Hamas
Why Would Israel Create Hamas?
Say what?
Hamas, which stands to gain from a split in Fatah, said it refused to let the delegates leave Gaza unless Abbas’s administration in the West Bank freed hundreds of Hamas prisoners.
First of all, NO PALESTINIAN GAINS from DIVISION; only ISRAEL DOES!
And secondly, I heard the PA treats their prisoners worse than Israel.
The Obama administration, which is trying to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, watched the meeting for signs of whether Fatah can avoid fragmentation, negotiate, and enforce a peace accord, and govern a viable state....
Failing, aren't they? How you gonna get a state out of this, anyway?
Fatah’s rules call for elections every five years. But the movement has not chosen a leadership body since 1989. Since then five of its 21 Central Committee members have died and the others - men who came of age in exile and are now in their 60s, 70s and 80s - have resisted calls for new elections by a generation of younger activists who have lived their lives in the West Bank and Gaza.
Why does the U.S. always back these damn fossils?
We BACK DYING MOVEMENTS all over the place!
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank - Angry arguments over elections and money erupted yesterday between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah activists on the second day of the movement’s convention.
They can't even get themselves together!
Fatah’s first conference in 20 years is meant to elect new leaders, clean up the party’s corrupt image, and make it more competitive with its bitter rival, the Islamic militant Hamas.
However, generational disputes and regional rivalries between the West Bank and Gaza burst into the open yesterday, casting doubt on the party’s ability to carry out sweeping internal reforms.
Fatah is the Palestinians’ main advocate of a peace deal with Israel. The movement’s weakness is seen as an obstacle to US-backed Mideast peace efforts, along with the deepening rift between Hamas-ruled Gaza and the Fatah-controlled West Bank. Yesterday’s closed-door session was marred by shouting matches, and some delegates stormed out of the convention hall.
In one loud exchange, delegate Hussam Khader said he stood up and demanded that Fatah’s top decision-making body, the Central Committee, issue a detailed report about its activities over the past 20 years, including how it spent money.... Younger activists, like the 46-year-old Khader, complain Abbas and Fatah’s old guard stacked the convention with supporters in a bid to manipulate today’s leadership elections.
ANOTHER RIGGED ELECTION!!!
Many of the 2,270 delegates were picked by Abbas, rather than being elected by the rank and file. Another point of dispute was the representation of some 400 Gaza delegates unable to attend because of a Hamas travel ban. Hamas prevented the delegates from leaving, after Abbas refused to release some 900 Hamas detainees in the West Bank.
Yeah, don't explore the imprisonment of Hamas members, MSM -- least of all, at the hands of Israel.
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And guess who won those elections?
"Palestinian leader reelected president
BETHLEHEM - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was reelected to lead his Fatah movement yesterday at its first convention in two decades.... but the movement itself has lost its shine over the past five years. Its old guard has been accused of rampant corruption and nepotism, and it has suffered military humiliation at the hands of archrival Hamas. Addressing the conference yesterday, Abbas promised change....Yeah, we have a guy like that, but so far, nothing.
Btw, how long has the incumbent Abass been serving?
Yeah, you got change, Fatah!
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