The sense of disappointment led to a surge in support for rival Hamas, which made huge political gains in the occupied West Bank in 2006 elections that it won handily, before going on to expel Fatah from the Gaza Strip almost entirely after a bout of factional fighting.
Hani al-Masri, director of the Palestinian Centre for Policy Research and Strategic Studies (Masarat), told AFP that Fatah now merely uses the PLO to provide itself with legitimacy, “a legitimacy that is eroding in the absence of a unified national project, elections and national consensus”.
Rajoub maintained that the conference was a first step towards “putting the Palestinian house in order, to build a partner for establishing a (Palestinian) state”.
SUCCESSION
“This congress takes place at a time of profound difficulty for the Palestinian people and for the region, a moment that calls for responsibility, unity and political leadership,” Sanchez said.
The conference is being attended by approximately 2,580 Fatah members, the majority of them in Ramallah, though several hundred are also spread across Gaza, Cairo and Beirut.
They are expected to elect 18 representatives to the central committee and 80 to the movement’s parliament, known as the revolutionary council.
Fatah is the main party within the Palestinian Authority, which has been touted abroad as a natural partner in rebuilding and running the Gaza Strip after Israel’s devastating war with Hamas there – though Israel strongly objects to the idea.
Despite repeated declarations from the movement that it is working as a “united front”, major figures are absent from Thursday’s conference, notably Nasser al-Qudwa, a key Palestinian leader who is boycotting the gathering.
“This conference is illegitimate, and this leadership that has usurped power is illegitimate and its time is up,” said Qudwa, a nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Meanwhile, the president’s eldest son, Yasser Abbas, is on the ballot to join the central committee, having risen in prominence over recent years after he was named the president’s special representative despite largely residing in Canada.
