BICOM

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) largest party is set to hold its 7^th party Congress today in Ramallah.

Approximately 1,500 delegates are due to convene to determine a political platform for the Fatah movement. They will also elect members to the 120 seat Revolutionary Council and to the 22 seat Central Committee.

Husam Zomlot, the newly appointed Palestinian ambassador to the United States, said that “the Congress will discuss and review the tools that have been used to achieve two goals: establishing a free and sovereign state and the right of return which remain our national goals”.

Commenting on the Congress, Washington Institute analyst Ghaith Al Omari wrote that it “could inject energy into the aging movement and stabilise its ranks, but not if the internal elections exclude large constituencies or come across as rigged”.

One of the members of the Central Committee is expected to be chosen to serve as deputy chairman of Fatah, a position that would place them in a strong position to eventually replace PA President and Chairman of Fatah Mahmoud Abbas when he exits the political stage.

Abbas, who is 81 years old, has no successor in place, and Palestinian basic law states that were he to die in office, his position would be temporarily filled by Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and Hamas member Aziz Dweik, until elections could be arranged.

In order to prevent this scenario, the umbrella body of the Palestinian national movement, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), may create a vice president position in the coming months, with suggestions that the soon-to-be elected deputy Fatah chairman could fill this role. Although delegates will vote by secret ballot, Abbas’s influence has already been felt by the controversial exclusion of one of his major rivals Mohammed Dahlan and his supporters. Delegates have been cut from around 2,300 to 1,500 largely in order to exclude Dahlan’s camp.

Continued tension between Abbas and Dahlan has caused friction within the Fatah party with sources suggesting that the movement could split if Dahlan decides to form a competing movement from his exiled base in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Supporters of Dahlan and other Fatah members critical of Abbas have argued that the results of the conference will not be legitimate. Dahlan is believed to be supported by Egypt, the UAE, and a proportion of the Palestinian street.

Fatah’s previous Congress took place in Bethlehem in 2009 and was the first to be held on Palestinian territory. Previous congresses took place in Kuwait, Syria and Tunisia. Reports suggest that the 7^th party Congress reflects a new generation of Palestinian leaders who are more representative of the West Bank rather than the current leadership, many of whom returned to the West Bank from Tunis following the 1993 Oslo Accords.