[News] Smoke, mirrors and acrimony: The 2009 Fatah congress

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Smoke, mirrors and acrimony: The 2009 Fatah congress
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10699.shtml

Sousan Hammad, The Electronic Intifada, 6 August 2009

It has been an unnatural string of days here in Bethlehem. Gone is 
the usual quaintness. Palestinian police are working overtime and 
coffee shops are being lit up by men in suits with cigars in town for 
Fatah's sixth general assembly. The secular Fatah movement was 
founded in the 1950s and has since been at the forefront of the 
Palestinian national movement.

This is the first visit for many of the 2,000 Fatah officials who 
were exiled from Palestine decades ago. The last general conference 
of this kind happened more than 20 years ago in Tunis, but this 
year's assembly, which will re-elect the organization's 21-member 
central committee, comes at a bitter point in the Palestinian 
struggle. With Israel's recent (and yet another) act of violence -- 
the dispossession and eviction of two families from their Sheikh 
Jarrah home in East Jerusalem -- Palestinian Authority (PA) leader 
Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah cohorts have to work against Israeli 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's uncompromising chutzpah attitude.

But if there is one thing for which Fatah can be counted on, it is 
exemplary power and its capacity to intimidate -- in this case with 
the trappings of totalitarianism as defined by the single party and 
the suppression of all opposition.

Back in Bethlehem, the opening ceremony to the conference began. 
Covering the walls of the conference room were posters of martyrs and 
multiple banners attempting to make a spirit of resistance visible: 
some with slogans calling for the Palestinian right of return, others 
emphasizing armed struggle and independence.

The Fatah anthem played and the solemn crowd stood with their arms 
catatonically hanging by their legs. In a matter of seconds, the 
delegates became absorbed in a spectacle of chanting and clapping 
when Abbas, whose presidential term expired in January, appeared on 
stage. As Abbas waited for his turn to read from what seemed like an 
inevitable 60-page speech, a man walked around the aisles handing out 
cheaply-made, Fatah-branded kuffiyehs (the traditional checkered 
scarf) to delegates and journalists. He insisted everybody wear it 
for the cameras.

The spectacle proceeded with an affectedly dramatic speech by former 
prime minister Ahmed Qureia, who partially owns al-Quds Cement, a 
company that has sold cement to Israel for the construction of 
Israel's illegal wall in the West Bank. Arousing anguish from the 
past, Qureia called for remembrance of the deceased Palestinian 
leader and founding member of Fatah Yasser Arafat and a moment of 
silence for the Fatah martyrs of Palestine.

Abbas took command of the stage, promoting Bethlehem as the besieged 
birthplace of Jesus. Delegates from Syria, Lebanon, Germany and other 
places, listened to Abbas talk about all the challenges facing Fatah, 
including an extended attack on Hamas' "shamefulness" for not 
allowing Fatah officials out of Gaza. As Abbas spoke about Gaza, a 
delegate stood up from his chair, yelling in a repeated and ominous 
tone, "Death to Hamas!" Nobody seemed bothered by the man's 
hatefulness. Abbas proceeded with his speech, giving a skewed history 
of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from its birth in 1964 
to the present day, for the next two hours.

The old nationalist figures became restless one hour into his speech. 
In and out they went from the corridors to the outdoor canopy to 
catch up with their old comrades. In between the political gibberish, 
a sunglasses-clad Qaddafi clone arrived fashionably late while cell 
phones rang and clouds of cigarette smoke haloed the heads of 
delegates who sat and listened to a history they already knew and 
lived through.

It was hard not to hear the loud self-congratulatory tone of Abbas 
exuding from the speakers when he spoke of the importance of 
improving security measures inside Palestine. He spoke on the new 
laws the Palestinian police have been enforcing that are being used 
to "discipline Palestinians," as well as an investigation into 
Arafat's death -- without, of course, mentioning Fatah 
Secretary-General and PLO political department head Farouq Qaddumi's 
recent allegations that Abbas himself had collaborated with Israel to 
bring about the late president's death. He indirectly called out 
Qaddumi, saying those who wish to point fingers regarding Arafat's 
death should be ashamed of themselves. No mention, however, was made 
though of Abbas' draconian decision to temporarily shut the West Bank 
offices of Al Jazeera for airing interviews in which Qaddumi made his 
bombshell accusations.

Many of Fatah's young and old remained cynical about the possibility 
of overcoming the organization's infighting, saying they'd heard it 
all before. Apparently the one true believer was Jibril Rajoub, a 
former senior Fatah security official and former head of one of the 
many PA security forces, who is seen as a possible successor to 
Abbas. Rajoub told the horde of journalists who stuck microphones in 
his face that the conference was "a rebirth" that would revitalize Fatah.

Palestinian police in riot gear outside the Fatah conference in 
Bethlehem. (Sousan Hammad)

But one just had to go outside to see the segregation among the 
delegates. The old and exiled, wearing khaki-colored uniforms 
reminiscent of their revolutionary days, gathered together to smoke 
cigarettes and drink Nescafe, while expressing gratitude to be back 
in Palestine for the one-week permit that was allowed them by Israel. 
Then there were the young: former fighters, such as Zakariya Zubeidi, 
who once led the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, but signed a so-called 
amnesty deal with Israel. He exuded optimism to the press on the 
urgency of pacification with Israel.

As one Fatah official, who wished to remain anonymous, said, "There 
are two planes in this movement: one plane of Dahlanists [Mohammed 
Dahlan and his cohorts] -- those who spout peace and pragmatism, and 
another plane of resistance -- those who want to keep armed struggle 
alive. But there is so much corruption that is occurring from those 
who hold high positions that I don't think we can come together ... 
it's between them and us."

No matter that the West Bank and Gaza are becoming increasingly 
dependent on Western aid organizations to develop their own cities 
and villages, Abbas insisted on showing the exiled delegates the PA's 
"success." Despite Palestine's statelessness, Abbas mentioned how he 
has been improving security for the state. Upon hearing this, Mohamed 
Edwan (Head Press Officer to the PA who happened to sit beside me) 
shook his head and said, "This is a police state, not a state of security."

It is already difficult to see the purpose of such ceremonies, but 
when Abbas' very own communicator dismisses what he says as a 
falsehood, how can we expect Fatah's central committee, political 
agenda and electoral decision-making bodies to act in unison with 
party members, much less the political leaders of other factions, or 
even Israel? These are the bonfires Fatah faces at the conference.

Sousan Hammad is a journalist based in the West Bank city of 
Ramallah. She can be reached at sousan D O T hammad A T gmail D O T com.



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