With no achievements in the peace process, Fatah's high leadership decides against gathering the movement, writes Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank With the "peace process" going nowhere, and beset by chronic internal divisions, Fatah has once again postponed convening its long-overdue Sixth Congress. The last time Fatah held its general congress was in Algiers nearly 20 years ago. Fatah leaders, including Palestinian Authority President (PA) Mahmoud Abbas, had been vowing ad nauseam to hold the convention before the end of 2008. However, Fatah's inability to put its house in order and the lingering showdown with Hamas, which is in control of the Gaza Strip, have made the holding of a successful congress virtually impossible. There are numerous reasons and factors contributing to the latest postponement of the Fatah convention. The top Fatah leadership in Ramallah, let alone the movement's overall leadership, is itself far from united. The two top Fatah leaders, Abbas and Ahmed Qurei, have not been on speaking terms for sometime due to "differences" over the peace process with Israel. This week, there were reports that Abbas was trying to sack Qurei as chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel. Al-Ahram Weekly asked Palestinian political analyst Hani Al-Masri, who is close to the Palestinian leadership, if the split between Abbas and Qurei was serious and what ramifications it could have on the unity of Fatah. Al-Masri said Qurei was disillusioned with the way Abbas had been conducting peace talks with Israel as well as with the general performance of the Salam Fayyad government. "Ahmed Qurei is now the main address of Fatah," while Abbas is increasingly perceived by many Fatah rank and file as being aloof. "Qurei is also angry with Abbas for appointing another parallel negotiating team, headed by [Saab] Erekat." According to Fatah insiders, Qurei complained that Abbas was not briefing him on his meetings and contacts with the Israelis and that the PA president was "effectively crossing Palestinian national constants". These constants are total Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories that Israel occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, and a just solution to the plight of refugees based on UN General Assembly Resolution 194. It seems, however, that the most contentious point between Abbas and Qurei has to do with widespread and growing opposition within Fatah to the US-backed government of Salam Fayyad. Many Fatah leaders, especially at the intermediate level, have been complaining that the Fayyad government is undermining Fatah by following a policy based on appeasement towards the US and Israel. "Fayyad is slowly but definitively destroying the image of Fatah by refusing to actively challenge Israeli policies, including continued settlement expansion. And the Palestinian masses think that Fatah is running the government," said a high-ranking Fatah official in the Hebron region who spoke on condition of anonymity. "And when Fatah tries to raise its voice in opposition to Fayyad's policies, President Abbas sides with the prime minister. Hence the frustration," he added. In addition to the bad chemistry between Abbas and Qurei, there is the old split between the Ramallah leadership and Farouk Qaddumi over the peace process with Israel and the status of Qaddumi within the Fatah hierarchy. Qaddumi recently accused Ramallah Fatah leaders of being "cowards" and "too obsequious" with Israel. Qaddumi also called for "terminating this absurdity," a reference to the peace process, accusing the Ramallah leadership of violating "all red lines and constants and references." Normally in such instances Hakam Balawi, a chief spokesman of Fatah, responds to Qaddumi, often accusing him of "senility" and "not knowing what he is talking about". Then, of course, there is the "peace process" with Israel itself, which despite numerous meetings between Israeli and Palestinian leaders and intensive US intervention has effectively remained deadlocked over the central defining issues of the Palestinian problem, namely Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories, the issue of Jerusalem and the issue of the refugees. "Holding the Fatah congress under the present circumstances, namely the failure of the peace process, would be a disaster for the current leadership of the movement... And we must remember that Abbas has nearly completely tied his leadership and political life to the success of that process. Hence the continued failure of the process would also imply the failure of present leadership of Fatah," said Al-Masri. Al-Masri's analysis has largely been vindicated by the outcome of Fatah's recent regional elections, known as "primaries", in several parts of the West Bank. For example, in the Nablus region, supporters of imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti swept the elections. "We are followers of Yasser Arafat and Marwan Barghouti," said Haitham Al-Halabi, who was unanimously elected as secretary-general of Fatah in Nablus. He didn't mention the name of Abbas. Needless to say, the senior Fatah leadership is worried that if the Sixth Congress were held, especially in the absence of genuine political achievement in the peace process, people like Al-Halabi would make their way through the higher echelons of Fatah at the expense of movement's present leadership. Further, Abbas and his allies have been insisting that the congress be held in the West Bank. This means that the bulk of Fatah's leaders abroad -- people like Qaddumi, for example -- as well as all Fatah leaders in Gaza wouldn't be able to participate. But a congress in which participation would be decided by Israel (because Israel, not the PA, controls access to the West Bank) would have little to no credibility and might even deepen divisions within the movement. Overall, while logical, the postponement of the Fatah congress is neither surprising nor popular, many understanding that it is but further indication of Fatah's progressive debilitation. And with Hamas in Gaza already stating that it will not recognise the authority of Abbas as Palestinian president past 9 January, when his official term of office ends, the postponement is another potential nail in his political coffin.
