Fatah leaders fail to set date for conference

A meeting of Fatah senior leaders head by Fatah, PLO, and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas failed to set date for the seventh Fatah conference, Today’s Opinion online newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The meeting, which took place in the Occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, ended on an agreement to postpone setting the date for the conference to a further meeting, the newspaper said.

There is a deep division among Fatah leaders regarding various issues, especially that of dismissed Fatah leader Mohamed Dahlan and his supporters in the Gaza Strip.

Away from all expectations, Abbas left the meeting without setting a date. This is the third time Fatah leaders fail to do so in recent months. The conference should have been held last summer, but Fatah said it decided to postpone it because of the Israeli war on Gaza.

The conference was then scheduled to be held at the end of 2014, but never took place. In this recent meeting, Fatah leaders have now failed to set a date for the conference for the third time.

The newspaper said that that the prime issues discussed in the last meeting included the dossier of Fatah in the Gaza Strip and the issue of Mohamed Dahlan and his supporters. According to the newspaper, Abbas warned against a Fatah shakeup in Gaza, referring to the latest demands made by Dahlan’s supporters to reform the movement.

During the meeting, Abbas also warned against any Dahlan supporters from attending the conference. Recently, Abbas cut the salaries of Dahlan supporters in the Gaza Strip, and a move that led to a wave of hate against him among Dahlan supporters.

At the end of the meeting, Abbas issued directions to prepare for the conference, but judging by the lack of a concrete date it seems likely that the conference will not be held next month, as was scheduled previously.