Palestine: Fatah dismisses Yasser Arafat’s nephew from party

The Palestinian Fatah movement has dismissed Nasser Al-Qudwa, the nephew of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, from the movement and its central committee, the Wafa news agency reported.

“During the last Fatah central committee meeting held in Ramallah three days ago, [Al- Qudwa] was given 48 hours to retreat from his stated positions, which violated the internal regime, decisions and unity of Fatah,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who also serves as Fatah’s chairman, said in the decree ousting Al-Qudwa.

“After all efforts were made in the last three days, the committee decided to dismiss him and this decision is valid from today,” the statement said.

Last week, former Palestinian Foreign Minister Al-Qudwa announced his intention to form an independent electoral list under the name of the National Democratic Forum declaring it will run in the legislative elections scheduled for 22 May, effectively breaking ranks from Fatah’s official list headed by Abbas.

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Al-Qudwa also announced his support for imprisoned Fatah member Marwan Barghouti’s presidential bid.

Barghouti is a member of the central committee and is serving a life sentence in an Israeli jail.

Last week, the Secretary-General of Fatah Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub, said Al-Qudwa had made a mistake by forming a separate list to run in the upcoming legislative elections.

Rajoub added that Fatah is determined to run in the elections on a single, unified list.