Reforming Fatah from the grassroots up
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Nicholas Blincoe - (Opinion) August 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Fatah has long been the driving force of Palestinian nationalism but as a party of government it proved itself inept, divided and, in the early years especially, brazenly corrupt. It ran a disastrous parliamentary election campaign in 2006 which ended in a Hamas victory. This should have been a wake-up call but the party has struggled to reform. The conference in Bethlehem, which opened this morning, is the party's first real public test.

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Abbas at Fatah congress: Jerusalem promised to us
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - August 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia on Tuesday morning launched the historic Fatah congress in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, which is slated to elect the future leadership of the Palestinian movement. "In the name of the shahidim (martyrs) and in the name of Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state, we hereby declare the opening of the sixth congress of our movement, the Fatah movement," Qureia said, standing next to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Stuck in Gaza, Fatah men watch congress on TV
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - August 4, 2009 - 12:00am

A Fatah member stuck in the Gaza Strip while his Palestinian movement holds its first congress in 20 years said on Tuesday he hoped it emerges stronger, to meet challenges including Hamas Islamists who control the enclave. In a stark illustration of the deep split in Palestinian ranks, nearly 400 members of Fatah were barred by their rival Hamas from leaving Gaza to attend the convention, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

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Make way, Fatah young guns tell Arafat generation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Ben Lynfield - August 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Fatah, the dominant Palestinian movement under Yasser Arafat that has gone from debacle to defeat since his death, begins its first leadership convention in 20 years today. The big question as more than 2,000 delegates gather in Bethlehem is whether the secular group on which the world pins any remaining hopes for a peace deal with Israel can cast off the taint of corruption, regain its legitimacy and put forward new faces who can take back the ground lost to the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement.

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'Continue talks while there's hope'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
August 4, 2009 - 12:00am

At the opening of Fatah's sixth general assembly Tuesday morning, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that his people must persist with peace negotiations with Israel "as long as there is a tiny bit of hope." He added that Palestinians must not mar their "legitimate struggle with terror."

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Backgrounder: Palestinian Fatah General Assembly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from China View
August 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party launches its sixth convention Tuesday for the first time in 20 years to renew its leadership. During the sixth conference since its foundation in 1965, Fatah would elect members for the movement's central committee and the revolutionary council, the highest decision-making bodies. THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

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