In the 20 years since Fatah last held its general congress, much has changed about the Palestinian question. The 1993 Olso Agreement was an undeniable achievement but it failed to bring either good governance or statehood to the Palestinian people.
The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority has obtained too few concessions from Israel, which perpetuates the violent and oppresive occupation of the Palestinian territories. As a result, it finds itself weakened and embattled in a civil war with its Islamist rival Hamas.
This betrayal of Palestinian aspirations certainly looms large over the movement’s Sixth Congress, held in Bethlehem. There, more than 2,000 delegates of the leading Palestinian political movement are gathering to discuss a new political platform and fill leadership positions.
Fatah and its historical leader, the late Yasir Arafat, deserve credit for fostering, if not creating, a Palestinian political consciousness and articulating a Palestinian agenda independent from the machinations of the Arab states.
This has been a bumpy and often bloody process that embroiled Jordan and Lebanon and culminated in the peace process of the 1990s. Back then, it seemed that Fatah’s hold on Palestinian politics was unshakeable.
Today, however, this veneer of prestige and heroism has been tarnished. Fatah’s internal rifts are now broadcast daily.
The exiled leadership continues to call for armed resistance while the pragmatic West Bank cadre understands that after two failed intifadas the Palestinian population has grown tired of such bombast.
Sadly, it cannot point to tangible breakthroughs in its peace talks with Israel and Israel can too happily manipulate Palestinian divisions to avoid making hard decisions.
Fatah has become a party of strongmen and mandarins whose vested interests are often at odds with the wellbeing of the population. Its most popular figure, Marwan Barghouti, sits in an Israeli jail, while its current leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has had to fend off challenges to his authority – although he has been the president of the PA for four years and should be defending a record of achievement.
The road ahead for Fatah is full of dangers. The movement may calculate that once again embracing armed struggle in rhetoric and action might regain the credibility it has lost to Hamas – but the domestic gains achieved in doing so would be more than outweighed by the inevitable loss of international prestige and support.
Fatah’s road to redemption does not need such bifurcations. It simply needs to do a better job at providing the Palestinians with essential services and good governance. In this, Fatah may find salvation outside its ranks.
Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, claims that only good governance can convince the Palestinian people that negotiations rather than resistance can lead to Palestinian statehood.
This is a bet that has not yet paid off, but it certainly deserves Fatah’s support.
The Palestinian people deserve a life of dignity and freedom. For that, Fatah needs to do away with the demons of corruption and nepotism that ail the movement. And this is more than just a struggle for relevance.
Judging by the amount of grey hair visible in the Bethlehem conference centre, Palestinian young people do not have the same attachment to the movement as their elders. Now more than ever, Fatah’s very existence is at stake.
Front Page Features