Who Speaks for Palestine?

[oberliner]

The last time Fateh, the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), held a general convention was two decades ago in 1989 in Algiers. Next week, some 2,000 members of the organization, from both the territories and the Diaspora, are expected to descend on the town of Bethlehem in the West Bank to participate in the organization's Sixth Congress in an atmosphere mired with internal divisions, charges of corruption, and tales of espionage and betrayal fit for a John Le Carré novel.

Fateh's internal feud reached a pinnacle a couple of weeks ago when PLO Executive Committee and Fateh veteran member Farouq el- Qaddumi, a.k.a. Abu Lutf, claimed he had proof that President Mahmoud Abbas was part of a plot to assassinate the late President Yasser Arafat.

Meanwhile, recent talks mediated by the Egyptian government between Fateh and Hamas have failed to produce an agreement that would restore Palestinian national unity. For months each side has been blaming the other for the fissure caused inside the Palestinian house ever since Fateh lost the January 2006 elections to Hamas and the subsequent military takeover by Hamas of Gaza a year later.

In the past few weeks, blood between the Palestinian rivals has been as bad as ever, with Hamas arresting scores of Fateh people in Gaza and Fateh raiding Hamas' strongholds in the West Bank. Most recently, Hamas has threatened to prevent about 400 Fateh delegates from the Gaza Strip from attending the convention in Bethlehem, demanding the release of its members being held in Palestinian Authority prisons in the West Bank.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/who-speaks-for-palestine_b_248513.html

[Vegasaurus]

1. A House Divided will never stand nt