Israel Matzav

Fatah: Out with the old and in with the new?

The Fatah terror group has voted for new senior party leaders. Early election results show that it is the party's 'youth' that will take Fatah forward.

There are actually two reports here.

The two key players are both murderers of course: Mohamed Dahlan and Marwan Barghouti.

Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.



But JPost's 'Palestinian' correspondent, Khaled Abu Toameh, says that the new faces are just window dressing on an unreformed, hardline Fatah.

The assumption that Muhammad Dahlan, Jibril Rajoub, Marwan Barghouti and Tawfik Tirawi are more moderate than old-timers like Ahmed Qurei, Nabil Sha'ath and Hani al-Hassan is completely mistaken.

Fatah's strongman in Lebanon, Sultan Abu al-Aynain, who was also elected as member of the committee, is being described by some media outlets as one of Fatah's "fresh faces."

But Fatah insiders say Abu al-Aynain is known as a "ruthless thug who does not hesitate to liquidate anyone who stands in his way."

In fact, all the newly-elected Central Committee members voted during the Fatah convention in Bethlehem last week in favor of a political platform that does not rule out the armed struggle option against Israel.

The young guard members also voted in favor of a series of hard-line resolutions that were brought before the conference, including one that endorses Fatah's armed militia, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, as an official organ of the faction, and another that states that the Palestinians will never relinquish the "right of return" for refugees to Israel proper and that they are willing to make "sacrifices" to liberate Jerusalem.

It's unrealistic to expect changes in Fatah's policies now that younger leaders are sitting in the Central Committee. Even if Barghouti, Dahlan and Rajoub wanted to adopt a more moderate approach in peace talks with Israel, they would face fierce opposition from the Fatah General Assembly.

The assembly has actually tied the hands of the Fatah leadership by setting a series of "red lines" that no Palestinian - not even Mahmoud Abbas - is entitled to cross.

Fatah has said quite loudly and clearly that it's either 100 percent or nothing. Israel must withdraw to the pre-1967 borders, including from all of the eastern part of Jerusalem, allow Palestinian refugees to return to their original homes inside Israel, dismantle all the settlements, including ones built in Jerusalem such as Pisgat Ze'ev and Ramot, and evict all settlers living there and in the West Bank. Only then, according to Fatah, will there be a chance for peace with Israel.

Barghouti, Dahlan and Rajoub neither have the will nor the mandate to cross any of these red lines.

Abu Toameh goes on to say that the popularity of Barghouti, Dahlan and Rajoub outside the central committee is questionable, and to remind us that the trio were all involved in murdering 'collaborators' without trials. Sounds like hope and change same to me.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:55 AM