Inside the Fatah Convention: VideoBite

Fatah Leaders Applaud Bloodthirsty Terrorists -Hana Levi Julian

Delegates to the Sixth Fatah General Convention in Bethlehem responded with loud applause at the mention by a top Fatah leader of two terrorists who committed the worst terror attack in Israel's history.

The pair, Khaled Abu-Isbah and Dalal Mughrabi, were praised as heroic Martyrs by former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister and current negotiator Ahmed Qurei.

Mughrabi, Abu-Isbah, and 10 other terrorists hijacked a bus in 1978, murdering 37 civilians, including 12 children, in what later became known as the Coastal Road Massacre.
[Arutz Sheva]


The Radicalization of Fatah -Khaled Abu Toameh

[T]here are growing indications that Fatah is headed in the [wrong] direction, as seen in calls by top representatives for a "strategic alliance" with Iran.

By adopting a hard-line approach toward the conflict and blocking reforms, Fatah is sending a message both to the Palestinians and the world that it's still not ready for any form of compromise or reforms. As such, Fatah remains part of the problem, and not part of the solution.
(Hudson Institute New York)


Fatah Aims to Boost Radical Credentials -Tony Karon

Much of the Fatah rank and file and even many in the leadership believe that the only way the movement can be saved is to break with American tutelage and seek to reclaim the mantle of "resistance" from Hamas. The conference will seek to rebrand Fatah with a more radical stance in order to more effectively compete with Hamas.
(TIME)


Where Have All the Palestinian Moderates Gone? -David Schenker

A series of comments by current and former senior Fatah officials undercut the fundamental premise of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking: the renunciation of violence and the acceptance of Israel's right to exist.

The statements have profound implications. The leading faction of the PLO that signed the Oslo Accords with Israel now says it never consented to the terms of the deal.

Fatah's formal rejection of the Oslo terms, essentially constitutes the PLO's renunciation of the entire agreement.
The writer is director of the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
(Foreign Policy)
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