The Fatah organization will have its first convention in 20 years. The convention will take place this August in Bethlehem.
The economic convention will be its first to take place within the Palestinian Authority as prior conventions took place in Arab countries. Fatah leaders decided to convene the event despite concern that the rival Hamas terrorist organization might prevent the participation of about 400 delegates residing in Gaza. The Gaza delegates constitute nearly a fourth of the participants. Fatah, a major faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, was considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States until it renounced terrorism in 1988.