Fatah officials announced Monday evening that they would reopen voting for the organization's Central Committee and Revolutionary Council. The voting was to conclude at 4 p.m.
The final tally of votes was pushed off over difficulties in counting votes from Gaza, where Fatah delegates have been blocked by Hamas as they attempt to contact the Bethlehem conference with their choices. Anti-Fatah sentiment among Hamas members was particularly strong on Monday due to allegations that a Hamas terrorist from Shechem was tortured to death by members of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority.
The majority of Central Committee seats – 18 of 23 – will be determined by Monday night's vote. Ninety-six candidates are running for seats on the council.
More than 600 delegates are running for seats on the 120-seat Revolutionary Council.
Those leading Fatah will, by extension, have immense sway over the PA and the PLO.
Among those contending for seats are current senior PA members Mahmoud Dahlan, Abbas Zaki, and Ahmed Qureia, all associates of party head Mahmoud Abbas, who has already been reelected as head of the Central Committee.
According to Arab media, Abbas's “old guard” will not have an easy victory. Current Fatah leaders face strong opposition from younger candidates who won popular support during the PA's most recent round of anti-Israeli terrorism.
While leaders like Dahlan are expected to win support in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, many foreign delegates announced before voting that they would not vote for Dahlan or his associates, who they accused of “giving away” land to Israel.
Results of the Fatah elections are expected to be announced on Tuesday morning.
'Right to Resist' Approved
As expected, Fatah delegates have approved a political platform that states that Arabs have a “right to resist occupation.” The organization's stated goal remains to “remove and defeat the occupation.”
While calling for a “just peace” and reserving the option for negotiations with Israel, Fatah members made their demands clear. The PA must be granted Jerusalem as the capital of an Arab state, they said, and roughly five million Arabs claiming descent from those who fled Israel prior to 1948 must be allowed the “right of return” to their grandparents' and greatgrandparents' villages. In addition, delegates said, all terrorist prisoners must be released.
If these conditions are not met, Fatah will see itself as free to attack Israelis, they explained.
Jewish Member has Chance at Seat
Delegates suggested that Fatah's lone member who identifies as Jewish, former Israeli Uri Davis, is likely to win a seat on the Revolutionary Council. By voting for Davis, who is married to an Arab woman, lives in Ramallah, and terms himself “a minority resident of occupied Palestine,” Fatah members can prove that they do not dislike Jews, delegates explained.
Davis was described to voters as a “Jewish intellectual.” He currently works at the University of Bradford in Britain, where he is a professor of Peace Studies.