Fatah appoints Abbas overall head of movement

Ramallah (West Bank), Nov 13: A key Fatah body elected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as overall leader, officials said, in a bid to revitalise the movement hit by the election success earlier this year of rival group Hamas.

Fatah's Revolutionary Council, a key decision-making body within the faction, voted in the West Bank city of Ramallah in favour of appointing Abbas as overall commander.

This is the same position that leader Yasser Arafat held before his death in 2004, officials said, placing Abbas at odds with members of the old guard.

Farouk Kaddoumi, an exiled hardliner living in Tunis, was elected Fatah's secretary general but not overall head of the faction after Arafat's death, they added.

''This (decision) strengthens Abu Mazen's political and reform programme within Fatah,'' said senior Fatah official Hussein al-Sheikh, referring to Abbas's nickname yesterday.

''This gives him powers in the Central Committee (the faction's governing body) of which he is a member and strengthens Fatah,'' he added.

There was no immediate comment from Kaddoumi on the decision.

Kaddoumi, considered pro-Syrian and co-founded Fatah with Arafat in 1965, rejected interim peace deals signed by Arafat with Israel in the 1990s.

Abbas, a moderate, as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, of which Fatah is part, has pushed for peace talks with Israel.

The old generation of Fatah officials has been challenged by a reform-minded young guard demanding a role in the decision-making process.

Hamas took office in March after winning elections in January, stunning the long-dominant Fatah. Younger Fatah members have blamed the faction's old guard for monopolising power and fuelling the Islamist movement's rise.

Senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub said new local leaders in the West Bank and Gaza were expected to be named after Abbas's appointment.

Officials said members of Fatah's Central Committee were present at the vote and gave the green light to Abbas's appointment.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and Abbas have both said they hope a new unity government can be formed within two to three weeks, ending months of intermittent talks and internal violence that have raised fears of civil war.

Reuters

Related Stories