Palestine Elects New Generation of Leaders

[Frodo]

New Faces Elected in Historic Palestinian Vote

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 11, 2009
Filed at 8:33 a.m. ET

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) -- The Palestinian Fatah movement elected a group of younger leaders to its top council on Tuesday, bolstering its credentials as the West's best hope for Mideast peace, according to preliminary voting results.

Fatah's first conference in two decades, while plagued by the movement's characteristic wrangling and intrigue, appeared to rejuvenate the pre-eminent Palestinian organization at a critical moment, weeks before President Barack Obama is to unveil a comprehensive plan to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace.

The results indicate that pragmatic leaders who never left the Palestinian territories -- and who often spent years in Israeli jails, worked with Israelis and speak Hebrew -- won out over exiled hard-liners from places like Lebanon and Syria.

''This election is setting a new future for the movement, a new democratic era,'' said Mohammed Dahlan, 47, a former Gaza security chief who was one of the winners, according to the early results.

Also elected were Marwan Barghouti, a 50-year-old firebrand militant leader now jailed by Israel and seen as a likely future president, and Jibril Rajoub, 56, a former aide to the late Yasser Arafat who led several crackdowns against Hamas.

Rajoub said the outcome represented a break from the movement's previous leaders, many of whom are in their 70s.

''This is a coup against a leadership that had monopolized the movement for a long time without even presenting a report about its work,'' he said.

Some Israelis criticized the conference for failing to renounce violence, but Fatah's proposed platform seemed to bring the movement in line with Obama's anticipated peace plan. The 2,300 delegates endorsed the concept of a Palestinian state alongside Israel achieved through peaceful negotiations.

However, the delegates conditioned future talks on a complete halt to Israeli settlement construction on land earmarked for a future Palestinian state -- a demand rejected by the current Israeli government -- and said they reserve the right to take up arms against Israel if negotiations fail.

[jokerman]

At this point if the two state solution fails its going to be Isreal's fault. 

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

At this point if the two state solution fails its going to be Isreal's fault. 

it always is

[Kaine for Senate '18]

At this point if the two state solution fails its going to be Isreal's fault. 

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

At this point if the two state solution fails its going to be Isreal's fault. 

yep, notice how Hamas was not mentioned, and how Fatah's threat of war was only a footnote.

Even the vibes coming out of Jordan and Egypt lead me to believe the Arabs are planning for war with Israel if Obama's plan fails.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Praise Allah, peace is nearly here.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

At this point if the two state solution fails its going to be Isreal's fault. 

please tell me you're joking!!!

what just took place, regardless of the spin of the author of the article, is a  huge blow to peace.

Basically, Fatah, with this platform and election, has decided to attempt to out terror Hamas as Israel's most willing enemy.  The platform did NOT distinguish between east and west Jerusalem and vowed to return Jerusalem to the Palestinians.

Israeli government ministers, on the right AND on the left, see it as throwing down the gauntlet:

Foreign Minister Liberman said it ends "any possibility of reaching a comprehensive agreement with the Palestinians in the coming years"... and even Labor leader Barak (who is also defense minister), called it "disturbing and not promising.”

This Fatah conference refused to renounce terrorism and applauded those how took part in the bombings of Israeli mass transit buses.

---

So, yes, Israel is being set up....by naive Obama...and the Arabs are gearing up to take advantage of it by starting a war and blaming Israel for it.

[jokerman]

Regardless of the rhetoric employed, Palestinian administration during Fayyad's administration has been the most competent its ever been.  But its hard to imagine any people choked economically and socially as much as the Palestinians to remain politically stable for long.  Its time for sanctions to be lifted, Zionist settlements abandoned, and refugees to be admitted back into Israel.

[pogo stick]

At this point if the two state solution fails its going to be Isreal's fault. 

I don't want a two-state solution, I want it to fail.


This is Israel's land. The Palestinians can screw it. If Jordan and other Muslim nations don't want them, why should Israel appease to these losers?

[jokerman]

Israel, a small strip of Mediterranean territory, should "appease those losers" because the aforementioned happen to constitute a body of hundreds of millions, who would gladly put away their sectarian squables to unite against a common Zionist enemy, and (with the help of Iran) would soon be able to employ nuclear weapons.

[Хahar 🤔]

This is Israel's land.

Why...?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I don't want a two-state solution, I want it to fail.

That is not in Israel's best interests.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

At this point if the two state solution fails its going to be Isreal's fault. 

what just took place, regardless of the spin of the author of the article, is a  huge blow to peace.

Yes, such as was the recent expulsion of Palestinians in east Jerusalem, right? Such as the decision to continue to settle on the east, right?

Foreign Minister Liberman said it ends "any possibility of reaching a comprehensive agreement with the Palestinians in the coming years"... and even Labor leader Barak (who is also defense minister), called it "disturbing and not promising.”

I can hear Barak, but Lieberman shouldn't be quoted. That guy would say there are no possibilities for peace even if he was facing Gandhi.

This is Israel's land.

Why...?

Because they settle it, right?

Actually, I don't support one or the other one, but the territories used to have been result of wars, all our nations are. So, I don't know, maybe we will establish new criteria in the future to better organize territoriality, something in which I strongly believe, but until now it happened by wars and according to these criteria Israel won the wars and thus settled. If Arabs/Palestinians or whatever say the Mongols come, make war, win, and succeed to settle on the territory, they will own it for the while they settle on it.

Now, outside of it, Israel has to deal with the reality. Either they go and make an awful total war in Palestine and why not with the Arab neighbors country too, and they could also use their nuke while they are at that (someone spoke about that there, no?) and, ok, they would have to deal with the fact that their victory, and thus their country, has the smell of the horror. Or, they accept to deal the best they can with the Arabs surrounding them. Two solutions for this:

Either the 2 states one, something in which I don't believe at all, it could never work, Palestinians would have too much of an awful territory, even if the 1967 borders are totally respected, plus, psychologically, it would never really be accepted I think.

Or, Israel decides to screw the "Jewish" identity of its state, and Arabs accept Jews and all what they carried there which can be good for the organization of a state. And both people decide to create a new state that would be the whole Palestine (or whatever the name), from Jordan to the sea, in which the old references to identity and religion would be put in the background, in order to create something that would go beyond these references. The unification of these both people would create a new identity. A new state in which all citizens would be totally equal, they would have Jew roots and Arab roots, but they would mainly be the fruit of this new identity.

What? That's not likely to happen? Yes, yes, I know. They are nowadays more and more screwing themselves, both of them creating their own quagmire, and it could be just the beginning.

But, to me, something like this would be the only solution for a strong peace on the long term there, and the only solution for Jews to be definitely accepted by Arabs there.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

All Fatah's Gaza leaders quit, citing massive vote fraud

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418604346&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Fatah appeared to be in turmoil on Thursday as a large number of its top representatives questioned the credibility of the elections that were held earlier this week for the faction's Central Committee.


Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrives at the Fatah convention hall in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Wednesday,
Photo: AP

SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region  |  World Former Palestinian Authority prime minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) dropped a bombshell when he announced that the forgery in Iran's recent presidential election was nothing compared to what happened in Fatah.

Qurei, who failed to be reelected to the Central Committee, said that there was growing discontent in Fatah over the alleged fraud.

"There are many big question marks about the election, the way it was conducted and the way the votes were counted," Qurei told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper. "There were behind-the-scenes arrangements that removed some names and added others to the [winning] list."

Pointing out that three of the candidates who were elected were former security commanders who used to work closely with Israel, Qurei asked: "Was it by coincidence that these men won?" He said that the election of these candidates - Jibril Rajoub, Muhammad Dahlan and Tawfik Tirawi - showed that "someone wants to see rubber stamps" among the Fatah leadership.

"This is a harsh and difficult phase and there are offers for a temporary state without Jerusalem and the refugees," Qurei said. "Apparently there are some people who have taken this into consideration."

 

Qurei hinted that PA President Mahmoud Abbas and some of his loyalists had intervened to secure spots for their supporters in the Central Committee.

Earlier, every member of Fatah's Higher Committee in the Gaza Strip submitted their resignations, in protest against what one of them described as "massive fraud" in the election for the Central Committee.

The resignations are seen as a serious embarrassment for Abbas and Fatah, whose representatives in the Gaza Strip have suffered one blow after another since Hamas seized control of the area two years ago.

"The Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip reject the results of the vote," said Ahmed Abu Nasr, a senior Fatah official. "These elections have damaged Fatah's reputation."

He added that dozens of Fatah delegates from the Strip who were denied the right to cast their ballots were demanding the establishment of a commission of inquiry to look into their allegations.

Many Fatah members were shocked late Wednesday when they discovered that one of Abbas's old-time colleagues, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, was added to the list of winners at the last minute.

Preliminary results had shown that Abdel Rahim, a prominent representative of the Fatah old guard, did not get enough votes.

Qurei and other Fatah operatives cited the case of Abdel Rahim as an example of the "dishonest" manner in which the voting process was conducted. They condemned his inclusion in the winners' list as "extremely disgraceful."

Hatem Abdel Qader, a Fatah operative belonging to the younger generation, said that a growing number of his colleagues were beginning to express doubts about the integrity of the vote. He said that he had no doubt that some leaders had intervened with the voting process to influence the results.

Abdel Qader expressed fear that the same thing would happen with the election for the Revolutionary Council, the second most important Fatah institution after the Central Committee. Final results for the 120-seat council were scheduled to be announced later on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, dozens of Fatah members signed a petition rejecting the outcome of the Central Committee election and calling for an independent probe into allegations of fraud and deception.

Abbas held a press conference in Ramallah during which he denied that Fatah was on the verge of a split.

He hailed the elections for the two Fatah bodies as democratic and successful.

He also expressed understanding for the motives of angry Fatah operatives like Qurei who had lost out in the vote.

[Governor PiT]

I don't want a two-state solution, I want it to fail.

That is not in Israel's best interests.

LOL. Ben actually looks like a moderate in comparison to this nut case.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

LOL. Ben actually looks like a moderate in comparison to this nut case.

And compared to you, of course.

[Ronnie]

I don't want a two-state solution, I want it to fail.

That is not in Israel's best interests.

LOL. Ben actually looks like a moderate in comparison to this nut case.

Wee, ad hominem attacks.  Why are you a nutcase if you don't support a two state solution?