Fatah holds first conference in 20 years

August 11th, 2009 Fatah elects new leaders in historic voteBETHLEHEM, West Bank — Polling officials say the Palestinian Fatah movement has elected a slate of younger leaders to its highest body at its first conference in 20 years. The results of the vote will show whether Fatah — the West's best hope for eventually delivering a peace deal with Israel — has succeeded in reinvigorating the movement by bringing in new faces Early results show that at least 13 of the 18 elected members of Fatah's Central Committee are from the movement's younger generation.

August 11th, 2009 Fatah puts forth some new faces in historic voteBETHLEHEM, West Bank — The Palestinian Fatah movement elected a group of younger leaders to its top council on Tuesday, bolstering the movement's credentials as the West's best hope for Mideast peace, according to early voting results. Fatah's first conference in two decades, while plagued by classic Fatah wrangling and intrigue, appeared to rejuvenate the pre-eminent Palestinian movement at a critical moment, weeks before President Barack Obama is to unveil a comprehensive plan to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace.

August 11th, 2009 A look at some of the newly elected Fatah leadersA look at some of the main figures elected to the 23-member Central Committee of the Western-backed Fatah organization. Marwan Barghouti, 50, a prominent leader of the last Palestinian uprising, is currently serving five life terms in an Israeli prison for his role in deadly shooting attacks.

August 9th, 2009 Fatah's only Israeli member seeks key positionBETHLEHEM, West Bank —The only known Israeli Jewish member of the Palestinian group Fatah announced Sunday he was seeking a position in the movement's key decision-making body. Uri Davis, 66, a fierce critic of Israel who identifies himself as a Palestinian Hebrew-speaking citizen of "the apartheid state of Israel," said he presented his candidacy for Fatah's Revolutionary Council at the group's conference, which is under way in the West Bank.

August 8th, 2009 Fatah reappoints Palestinian president as its headBETHLEHEM, West Bank —Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was re-elected to lead his Fatah movement Saturday at its first convention in two decades, giving him a new mandate for peace talks with Israel, if he can also heal divisions among his people. Abbas, who succeeded iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after his death in 2004, was elected unopposed, but the movement itself has lost its shine over the past five years.

August 5th, 2009 Angry arguments erupt at Fatah conventionBETHLEHEM, West Bank — Angry arguments over elections and money erupted Wednesday between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah activists on the second day of the movement's convention. Fatah's first conference in 20 years is meant to elect new leaders, clean up the party's corrupt image and make it more competitive with its bitter rival, the Islamic militant Hamas.

August 4th, 2009 Abbas: Palestinians must stick with peace talksBETHLEHEM, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas launched his Fatah movement's first conference in two decades Tuesday with a call for his people to limit their resistance to Israel to marches and protests and not to abandon peace talks despite years of setbacks. Abbas spoke at the opening of a convention that marks an attempt by the movement founded by the late Yasser Arafat to rise from division, defeat and failure and to lead the Palestinians to statehood.

August 4th, 2009 Fatah seeks renewal in first conference since 1989BETHLEHEM, West Bank — The Palestinians' Fatah movement came together Tuesday for its first convention in 20 years, trying to rise from division and defeat with a pragmatic political program and new leaders in what its supporters hope will be the final push toward Palestinian statehood. Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, expects the three-day convention to boost his standing and strengthen his hand in dealing with his Hamas rivals and with Israel's hawkish prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

August 3rd, 2009 Fatah commits to Israel peace talks in party draftRAMALLAH, West Bank — The proposed new platform of the Palestinians' moderate Fatah party marginalizes the once central theme of "armed struggle" against Israel, but demands a complete Israeli settlement freeze before talks for a final peace deal can take place. The 41-page draft proposal, published Monday, is to be presented for approval this week to Fatah's first convention in 20 years.

August 2nd, 2009 Fatah convention draws Palestinian exilesBETHLEHEM, West Bank — After lives spent in exile fighting Israel, it's a bittersweet homecoming to the West Bank for hundreds of veterans in the Fatah movement of the late Yasser Arafat. The Fatah old-timers from Syria, Lebanon and other Arab countries stepped on Palestinian soil for the first time this weekend, converging on the West Bank town of Bethlehem for their party's first convention in a generation.

August 1st, 2009 Fatah, West's hope for peace, faces critical testRAMALLAH, West Bank — Fatah, the divided and demoralized movement of the late Yasser Arafat and the West's best hope for delivering a Mideast peace deal, is trying to stage a comeback. On Tuesday, Fatah is supposed to open its first convention in 20 years, hoping to clean up its corruption-tainted image and transform itself into a vibrant alternative to the Islamic militants of Hamas.

July 27th, 2009 Hamas threatens to derail Fatah conferenceRAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah on Monday were locked in a new dispute that threatens to derail next week's Fatah convention, seen as key to rehabilitating the corruption-stained party that has led peace talks with Israel. Officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Monday they would only allow Fatah delegates to leave the territory and travel to the conference if Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, releases hundreds of Hamas detainees in the West Bank, where his Western-backed Palestinian Authority is based.

July 1st, 2009 GAZA/CAIRO - Leaders of rival Fatah and Islamic Hamas movement failed to overcome their disputes and reach an agreement by a July 7 deadline set by Cairo, and have agreed to hold a seventh round of dialogue in Cairo July 25, officials said Tuesday. Fatah negotiator Zakareya el-Agha told the Palestinian news agency Wafa of President Mahmoud Abbas that a sixth round of inter-reconciliation dialogue had ended without agreement.

June 25th, 2009 DAMASCUS - Khalid Meshaal, chief of the executive of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Thursday said his group was prepared to have a "direct dialogue without conditions" with the US. Speaking to supporters in the Syrian capital Damascus, Meshaal said the recent speech by US President Barack Obama to the Muslim world in which the president stated that Hamas had to be involved in a solution to the Mideast conflict was "a step in the right direction." Obama's words however must be followed by action on the part of the United States, the Palestinian leader added, mentioning that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue to suffer under an Israeli blockade.

May 31st, 2009 6 dead in internal Palestinian fightingQALQILIYA, West Bank — Palestinian security officials say six people have been killed in a firefight between Hamas fighters and Palestinian policemen in the West Bank. The officials say three of the men are Palestinian policemen loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.