Mahmoud Abbas Unanimously Re-Elected Fatah Leader at 8th General Conference in Ramallah

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was unanimously re-elected as leader of the Fatah movement during the opening session of the movement’s 8th General Conference in Ramallah, with the vote described as taking place on Thursday.

“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has pledged to reform the Palestinian Authority (PA) at a Fatah party conference in the occupied West Bank, pledging to hold long-delayed presidential and parliamentary elections”

Al Jazeera

The conference opened in Ramallah and ran simultaneously in the Gaza Strip, Cairo, and Beirut, with approximately 2,580 members participating via closed-circuit television to ensure “full organizational engagement across all regions.”

Al Jazeera

Abbas pledged to reform the Palestinian Authority and to hold long-delayed presidential and parliamentary elections at the three-day conference, which is being held for the first time in 10 years as Fatah faces “existential challenges in the wake of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.”

The conference is expected to elect 18 representatives to the central committee and 80 to the movement’s parliament, known as the revolutionary council, as attention turns to internal elections and organizational structures.

In the same period, Xinhua said the conference reaffirmed confidence in Abbas’ leadership during what it described as a “sensitive stage” in Palestinian history, with members voting to elect him as president and commander-in-chief of the movement.

In an address to the congress, Abbas renewed his commitment to reforms and said, “We renew our full commitment to continuing work on implementing all the reform measures we pledged,” while also saying, “We are ready to hold presidential and legislative elections,” without providing a timeline.

The Times of Israel reported that Abbas, in opening remarks, criticized Israel’s continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues that Jerusalem collects on the PA’s behalf and quoted him saying, “The continued holding of Palestinian Authority funds by Israel is an unprecedented event that violates the agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, as well as international law,”.

Anadolu Ajansı

Ahead of the congress, Jibril Rajoub told AFP that the conference faced some of the movement’s “most serious challenges in our struggle,” and he expressed hope it would contribute to “ensuring and protecting the establishment of a Palestinian state on the world’s agenda.”

Al Jazeera reported that major figures were absent from Thursday’s conference, notably Nasser al-Qudwa, who boycotted the gathering and labeled it “illegitimate.”

News24 also quoted Qudwa saying, “This conference is illegitimate, and this leadership that has usurped power is illegitimate and its time is up,” while describing him as a nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

With Abbas set to remain head of the central committee after his re-election, Al Jazeera said the conference is expected to play a key role in the post-Abbas era and highlighted key figures competing to replace him, including Jibril Rajoub and PA Deputy Hussein al-Sheikh.

“RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas pledged to press ahead with reforms to the Palestinian Authority at a gathering of his Fatah party on Thursday, saying he was also prepared to hold long-delayed presidential and parliamentary elections”

Arab News PK

Al Jazeera also reported that Fatah’s central committee is expected to play a key role in the post-Abbas era as Abbas and the Palestinian Authority face mounting pressure from the United States, the European Union and Arab states to implement reforms and hold elections.

The Times of Israel added that the international community wants the PA to play a key role in eventually running the Gaza Strip again after it was devastated in the war sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of southern Israel, while Israel “bitterly opposes the involvement of the PA.”

France 24 framed the internal fight at the eighth congress as existential, with Dr. Tahani Mustafa arguing that the battle was less about succession than survival and describing Abbas’s “divide and rule within his own movement.”

In parallel, the conference’s attendance figures were reported as approximately 2,580 Fatah members, with about 1,600 in Ramallah, 400 in Gaza and Cairo respectively, and 200 in Beirut, as the movement prepared to elect 18 representatives to the central committee and 80 to the revolutionary council.