Will Abbas resign?
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Abbas threatens to quit over Fatah crisis
Talks held Saturday between Fatah representatives, members who quit movement fail; veteran Fatah members blame young guard for movement's defeat in local elections
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas threatened Saturday to resign if the political crisis in the Fatah movement is not resolved.
In the past few days and ever since the announcement on the new party, talks have been held between the two factions in a bid to return the senior members to the Fatah. The talks, however, have so far failed.
The crisis already led senior Fatah members, including Mohammed Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub, to leave the movement for an independent parliamentary list, al-Mustaqbal (the Future,) which will compete against the Fatah in the upcoming elections.
Fatah Trouble
Ali Waked
Senior Fatah figures slam PA leader following Hamas win in local Palestinian elections
The negotiations were accelerated following Hamas' victory in the last round of the Palestinian Authority's local elections, in a bid to unite the movement and prevent a similar scenario from taking place in January's general elections.
Marwan Barghouti, the former Tanzim leader in the West Bank, who heads the Fatah list, has asked that his name be removed from the list following his move to the top of the new list.
Following the failure of the talks held between the parties Saturday, Abbas threatened to reconsider his future as PA chairman should the battles inside the Fatah between the young guard, veteran members and other groups persist.
'Hamas to take advantage of crisis'
Abbas is angry at senior officials on both sides for their failure to overcome the differences between them. The Palestinian leader realizes the current situation in the Fatah plays into the hands of Hamas, which is poised to take advantage of the crisis in the upcoming elections.
Veteran Fatah members blamed the members who left the movement for the defeat in the local elections.
Information Minister Nabil Sha'ath, who heads the Fatah's election campaign, explicitly accused al-Mustakbal faction members for being responsible for the defeat due to the split they caused in the movement, charging that more than one Fatah list ran in many locations, thus leading to the defeat.
However, despite the rivalry and the failure of the talks, the sides may still be able to achieve unity. Sources in the Fatah and in Barghouti's new faction told Ynet that the situation today is different than the one before the local elections results were published.
Sources in Barghouti's list said there are people who are interested in utilizing all the moves to the fullest extent possible in order to return to the Fatah's original list in a way that will honor the results of the primary elections, in which the young generation gained victory. The fact that the split may cause damage to both sides must be taken into account, they said.
The sources added that Abbas must decide between the stubbornness of the veteran generation and the chance to stay in power, a chance that would grow if members of the young generation head the Fatah list.
The talks between representatives of the two factions are expected to continue in the next few days in a bid to present a united front in the elections.
