 Rebels in Fatah, the Palestinian ruling party, have banded together to run for parliament on a competing ticket, sparking one of the gravest crises in the dominant faction's 40-year history.
| Whoa! Didn't see that one coming! |
Reacting immediately, in an attempt to defuse the crisis, the official Fatah party on Thursday named rebel leader Marwan Barghuti as its head in place of Ahmed Qurei, the prime minister, who had been expected to lead the slate in January's parliamentary elections. "Marwan Barghuti is at the top of the Fatah list," Nasser al-Qidwa, the foreign minister told reporters in Ramallah after registering the official party slate. Qorei, who was chosen to head the official list by the party's central committee late on Tuesday, was relegated to number four on the actual list.
Earlier on Wednesday, Fadwa, the wife of jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghuti entered the election headquarters in Ramallah to formally present the list, signalling that Barghuti was leaving Fatah. Kadoura Fares, a leader of the young activists, said they had presented their own list of candidates for the election. Saeb Nimr, Barghuti's campaign manager, told reporters, "We have registered an independent party under the name, 'The Future,' headed by Marwan Barghuti."
Mohammed Dahlan, the powerful civil affairs minister, was number two on the list, which also includes Abbas's security adviser, Jibril Rajoub, Fatah officials said. Dahlan said:" This is a new dawn. We will remain loyal to this movement and Fatah will come out victorious."
Among others on the list were MP Qadura Fares, top Fatah official Samir Mashharawi and Sufiyan Abu Zayid, minister for prisoner affairs. All of them represent the younger generation within the ruling Fatah party. Fadwa Barghuti, who was flanked by Dahlan as she entered the office, is also a candidate.
Barghuti, serving five life terms in an Israeli prison, has won West Bank primary elections conducted by Fatah, but oldtime Fatah leaders, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, tried to insert old guard figures in the list ahead of the younger leaders, setting off the rebellion. The split is a bitter blow for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and his Fatah old guard. Half an hour before the deadline, oldtime Fatah officials came to present their list of candidates, in effect finalising the split, but they said efforts were still underway to unify the party. They called for rebels in the dominant Fatah faction to close ranks. "I am coming to register Fatah's list. We hope that there will be only one list," Nasser al-Kidwa told reporters upon arriving at a Central Elections Committee office to register, minutes after a breakaway list was filed.
Fatah, the party of the late leader Yasser Arafat, has ruled Palestinian politics for four decades. The "old guard" returned from exile with Arafat in the mid-1990s, while many of the young activists were in the West Bank and Gaza through the years, struggling against Israeli occupation. Abbas was elected head of the Palestinian Authority in January, succeeding Arafat, and did not plan to run for the parliament. 
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