Report: Ousted Fatah leader Qureia hints elections unclean

[oberliner]

Bethlehem - Ma’an/Agencies - “The forgeries in Iran were much smaller than what we had in Palestine," the Israeli news website Ynet quoted former Palestinian Prime Minister and Central Committee member Ahmad Qureia as saying.

The site ran an unsourced interview Thursday, where the ousted Qureia alleged that "arrangements were made behind the scenes that led to having some of the names pushed aside and other names forced in," and accused election winners Muhammad Dahlan, Jibril Rajoub, and Tawfiq At-Tirawi of being "coordinators with the occupation." Qureia wondered out loud about a connection between the men’s alleged ties with Israel and their win at the ballot boxes.

The allegations follow a series of elections recounts from the Sixth Fatah Congress, where 2,241 members cast their votes for 18 spots in the party’s Central Committee and 80 spots in the Revolutionary Council. Results from the first set of elections were affirmed Wednesday following two recounts and quiet accusations of elections irregularities.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=218791

Could the internal Fatah divisions get as tense as the Fatah-Hamas ones?

[bemildred]

1. I expect Qureia would be fine with it as long as he was one of the "winners".

I am disappointed they kept that corrupt tool Dahlan on.

[oberliner]

3. I thought this was a "comeback" for Dahlan

Wasn't he on the outside looking in prior to this?

[bemildred]

4. I have not really followed his official status.

He certainly was staying out of the limelight for a while after the debacle he engineered in Gaza. I think it is probably right to think of this as a rehabilitation of some sort.

[Alamuti Lotus]

5. Correct.. Except to hear him tell it, he never lost Gaza and everything is peachy

Read some fragments of his speech at the big Fat'h whooptydo, he clearly resides on the far side of the lookinglass on that subject and hopes that you do too.

After Gaza he was laying low in Montenegro for a time, received some Egyptian money and has been re-establishing his gangs within ex-President Abbas' security corps lately. Interestingly enough General Dayton apparently hates his guts, though I can't figure out why -- perhaps it was because he made the death squads look bad by losing in Gaza?

[oberliner]

6. Is there anyone among the Palestinian leadership whom you regard positively?

If so, can you share more information?

[Alamuti Lotus]

7. Marwan Barghouthi, for one

and his brother from another mother (and father), Mustafa Bargouthi. Neither wields much effective power, one suffering from an unfortunate case of 'jailed-for-life' and the other under the corrosive shadow of such US/Israeli tyrants (or tyrants-in-waiting) as ex-President Abbas, Dahlan, Fayyad, etc.. Faruq al-Qaddumi is a quite intruiging figure to me.

Haidar abd al-Shafi and Edward Said are dead men, but they still count and likes me fine. Ahmad Jibril (Lebanese Civil War/Syrian toadiness aside), Abu Ali Mustafa, and Ahmed Sa'adat are quite ok in my books, though they all exist somewhere 'corpse' and 'jailed'. Going back in history, Izzadin al-Qassam provided a fine early example. Sheikh Taqiuddin al-Nabbani infinitely more so, Abdullah Azzam trailing close behind. Tawfiqh Sayigh, Mahmud Darwish, Tawfiq Zayyad, Kamal Nasir, and Ghassan Khanafani all hold a wonderful place on my bookshelf, though Israeli hands hath stilled many a beating of their hearts at various points. How could I initially forget George Habash? Fantastic specimen.

Oh, I suppose you implied current... most decent folks are dead, isolated and powerless, ancient and powerless (slight variation on the former), paid off, or rotting away in jails (be they Israeli, Jordanian, or Abbasid). The rest soon will be dead. Rogues and scavengers currently serve Dayton and Netanyahoo and beg for scraps from their miserable plates; professional beggers pleading for acceptance at the alter of the almighty Dollar. Hamas has provided the next opportunity to examplify 'supreme disappointment':--pathetic obsession with 'respectability' and the approach of 'opposition sans opposition' has nearly drained this well. Sheikh Nasrallah occasionally provides a glimmer, though certain portions of his birth certificate place him into another discussion from this current matter.

Treading back towards the original post, Abu Ala is tained by presenting himself as holding up the banner of Arafatism; it was bad enough in the original incarnation.

[azurnoir]

2. Abbas slams Qureia accusations of "unclean" elections

Bethlehem – Ma’an – The “Fatah movement will face any split” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said at a press conference one day after the controversial announcement of the 19 elected members of the Central Committee for the party.

Speaking from the presidential compound in Ramallah, Abbas praised the integrity of the elections, following accusations from ousted Central Committee member Ahmad Qureia and on-the-outs Fatah member Farouq Qaddoumi that the elections were “unclean” and the conference rigged.

The vociferous rejection by Qureia of the election results, coupled with uncertainty around the Gaza delegates’ reaction to what some say is a lack of representation on the Central Committee, and Qaddoumi’s rejection of the conference entirely, have lead to questions around a possible split in the party.

Responding to the possibility Abbas said “Fatah cannot have a split Abu à la Quriea ; we will not even think about it.” Abbas dismissed the leader’s comments saying “he has every right to say what he wants,” and offered a conciliatory mention that “those who failed in these elections will find their places in other departments inside the movement.”

Much of Abbas’ speech was, in fact, conciliatory. At one point he addressed ousted Central Committee members Ahmad Quriea, Intisar Al-Wazir, Nasser Yousef, and Hakam Balawi, and praised them for the historical role they played in the party and the difference they have made to Fatah.

Fatah’s commitments

On the immediate focus for the party Abbas outlined the party’s commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative, and an immediate end to the Israeli occupation of areas in the 1967 borders. He reiterated Fatah’s commitment to realizing UN resolutions 194 and 262, and to securing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=218796


should we try to act surprised?