UN-Truth

On the second and third days of the Fatah Sixth General Conference taking place in Bethlehem this week, for the first time in 20 years, two Israeli F-16s made six flyovers of Bethlehem — twice flying low and slow — almost directly over Nativity Square and the almost-adjacent Terra Sancta conference center on Wednesday.

However, the delegates were almost all inside the session hall, and unaware of this rather direct and heavy-handed message that the Israeli political and military establishment felt it was necessary to show its disapproval of Fatah draft documents saying that while the group has chosen the path of peace, it would not renounce its right (under international law) to resist the on-going Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territory.

Thursday morning, there were two fly-overs by two Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jets over the same flight path, the first at 9:00 and the second at 9:28 am, then there were two at mid-day 11:50 a.m. and 12:05 p.m.) and a final overflight at 5:00 in the evening, just before delegates gathered to begin nominations for the elections of a new leadership of the 21 (maybe now 23)-member Fatah Central Committee, and the 120 member (now possibly a bit more) Fatah Revolutionary Council.

The period for nominations is to end on Friday morning at 10:00 am, or possibly at noon.

But the elections will probably not be held right away — and this will mean a continuing distraction from some of the real business of the conference.

There are, however, some reports that the elections could be held on Friday — some of these reports are attributed to conference spokesman Nabil Amr.

Lobbying for votes is consuming an enormous amount of energy and effort, and till the elections are settled, it will be difficult for conference delegates to concentrate on other issues of substance.

The energy being put into these elections shows that being a member of the Fatah Central Committee or the Fatah Revolutionary Council really matters.

It does seem that one tactic of those in charge of the conference, starting with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, have tried in every way to drag out many procedural issues in order to put a squeeze on time — it is hoped that will eliminate damaging and embarassing debates.

On the one hand, threats not to vote for certain persons — Ahmad Qureia, or Abu Alaa, is one who seems to be most in danger from such pressure — is the major leverage that Fatah “reformists” are using to ensure that what they want, starting with a report of the last twenty years, including an analysis and admission of mistakes, be presented to the conference, while Mahmoud Abbas and his team continue to resist this demand, saying his speech was sufficient.

The Israeli F-16 jet overflights on Thursday must have been for the benefit of the delegations who would have missed yesterday’s flyovers because they were all seized by the dramatic confrontations taking place between President Abbas and much of the membershop about the lack of a report by the Central Committee over what has happened since the last Fatah conference twenty years ago.On

Filed under: Corruption, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians