Palestinian president stacks Jerusalem branch with loyalists
The selection of members loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Fatah movement’s Jerusalem branch raised the ire of other Fatah leaders who called to review the selection process.
As the possibility of Palestinian elections becomes more real, new and unexpected conflicts are propping up. In addition to the expected hurdles that Israel might put up, as well as the need for Fatah and Hamas to find common ground, an unexpected problem has arisen.
Disagreement over the leadership of the Jerusalem branch of Fatah blew up in late September as the central leadership appears to have tried to railroad a list of local leaders totally loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, a Fatah source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. The source insisted that the reason for intervention was the desire of the Fatah leadership — especially Abbas — not to give supporters of the renegade Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan any foothold in Palestine, and especially in the proposed Palestinian capital of Jerusalem.
