With the establishment of the Palestinian Authority approved by the Oslo Accords, which trapped the Palestinian situation in a political and existential dilemma whose repercussions we still witness daily in occupied Palestine, not only was the PLO and its components targeted, but all Palestinian factions were struck at their core and plunged into political, programmatic, and ideological labyrinths as well.
The greatest and most complex dilemma befell Fatah, the largest Palestinian movement and the backbone of Palestinian struggle since the birth of the PLO in 1965.
Fatah was afflicted with the disease of authority and statehood... It received a quarter of a distorted authority and quasi-state and fluctuated between struggle for liberation and exercising authority.
The political acumen and tactical cunning of the late President Yasser Arafat could not prevent prominent figures in Fatah from sliding into the whirlpool of 'dividing the spoils' and playing the role of Eastern-style statesmen, exacerbating the symptoms of the disease. This deterioration increased after President Mahmoud Abbas assumed leadership of the movement and the Palestinian Authority...
Fatah contracted a disease previously common in ruling parties in the East and most developing countries: the confusion between holding authority to serve the people for a constitutionally defined period ending by the will of the people in elections, and owning the state and its resources.
From day one in power, Fatah acted as if it owned Palestine—its people, land, and air... This was evident in statements by its leaders and recorded history of many leaders violating public funds and exploiting their positions to amass wealth without accountability, as if they were dealing with their own property alone... A quick look at the reality in occupied Palestine reveals ongoing signs of these violations from the Authority's establishment until today... Most founders of companies and those who established special commercial relations or obtained foreign company agencies were either Fatah members or linked to the Authority and connected to Fatah... Most corruption files remain unresolved and without results... Most positions in the Authority are given to Fatah cadres or those who have earned the leaders' favor, not limited to high positions but also ordinary jobs... Palestinian embassies and offices abroad became Fatah's property and its cadres'... Estimates say over 80% of Palestinian diplomatic staff belong to Fatah or its affiliates... This was before hundreds of Fatah cadres were expelled by Hamas after its military coup against President Mahmoud Abbas; these cadres found refuge in Palestinian embassies worldwide, becoming part of their staff... It became common among Palestinians that obtaining a job requires first the party's approval before qualifications are considered; this is the norm...
It was not limited to money and positions; domination, arrogance, and ignoring national consensus and institutional decisions became the prevailing reality in the Palestinian situation... In this atmosphere, Fatah deals daily with the people and understands its responsibility as managing the Authority... Blind loyalty to the party and its leader is the only measure... Fatah acts according to the Arab saying: 'He who eats from the Sultan's bread must strike with his sword'...!
This arbitrary, reactionary principle of dominating authority and mismanaging governance affected not only 'enemies' from other factions but also anyone within Fatah who dared question President Mahmoud Abbas's statements... This happened with Nasser Al-Qidwa, Fares Qadura, Issa Qaraqe, Muhammad Dahlan, and many others... Anyone seeking a position in Fatah or its authority must be a blind, deaf, mute servant... The 'pledging' campaigns for President Abbas can only be understood in this context. Free opinion and sincere national unity stances became taboo within the movement, with no place for their holders in the front ranks... The president's word became sacred and unchallengeable; this was evident when he publicly relinquished the right of return before a Zionist delegation, sanctified security coordination with the occupation, and forgot the symbol of the Palestinian revolution and movement founder, the late President Arafat, in his speech before the last National Council... The movement's flock praised Abbas with Shaqiri's eulogy and ignored Arafat with applause... Fatah lost its compass.
With the departure of leader Yasser Arafat, the movement lost its symbol, strength, and unity, turning into a 'political mall' shop in shop... consisting of small shops run by movement leaders and managed by President Mahmoud Abbas. The shop owners are satisfied with the mall's general manager from a win-win perspective... Those who object are excluded from the political Fatah mall... The inheritance war for the mall's general manager began years ago... We now see alignments of Fatah shop owners, each brandishing his sword against 'enemies' from Palestinian revolution factions to prove his unpatriotic loyalty to Fatah's authority financiers...
The backbone of the Palestinian cause, Fatah, is broken with no savior in sight...
Fatah's dominance in the Palestinian arena does not stem from its cohesion, unity, or clear political program... Its strength results from the weakness of other leftist, national, liberal Palestinian movements and Islamic movements... Fatah is a paper fortress unmoved by the other political side's statements and denunciations in the Palestinian arena...
Political Islam, led by Hamas, contracted the same disease—authority and statehood—that afflicted Fatah before them, falling into the same trap and repeating the same mistakes of favoritism, blind obedience, and dividing the spoils... The Palestinian left is another story... Internal divisions prevail in most factions, especially the Popular Front, Democratic Front, and People's Party. The Palestinian Initiative has not yet emerged from a one-hero party... The national left transformed from a partner in revolution, cause, and political program into a fragmented follower... It lost its independence and political compass, turning into movements of denunciation and statements... This left has not yet presented itself as a unified alternative to Fatah's dominance in the West Bank and Hamas's dominance in Gaza, content with raising the slogan of national unity without proposing a political alternative program responsive to the new reality in occupied Palestine, refugee camps in the region, and recent developments in the 1948 occupied territories...
Today, Fatah holds a meeting of the PLO Central Council with participation from the People's Party and Fida Movement, whose participation was bought with crumbs from the Palestinian National Fund... The Central Council convenes to continue the last National Council's path to deepen and entrench Palestinian division... No new political program, no retreat from the destructive Oslo path, no answers to new reality demands such as economic hardship, ongoing siege of Gaza, the Zionist nationality law, and new regional realities... Fatah lost its compass with no savior in sight.
