Dahlan: Abbas holds keys to Palestinian reconciliation

Mohammed Dahlan says Fatah is lacking leadership and organisation Gaza – Mohammed Habib Palestinian leader and Legislative Council member Mohammed Dahlan has described the turnout at Fatah's 48th anniversary festival on Friday as "tremendous." He added that the event itself was "exceptional, unmatched in the history of the Palestinian national movement, or even the history of Palestine itself." The event was well attended "not because Fatah instructed its cadres to get into gear to celebrate this anniversary, but because the Palestinian people wanted to make their voice heard through the movement."
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Dahlan said he is not waiting for permission from anyone to do his duty for Fatah, adding that "the hundreds of thousands of Fatah's children who came out want to put the movement back on its correct path, because we are Fatah supporters to the core and seek a leadership for Fatah that would recover the movement's status." He said he remains part of the movement because "President Mahmoud Abbas could not find anything with which to charge me."
Discussing Fatah's current leadership situation, Dahlan said, "Fatah is a base with no leadership and a leadership with no organisation," adding that "these masses await a message of goodwill from Hamas, and want the leadership to rebuild the base and the movement. He said that he derives his rights from "Fatah's children" and "the president has taken my rights away and he must reinstate them and apologise, which I only care about on an organisational level."
He said that Fatah "should bring in a new generation and agree on the formula and substance of the resistance," adding "we must agree on a clear political programme and a clear programme of resistance. The national reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas is the key to Palestine's independence and freedom from occupation. [The festival] is a strong message to Israel to let it know that the Palestinian people do not die and will recover their liberty regardless of how long it takes," he said.
He added that "the keys to national reconciliation are in the hands of President Abbas, and everyone must stand by Fatah and support the unity of the Palestinian people."
Dahlan also said that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's decision to allow the anniversary festival to be held in Gaza "is evidence of his intelligence and proved his backing for national reconciliation."
Meanwhile, analysts say that the clashes that took place at Fatah's 48th anniversary festival held in Gaza City's Saraya Square revealed the depth of the conflict between the supporters of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the sacked leader.
Writer and analyst Mustafa al-Sawwaf said: "The large crowds that took part in the festival on Friday can be interpreted as an attempt by Fatah to put on a display of its popularity and to reassert that it still has support among the Gaza population, despite its disagreement with Hamas and being banned from staging similar events over the past few years."
On the address delivered by Abbas via live feed, al-Sawwaf said, "he disregarded the political aspect and the movement's future policies regarding Palestinian internal relations or its relationship with Arab and foreign countries and so on," adding that "Abbas made do with complimenting Fatah supporters, addressing their emotions and highlighting the movement's launch."
Al-Sawwaf added, "Fatah is incapable of managing its mass turnout, which was apparent in its loss of control over the crowds and its leaders' withdrawal. This confirms the size of the internal schism in the movement between the supporters of President Abbas and Mohammed Dahlan. The Dahlan group was successful in its plan to sabotage the festival as its elements seized control of the stage, did not allow any of the speakers to deliver their speeches, creating problems and cutting the audio cables. They were successful and the movement announced the termination of festivities," the writer said.
Interior ministry spokesperson, Islam Shahwan, confirmed that "knife fights" broke out between Abbas and Dahlan supporters attending the festival.
Political analyst Hassan Abdou has said that the festival crowds "affirmed that the Palestinian people could not be defeated and are determined to continue on the path to liberation." Abdou added that the turnout also "represented the strength of the movement which was launched to resist the Israeli occupation."
"Despite the internal polarisation between Fatah and Hamas, the crowd also sent a message to the Israeli occupation indicating that the Palestinian people are united and capable of steadfastness, and that the masses that headed towards the Saraya Square on Friday are sending the message that Fatah still has its popularity and its weight in the strip, despite the halt of presidential and legislative elections, which were held on the distant dates of 1996 and 2006," he added.
On the untimely end of the festivities, Abdou said: "There are two stories here. One, adopted by Fatah, says that unexpected jostling among the crowds hampered the programme and that the organisers were unable to impose their control. The second story is about internal disputes in the movement which led to the festival and some of the items on its programme being interrupted, leading to the announcement of the termination of the festival after PA President Mahmoud Abbas' address." On the content of the address, Abdou said it "demonstrated the need for national reconciliation and that it is a unanimous demand of the masses as well as the factions."
Meanwhile, in an article titled "anarchy," Fatah media official Hisham Saqallah has written about "a state of total chaos that hit the organisers in the absence of a field commander keeping track of the situation forcefully and competently."
Saqallah also wrote: "The Fatah leaders left the running of the festival to give television interviews in the balcony of one of the towers overseeing the square where the festival was being held. The leader of the movement in the Gaza Strip, Nabil Shaath, left, despite being the one responsible for the organisation and running of the festival."
"No one performed their role, nor carried out their organisational duties, in a time of chaos. Despite the major triumph of the mass turnout, the Fatah leadership failed to make this huge festival a success as a result of the absence of a sound organisational leadership capable of handling such events and situations," he wrote, adding that the masses who attended the celebration "need a leadership that can lead this gigantic movement."
The Hamas government in Gaza had approved the staging of Fatah's 48th anniversary festival in downtown Gaza City Saraya Square, which was redubbed Martyr Yasser Arafat Square by festival attendees.