Events marking the anniversary of the start of the ‘intifada’ have usually taken the form of thousands of Palestinians participating in rallies supportive of the struggle and their leader, Chairman Yassir Arafat. At least, they have until now.
Such events aim to promote unity within the Palestinian people and to bring them together under the banner of the well-known slogans of the uprising. Unifying the Palestinians is perhaps the main goal of Arafat and other leaders in the Palestinian Authority (PA). This is the basis of the love-hate relationship vis-à-vis organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the attempts to incorporate these movements into the PA.
However, unity does not come easily, even within the strongest party in the PA, Fatah, headed by Arafat himself. Clashes between Chairman Arafat, Mahmoud ‘Abbas and ‘Abbas’s loyalist, Muhammad Dahlan, which began during ‘Abbas’s governance, caused ‘Abbas’s government to fall a mere four months after it was created. Now there are indications of a new internal rift in the Fatah organization – the younger generation against the Old Guard.
A protest in Khan Yunis (inside the Gaza Strip) on Saturday was intended to express support of the ‘intifada’, marking its third anniversary. Yet, what started as a standard manifestation of unity ended quite unexpectedly. Supporters of the former Palestinian minister of internal security, Muhammad Dahlan, openly called for the ousting of the current Fatah leadership. This is the first time during a Fatah rally that pictures of Dahlan, who is considered part of the younger generation, were displayed unaccompanied by pictures of more established leaders. Dahlan gained many loyalists in Gaza while serving in his previous post as head of preventative security in Gaza. Besides Dahlan, pictures of two other senior Fatah members appeared: ‘Abbas Zaki and Hani Al-Hasan, both considered part of Fatah’s Old Guard. Zaki’s picture carried the slogan ‘Stupid’ whereas Al-Hasan’s picture bore the slogan ‘Not Hasan,’ a play on words which can be translated as ‘Bad.’
The Fatah Internet forum, Al-Multaqa Al-Fathawi [the Fatah forum], wrote of this extraordinary occurrence in detail. According to the forum, armed men from the Ahmad Abu Rish Brigades and Al-Aq’sa Brigades, both Fatah militant factions, participated in the demonstration. They carried weapons, including RPGs and shoulder-fired missiles, and drove military jeeps.
Palestinian law forbids carrying weapons during protests, but the authorities rarely enforce this law.
Proclamations were distributed during the protest on behalf of what has been labeled the ‘quiet majority’ in the movement. The signatories of these proclamations were Al-Aq’sa Brigades, as well as organization members from the southern Gaza Strip. The proclamations accused the Old Guard of Fatah, including Hani Al-Hasan, ‘Abbas Zaki and ‘Sakhar Habash of planning a conspiracy. They called for the dismissal of these leaders from their posts and elections for the movement’s Central Council, which will consist of ‘new blood.’ There have been no elections for the Central Council for 14 years and this, in effect, has prevented any possibility of revitalizing the council’s makeup.
“Our people and the members of our movement are tired of slogans such as ‘The historic, revolutionary nucleus, the initial believers’ or ‘There is no leader besides the symbol Abu ‘Ammar [Arafat],’” one of the proclamations stated, adding, “These slogans and others must undergo a process of change and renewal.” The proclamation praised Muhammad Dahlan and remarked that Dahlan is under attack from the Old Guard because of his attempt to fight corruption. It seems that this is not a personal assault against Arafat himself, but rather against the stagnancy which has spread in the general leadership of Fatah. Still, such a direct and blatant statement that dares question the Chairman’s sole leadership is unprecedented.
The Internet site “Islam Online” interviewed a senior Fatah member, on condition of anonymity, regarding the incident. “Many of the movement’s activists who participated in the rally were misled,” said the source, adding that the invitation to the rally called to express support for Arafat, not to attack senior members of the movement. “Those behind this are from Al-Aq’sa Brigades, and it is known that they belong to the preventative security mechanism [headed by Dahlan].”
The Fatah forum’s manager wrote that Al-Aq’sa Brigades in Khan Yunis has two streams: members of the main stream are considered Arafat loyalists, whilst members of the second group are considered loyalists of Dahlan, still the strongman in the preventative security mechanism.
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Notices in support of Old Guard (Al-Hayyat Al-Jadida)
The day after the demonstration, the Palestinian daily Al-Hayyat Al-Jadida published ten notices on behalf of several organizations expressing their support of Chairman Arafat and ‘Abbas Zaki, and condemning the events of the previous day [see illustration above]. The notices covered nearly the whole bottom half of the front page, an indication of the event’s gravity and the seriousness with which it was regarded.