The Eighth General Conference: Between the Desire for Development and Responsible Behavior

According to the internal regulations of Fatah, the General Conference of the movement is considered the highest organizational authority. In it, visions and organizational, political, and national building programs, among other various-dimensional initiatives, are formulated, reaffirming the validity of the movement since its inception and its ongoing legitimacy in its struggle. In other words, membership in the conference is necessarily elite, intellectual, experienced, and politically and organizationally aware (i.e., not a herd). We present our great movement to our people and all other forces that support the legitimacy of our struggle and showcase what Fatah has achieved for our people since its inception in 1965, including:

▪️ Establishing a struggle identity: transforming the Palestinian cause from a refugee issue into a national liberation cause and maintaining the independence of the Palestinian decision.

▪️ Establishing the National Authority: creating a Palestinian entity over part of the land (the West Bank and Gaza Strip) and the subsequent establishment of state institutions.

▪️ International diplomacy: securing broad international recognition, including the recognition of the State of Palestine at the United Nations and raising the Palestinian flag there.

▪️ Adopting popular resistance: shifting from armed struggle to political action and popular resistance, leading the Al-Aqsa Intifada through the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

▪️ Establishing national foundations: founding student youth groups and cooperatives, and prioritizing support for national products.

▪️ The return of refugees: working to bring hundreds of thousands of Palestinians back to Palestinian land since 1993.

▪️ Establishing the foundations of democracy and political pluralism.

In light of these achievements and as we stand at the threshold of the Eighth General Conference, which convenes under extremely complex movement, national, and regional circumstances, along with the significant challenges facing our national cause, it becomes a great injustice to fall into mistakes that may reflect adversely on our national path as a whole.

The convening of the Eighth General Conference, ten years after the previous one, is a significant moment that requires addressing all shortcomings and developing structures and reinforcing all levers of sustainable movement and national presence; it is not merely an electoral conference.

My brother, as a member of the General Conference representing an elite cadre, play your role in rebuilding the movement, correcting a path, and responsibly choosing leaders for the movement. I reject all policies of mobilization, quotas, geography, and favoritism that have led to the decline of the movement's presence in all arenas and weakened its pioneering and leadership role in guiding our people toward their national goals. I strongly oppose any behavior that does not befit you as an aware organizational and movement cadre. Let the criteria of desire, ability, competence, and achievement drive the process of selection.

Select those with successful experiences, who have movement, national, and professional achievements, whether they are in movement positions or have held positions in the National Authority. These are the ones capable of sustaining our project. Remember that some have only achieved for themselves despite holding roles in movement and administrative frameworks and have used their positions as platforms for personal projects, benefiting only their acquaintances at the expense of the movement and its loyal cadres, corrupting it in all its forms and distorting the image of the movement and its heroic history.

Great challenges require an effective, aware leadership that is not ruled by geography, arenas, or favoritism, whose loyalty and affiliation are to Palestine and Fatah, and who are ready to sacrifice.

My brother, as a conference member, be one of the levers of our national project and engrave your name in the history of building through your actions. Do not be a tool of demolition, and remember that today you sit on the seats of those who established and created an identity for our people, so do not betray them.

There are discussions that the conference may be held in a hall system (West Bank, Gaza, abroad) due to circumstances preventing its convening in one hall, and that the number may approach 3000 members, which could affect the outcome in a way that does not serve or enhance the strength of the movement in a complicated situation.

Therefore, I suggest electing a number according to an agreed mechanism that considers the circumstances in the outside, West Bank, and Gaza for an intermediary body with an agreed-upon and acceptable number as a General Council for the movement, and this body will elect the Revolutionary Council and the Central Committee to minimize the margin of error. The general situation and significant challenges cannot afford mistakes.