If You Do Not Believe in Us, We Will Renounce You

Not because we want to be heard, but because prolonged silence becomes a betrayal of meaning, and because when the truth is besieged, it can only be stated fully, without hesitation or fear.

We are the generation that was not formed in offices, but in positions, schools, universities, and institutes, and we did not learn belonging from slogans but from sacrifice. We are those who did not inherit the name but paid the price for it, and we are children of the Fatah Movement, where belonging is a true commitment, not a fleeting claim, and where the movement is a continuous act, not merely a dangling image.

We do not seek a place as much as we refuse to be excluded from a place we deserve, and we do not search for a role to be granted but prevent our role from being stolen in the name of history or under the pretext of experience that no longer yields results.

From here, we state it clearly without room for interpretation: if you do not believe in us, we will renounce you. We will renounce the mentality of exclusion that constrains competence, and we will renounce the circles of monopoly that fear change, and we will renounce all those who see young talents as a threat instead of an opportunity to salvage what can be saved.

The eighth conference is not a passing station in an organizational course, but a true defining moment for what the movement will become; it will either be a new launch that restores meaning or turn into a station that reproduces failure in heavy silence.

We support the renewal of allegiance, not out of a sense of protocol, but from the loyalty that resides within us and from a covenant that has not been broken to His Excellency President Abu Mazen and the Fatah hawks who have carried the banner in the toughest moments and paid—and continue to pay—the price of survival and struggle. As we renew this allegiance, we also renew our belonging and reaffirm that the relationship is not one of position or phase but of history, blood, and a shared path.

We say it with complete sincerity: we are not opposing the generations of the movement; rather, we are an extension of them, carrying the values and sacrifices they have bestowed upon us. We appreciate all who preceded us, opened the way for us, and we thank every hand that has carried this project, every mind that has protected it, and every heart that has believed in it. For you are the origin, and we are the extension; you are the beginnings, and we are the continuation of the story.

We are not against anyone, nor do we carry in our hearts anything but loyalty. We are your children before we are your partners, and what we say is not rebellion but concern, not rejection but an effort to save. For Fatah, which gave birth to Yasser Arafat, Khalil al-Wazir, Salah Khalaf, Khaled al-Hasan, and all the living and martyrdom of Fatah in us, cannot thrive if its true heirs—both in thought, approach, and position—are not present at its heart and centers of influence.

And we ask here, not in denial of anyone's right but out of concern for justice and equal opportunities: when did you join the circles of influence and decision within the movement? And how old were you then? And how many positions have you held over decades? Is it not this generation’s right to have spaces for participation and influence opened to them as they were opened to those who preceded them? And to be given the opportunity for action rather than being confined to the role of bystander?

We do not dispute the allegiance, but we affirm that allegiance built on names without a real impact is a formal allegiance that does not bolster the movement nor propel it forward, but rather keeps it closer to stagnation than movement.

We want an allegiance that resembles Fatah in its strength and renewal, an allegiance from those with a clear imprint and from minds capable of managing the coming phase, and from faces that have not been burdened by years without producing a commensurate effect.

To ask a whole generation to be witnesses, not partners, is not a passing flaw but a flaw in the distribution of opportunities within the very course, requiring a review—not exclusion or replacement—but fairness that restores balance between experience and energy.

We do not exclude anyone, but we refuse to be excluded and do not accept that the movement becomes a closed circle, nor that the future is managed by a mind that fears every new thing and content itself with guarding the past.

This movement was born to be young and renewed, to break molds and surprise the world, not to repeat itself and spin in the same loop. How is it conceivable that it is managed by a mentality that is satisfied with what was, and how can time be asked to stop in respect for those who can no longer keep pace?

We say it without hesitation: Fatah that does not renew risks losing its meaning, and Fatah that excludes its children weakens itself by its own hand and opens the door to a void unworthy of its history or the magnitude of its sacrifices.

We want a conference that redefines strength, not one that redistributes weakness. We want men and women under eighty years of age, with all due respect, but whose ages in action correspond to generations and carry the dream as a daily responsibility, not as a memory recounted.

We are children of Fatah; we are those who change the scene when they attend, and when they are absent, the meaning fades. We are those who do not wait for their turn but create it with the will and faith they possess.

So do not test our ability to remain silent, for we were not raised upon it, nor push us to the margins because we were not created for that, and open the path not as a courtesy to us but as a salvation for Fatah itself so that it may remain as it should be.