Last Update: 06/07/2004 08:58
 
Arafat losing in Fatah elections in Gaza
 
By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent
 
Over Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's
objections, the Fatah movement in Gaza is proceeding
with elections that began on May 26 and are expected
to go on for several more weeks.
 
According to Fatah sources, so far the vast majority
of those elected are identified with the reformists
who are demanding greater democracy in the movement,
and the old guard is losing. Other sources are saying
bluntly that Mohammed Dahlan's camp is winning.

Because of the Dahlan camp's successes, Arafat last
weekend ordered a halt to the electoral process.
Nonetheless, elections slated for the Rimal area in
northern Gaza took place as scheduled on Sunday.
Turning out for the vote were 1,060 Fatah members in
Rimal. Since May, there have been votes held in five
precincts in Gaza: Beit Hanun, with 450 voters;
Jabalya City; two Jabalya refugee camp neighborhoods,
with 950 voters in one district; and Beit Lahia, with
650 voters. According to the organizers, more than 95
percent of the eligible voters took part in the
elections.

Fatah is organized into seven districts in Gaza, and
each has five voting precincts, except for Khan Yunis,
which has four. Altogether, there are 34 voting
precincts in the Strip. The current process is
electing 38 representatives from each district, and
another 12 are appointed. Those elected from the
precincts elect 11 district representatives, and in
each district, the local leadership appoints another
four representatives, so that each district has 15
representatives, and the 105 elected representatives
from the seven districts are supposed join West Bank
and Diaspora representatives in electing the new
revolutionary council, which in turn elects the new
central committee for the movement.

Arafat ordered a halt to the elections indirectly,
through the head of the General Security forces in
Gaza, Abed Razik al Majada, who ordered the Gaza Fatah
secretary Ahmed Hilis to cancel the elections and
remove from the lists all the security forces
personnel running for election, who are considered the
most likely victors. Majada made clear he was acting
on Arafat's orders.

The large turnout encouraged organizers to ignore
Arafat's orders. A senior Fatah source told Haaretz
that "we want to encourage the Fatah in Gaza, the West
Bank and Diaspora to follow our lead and hold internal
elections, so we can elect a new Fatah central
committee. The last time a central committee was
elected was 16 years ago."

All the current central committee members, except one,
are "Tunis-Fatah," meaning they came to the
territories with the arrival of the PA after the Oslo
accords in 1993. Nobody directly challenged Arafat's
leadership during the election campaigns.

One area where elections might be postponed is in the
Sejea area, since it is the home base of Hilis, who is
identified with Arafat.

But one of the election organizers told Haaretz that
he and his colleagues will do everything to make the
elections succeed and spread throughout all of Gaza.