QADURA FARES ON INTERNATIONAL MEETING AND FATAH

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 001502 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR WATERS/ABRAMS/SINGH E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2017 TAGS: KWBG PGOV PREL PTER KDEM PHUM IS SUBJECT: QADURA FARES ON INTERNATIONAL MEETING AND FATAH Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary. In a July 18 meeting with PolChief, grassroots Fatah leader Qadura Fares welcomed President Bush's call for an international meeting and said serious momentum is needed to bring Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table. He said Fatah reform has stalled since Hamas' take-over of Gaza and the formation of the new government, and he urged that the sixth Fatah conference be delayed. Fares suggested creating a new Fatah committee with "clean faces" to be selected by Abu Mazen and Marwan Barghouti. He criticized former PM Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala'a) for preventing progress on Fatah reform, reiterated that PA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) must make certain difficult choices and said PM Fayyad should coordinate closely with Fatah to ensure his own political future. End Summary. Support for International Meeting -------------- ¶2. (C) In a July 18 meeting with PolChief, grassroots Fatah leader Qadura Fares welcomed President Bush's call for an international meeting and urged serious momentum to return Palestinians and Israelis to the negotiating table. He suggested that the meeting be at the head of state level and urged Syrian participation in the meeting. He said including Syria will blunt Hamas' opposition and "keep Hamas silent." Fares also said it is important that before the Fall meeting, the fugitive issue is resolved and some obstacles to West Bank access and movement are removed. New Fatah Committee Needed to Spur Reform -------------- ¶3. (C) Fares said the Fatah reform efforts have stalled, but he encouraged the U.S. to continue to support reform. He said, "We need to represent the reality we are in, so we need to create a committee with new faces." He added that standing Fatah bodies -- the Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council -- can continue in a ceremonial role, but PA Abu Mazen must create a "new and clean committee" to lead and reform Fatah. Fares, a close political ally of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, said one option is for Abu Mazen to consult with Barghouti on committee members to be appointed. Another option, Fares suggested, is for leaders of all the Fatah institutions to elect the committee members. He insisted that Abu Mazen must take action to reform the movement and that Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala'a)' "will do nothing." Fares dismissed Abu Ala'a's latest plan to create a new committee of 150-200 Fatah members for this purpose. (Comment: Fares continues to see a role for Abu Mazen in Fatah reform, despite all indications since Hamas's 2006 electoral victory that Abu Mazen will not take the difficult steps necessary to sideline the discredited Fatah leadership. End Comment.) ¶4. (C) Fares said he had revised previous views about the importance of holding the Sixth General Conference as soon as possible. He now believes the conference should be delayed because it risks splitting the movement. He said he does not believe that splitting the party will be productive or will lead to reform. PM Fayyad Must Coordinate with Fatah -------------- ¶5. (C) Fares said "independent, technocrats" cannot be the Palestinian political future and can never replace Fatah as the dominant secular, nationalist Palestinian voice. He said he wants to see PM Fayyad join Fatah and that he believes Fatah represents Fayyad's only long-term political option. "We can't bring Fatah to Fayyad so Fayyad must come to us," he said. Fares suggested that PM Fayyad could join the dominant Fatah organs and participate in the Sixth General Conference (when it is held) to elect a new leadership, although he does not have the history in the movement that would normally be required. Fares said PM Fayyad's current credibility comes from the support he has received from Fatah and to ensure his success, PM Fayyad must join Fatah. Fares said Barghouti has supported PM Fayyad, because "they have the same vision," and because Barghouti believes they can work together. Fares said suspicions of Fayyad persist within Fatah, and many perceive PM Fayyad as "a bridge," to get out of the current crisis, but they also see him as a "bridge that will later need to be dismantled." WALLES