Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07JERUSALEM1502
2007-07-19 13:11:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Jerusalem
Cable title:  

QADURA FARES ON INTERNATIONAL MEETING AND FATAH

Tags:  KWBG PGOV PREL PTER KDEM PHUM IS 
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VZCZCXRO7198
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #1502 2001311
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 191311Z JUL 07
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8425
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC PRIORITY
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)

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