QADURA FARES CRITICIZES FATAH LEADERSHIP ON REFORM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000553

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE. NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/PASCUAL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/27/2018
TAGS: KWBG PGOV PREL PTER IS
SUBJECT: QADURA FARES CRITICIZES FATAH LEADERSHIP ON REFORM
AND THE SIXTH CONGRESS

REF: A. JERUSALEM 137


B. JERUSALEM 265

C. JERUSALEM 353

D. JERUSALEM 454

Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. Grassroots Fatah leader Qadura Fares told
Staffdel Diamond on March 25 that President Mahmud Abbas (Abu
Mazen) is losing credibility because Palestinians see no
progress on negotiations and no changes on the ground. He
said imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghuthi is the only
alternative to Abbas. Fares said he doubts Abbas has the
will to make the Sixth Fatah Congress happen this year. He
described a letter Barghuthi sent to Abbas and the Sixth
Congress preparatory committee suggesting three separate
Congress sessions held in the West Bank, Gaza and abroad.
The letter recommends including 5,000 Fatah members drawn
from a diverse participant base and urged an increase in the
number of Fatah Central Committee (FCC) and Fatah
Revolutionary Council (FRC) positions. Fares said the
preparatory committee rejected Barghuthi's suggestions and
wants fewer participants. End Summary.

Fatah Leadership
"Like a Corpse"
--------------


2. (C) At a March 25 meeting with Staffdel Diamond in
Ramallah, grassroots Fatah leader Qadura Fares said the Fatah
leadership is "like a corpse" and that there is less
democracy within the movement now than in Yasser Arafat's
time. Every night, he said, Arafat received delegations from
all Fatah groups, including women, NGOs, syndicates, and
imams, to listen to their concerns. In contrast, Fares said
"Abu Mazen has no time for the people and is always
traveling." For example, he said President Abbas has not
visited Hebron since his presidential election campaign in

2005. Fares suggested a visit to Hebron by Abbas would be
important for the one-third of West Bankers who live in the
south. "It would be more useful for Abu Mazen to visit
Hebron than Nouakchott," he added, referring to a recent trip
to West Africa. Fares called Abbas' advisors "self-serving
and a burden" and said Abbas has transformed Fatah into "a
state of catastrophe rather than an active machine."


3. (C) Fares said "I'm fed up with Fatah reform, but there
are no alternatives." He stressed that new leadership is the
first step forward and suggested imprisoned Fatah leader
Marwan Barghuthi as the only alternative to Abbas. Fares
said he prefers to see Barghuthi released as a result of a
GOI deal with Hamas, likely in return for IDF solider Gilad
Shalit, rather than through an agreement made by Abbas, to
avoid connection to Abbas in Barghuthi's return to the
Palestinian political stage.

Not Optimistic about Negotiations
--------------


4. (C) Fares said Abbas is losing credibility because
Palestinians see no progress on negotiations with the GOI and
no changes on the ground. In Abbas' three years in office
and PM Fayyad's nine months, Fares said no checkpoints have
been removed. He added that Fayyad is "credible and
professional," but will never be a real leader because he
"does not have the credibility of a Palestinian national
fighter. He added that Hamas is using the suffering of
Gazans to their advantage by lumping Abu Mazen and PM Fayyad
with Israel and the U.S. "I know we won't have peace this
year," said Fares. "We need to maintain hope, but no one has
hope in Abu Mazen," he added.

Barghuthi's Letter to
Abu Mazen on Sixth Congress
--------------


5. (C) Fares said he doubts Abbas will succeed in holding
the Sixth Fatah Congress this year. If held, Fares said
grassroots members must use the Congress to send the message
that "we are open-minded" and willing to include a diverse
array of Fatah members. Fares said opening up the Congress
to a mix of participants is important, including elected
Fatah committee members, former and current PLC members,
youth, municipal council members, mayors, private sector
actors, professional syndicate members, journalists, and
academics. He said Barghuthi sent a letter to Abu Mazen and
the Congress preparatory committee on March 17 (copy obtained
by ConGen POL FSN) offering suggestions for the Sixth
Congress, including that Fatah women must equal 20 percent of

JERUSALEM 00000553 002 OF 002


Congress participants, Congress should include all freed
Fatah prisoners who spent more than ten years in Israeli
prisons, and Fatah should find a way to represent the 6,000
Fatah prisoners currently in Israeli prisons. Barghuthi
wrote "it is important to have representatives from all
sectors in order to unify the Fatah movement."


6. (C) Also in the letter, Barghuthi suggests inviting at
least 5,000 Fatah members to the Sixth Congress, noting that
the movement has grown exponentially since the Fifth Congress
in 1989. Barghuthi recommends holding the Congress in three
separate sessions in the West Bank, Gaza, and abroad to
include all Fatah members, rather than in Amman or Cairo (the
preference of many Fatah Old Guard members). He also urges
an increase in FCC membership from 21 to 31 and in FRC
membership from 120 to 250. Fares told PolOff that the Sixth
Congress preparatory committee rejected Barghuthi's
suggestions claiming his proposed number of Congress
participants is too high.


7. (U) Staffdel Diamond did not have the opportunity to
clear on this cable.
WALLES