FATAH CONGRESS: PRELIMINARY CENTRAL COMMITTEE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JERUSALEM 001394

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND IPA; NSC FOR SHAPIRO/KUMAR; JOINT
STAFF FOR LTGEN SELVA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/11/2019
TAGS: PGOV PTER PINR KWBG KDEM KPAL
SUBJECT: FATAH CONGRESS: PRELIMINARY CENTRAL COMMITTEE
RESULTS ARRIVE

Classified By: Deputy Principal Officer Greg Marchese
for reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) Summary: Fatah officials have released a
"semi-official" list of the new Fatah Central Committee
(FCC). Only four incumbent FCC members retained their seats
in elections held August 10; the other 14 members largely
reflect familiar Fatah power centers. The biggest surprise
was Abu Ala'a's absence from the list, though contacts
suggest that he may be appointed to one of the final four
positions on the FCC. Results are not yet in for the Fatah
Revolutionary Council (FRC). Biographies of FCC members
announced so far follow in para 5. End Summary.


2. (C) Fatah officials on August 11 released a
"semi-official" list of 18 FCC members who won in elections
held on August 10. Of the eight incumbent FCC members who
ran for re-election, four retained their seats. The winner
of the highest number of votes appears to be 78-year-old
Mohammed Ghneim (Abu Maher). Contacts attributed his success
to his reputation as a symbol of Fatah, as well as his return
to the West Bank last month from Jordan.


3. (C) The other members on the list are broadly
representative of Fatah's key power centers, including jailed
Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouthi. Fatah officials are
still reviewing challenges to the count, and the final tally
may yet shift. Initial results for FRC elections, also held
August 10, are not expected until August 12 or 13.


4. (C) "Old Guard" stalwart Abu Ala'a failed to retain his
FCC seat. Contacts told PolSpec that Abu Mazen may attempt
to address Abu Ala'a's exclusion by appointing him to one of
the four FCC seats set aside from elections. These contacts
also suggested that the final, adjusted vote count could
bring Abu Ala'a into eighteenth position, and thus onto a
seat on the FCC.

Biographies
--------------


5. (SBU) Biographic information on the FCC members announced
on August 11 follows:

-- MOHAMMED GHNEIM (ABU MAHER): (estimated 1,367
votes). DOB: 1937. FCC member since 1972. A long-time
Arafat loyalist, whose links to Fatah's founders date back to

1958. Spent most of his life in the Palestinian diaspora
(Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Tunis),and refused to return to
"occupied Palestine" at the time of Oslo. Following his
August 29 return to the West Bank, which was brokered by Abu
Mazen, is considered the number two in Fatah.

-- MAHMOUD AL ALOUL: (estimated 1,112 votes). DOB:

1944. Became a political activist post-1967, and spent the
1970s and 1980s in Tunis following his arrest and deportation
by Israeli authorities. Appointed Governor of Nablus upon
his return to the West Bank in 1995. His son Jihad was
killed in the year 2000 in a confrontation with Israel
Defense Forces (IDF). Elected as a Palestinian Legislative
Council (PLC) member in 2006.

-- MARWAN AL BARGOUTHI: (estimated 1,063 votes).
DOB: 1959. One of the founders of Fatah Youth in the
mid-1970s. FRC member since 1989; won a PLC seat as an
independent in 1996. Arrested by the IDF in 2002, and
sentenced to five successive life sentences plus 40 years for
his involvement in the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade.

-- NASER AL QIDWEH: (estimated 964 votes). DOB:

1953. Active in Fatah since the 1970s; President of the
General Union of Palestine Students in Egypt 1981-1986.
Alternative Permanent Observer of the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) to the United Nations 1981-1986; Permanent
PLO Observer to the UN 1991-2005.

-- SALIM AL ZANOUN: (estimated 920 votes). DOB:
estimated 1931. Allied with the founders of Fatah since the
1950s, while working in Kuwait. FCC member since 1965.
Speaker of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) -- the
legislative body of the PLO -- since the mid-1980s.
Amman-based.

-- JIBRIL RAJOUB (estimated 908 votes). DOB: 1953.
Sentenced to life in prison at age 15 for throwing a grenade
at an IDF convoy; released after 17 years in a prisoner swap.
Deported in 1988 for involvement in the First Intifada; FRC

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member since 1989. Returned to the West Bank in 1994;
appointed by Arafat as West Bank Preventive Security
Organization (PSO) head in 1995. Appointed Arafat's National
Security Advisor in 2003, a position he retained under
President Abbas in 2005.

-- TAWFIQ TARAWI (estimated 911 votes). DOB: 1944.
Mid-level PLO and Fatah security official in Lebanon and
Syria in the 1970s. Imprisoned by Syria during the 1984-86
PLO-Syrian conflict; released in 1993. Upon his return to
the West Bank in 1996, appointed head of General Intelligence
(GI) in the West Bank. In 2002, promoted to head of the GI
in the West Bank and Gaza. Removed from his position in 2008
by President Abbas, and appointed presidential advisor on
security affairs.

-- SAEB EREKAT (estimated 863 votes). DOB: 1955.
Elected to the PLC in 1996; re-elected in 2006. Currently
Chairman of the PLO Negotiation Affairs Department;
personally involved in negotiations at Camp David (2000) and
Taba (2001),as well as more recent Palestinian-Israeli
negotiations.

-- OTHMAN ABU GHARBIYYEH (estimated 854 votes).
DOB: 1946. Joined Fatah in 1963, and subsequently became
General Officer of Fatah forces in Jordan. FRC member since
1980; PNC member since 1984. Later served as PLO Central
Council member and member of the now-defunct PLO Higher
Military Council.

-- MOHAMMED DAHLAN (estimated 853 votes). DOB:

1961. First Intifada activist; deported to Tunis in 1988.
Upon his return, headed the PSO in the Gaza Strip until his
2002 resignation. Dismissed as National Security Advisor in
2002 following disagreements with Arafat. Appointed Minister
of Security Affairs in 2003, and Minister of Civil Affairs in

2005. Elected to the PLC in 2006.

-- MOHAMMED AL MADANI (estimated 841 votes). DOB:

841. Joined Fatah as a young military officer in Jordan in
the 1970s, subsequently moved to Lebanon. FRC member since
1989; Governor of Bethlehem 2001-2005. Worked closely with
Abu Ala'a as an assistant until several months ago, when he
left, reportedly following a split.

-- JAMAL MUHEISSEN (estimated 733 votes). DOB
estimated 1944. Fatah member since the 1970s; long-time
Fatah employee in its Lebanon, Yemen, and Tunisia offices.
FRC member since 1989. Returned to the Palestinian
Territories in 1996, and afterwards became Minister of Youth
and Sports. More recently served as Governor of Nablus.

-- HUSSEIN AL SHEIKH (estimated 726 votes). Born:

1960. Imprisoned by the GOI 1978-89 for Fatah-related
activities. Amongst founders of Fatah Higher Committee (FHC)
in 1992; later elected FHC West Bank Secretary General in

1999.

-- AZZAM AL AHMED (estimated 690 votes). Born:

1947. PLO representative to Iraq 1979-1994. FRC member
since 1989. Elected as a PLC member from Jenin in 1996.
Minister of Public Works 1996-2002; Minister of
Telecommunications and Technology 2003-2005. Re-elected to
the PLC in 2006, and subsequently chosen as PLC Fatah bloc
head.

-- SULTAN ABU EL ENAIN (estimated 677 votes). Born:

1951. FRC member since early 1990s; long-term representative
of PLO factions in Lebanon. Was sentenced to death in
absentia by Lebanese courts in 1999, leaving him largely
confined since then in Lebanon's al Rasheediyeh Camp.

-- NABIL SHAATH (estimated 645 votes). Born: 1938.
Joined Fatah while a student in Cairo in the 1970s; appointed
to the FCC in 1989. Minister of Planning 1996-2002. Elected
to the PLC in 1996 and re-elected in 2006. Also served as
Minister of External Relations (2003),Deputy Prime Minister
(2005),and Minister of Information (2005).

-- ABBAS ZAKI: (estimated 641 votes). Born: 1942.
Joined Fatah in 1962; FRC member since 1970. Appointed PLO
representative in Yemen in 1974. Former colleague of Abu
Mazen's in the PLO's Tunis office. In 1989, elected to the
FCC. Former head of the PLO's Lebanon Committee and Fatah
Committee Secretary. Elected to the PLC from Hebron in 2006,
and appointed as PLO representative to Lebanon the same year.


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-- MOHAMMED SHTAYYEH: (estimated 638 votes). Born:

1958. Founding member of the Palestinian Development Fund in
1990, and of the Palestinian Housing Council in 1991. Member
of the PLO delegation to Madrid in 1991. Member of PLO
Technical Committee established in Jerusalem in 1993. Became
Secretary General of the Palestinian Central Election
Committee (CEC) in 1996. Served as Minister of Public Works
and Housing since 2005.

WALLES