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 JERUSALEM 00001394 002 OF 003 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. JERUSALEM 00001394 003 OF 003 -- 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