January 3, 2002	Thursday	Shawwal 18, 1422

RAMALLAH: A power struggle between a more radical, younger generation and old guard leaders threatens to splinter Yasser Arafat’s Fatah, the most important faction in the Palestinian fight against Israeli occupation.

Fatah’s internal strife poses no immediate threat to Arafat’s stature as the embodiment of Palestinian nationalism, but could make it difficult for him to make concessions to Israel in future talks, Fatah officials and Palestinian analysts said.

“The younger generation in Fatah, the grassroots, reflects the Palestinian people’s aspirations, and interests and in future peace talks with Israel, they will influence Arafat in a way which will make it more difficult for him to make compromises to Israel,” analyst Ghassan al-Khatib told Reuters.

More radical, younger members of Fatah, the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), have been at the forefront of the uprising, or Intifada, against Israeli military rule which erupted when peace talks crumbled in September 2000.

Disappointed not to have statehood eight years after the Oslo peace accords when Fatah silenced its guns, the so-called young guard favours a strategy that combines armed struggle with negotiations in the quest for independence.

They have agreed to comply with Arafat’s recent ceasefire call because the Palestinian president, their 73-year-old father figure, has come under international pressure to put a stop to more than 15 months of violence. But they want a bigger say in Fatah and in the Palestinian cause.

Marwan al-Barghouthi, a prominent young guard leader and a key player in the uprising, said the new generation demanded “new elections, transparency, and the incorporation of the new generation in decision-making bodies”.

“If this doesn’t happen soon, the gaps between the new, intifada generation and the old generation will widen,” he said as Fatah marked the 37th anniversary of its founding.

Fatah, formed on Jan 1, 1965, originally called for the destruction of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state on all lands that made up the former British mandate of Palestine.

It now calls for a state on only 22 percent of historic Palestine, made up of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which were occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War. Both the old and new guard share the goal of independence but differ on how to achieve it.

Some Fatah radicals have appeared more in tune with Hamas and Islamic Jihad than with their faction’s own established leadership.

The old guard, which owes its position to the 1993 Oslo accords, wants to end the latest conflict with Israel that has claimed more than 1,000 lives, most of them Palestinians.

The young guard say that since it has led the way in the fight against Israeli occupation, it deserves a greater role in running Palestinian affairs.

It is also calling for an end to the official corruption it blames on some members of the older leadership.

“I have not struggled and made sacrifices so that a handful of corrupt people, thieves, benefit,” said Jamal Hweil, leader of the Fatah-linked Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

“This is a very sensitive issue and President Arafat has to put an end to corruption otherwise there will be an explosion,” he said.

If reform demands are not satisfied, the young guard may decide to break away from Fatah, analysts said.

“If President Arafat fails to make internal reforms within Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, the system will be fragmented and the new generation will revolt against the old,” one local Fatah leader said.

But making changes in Fatah is not easy, given its lack of a clear ideology and absence of strong decision-making bodies. The last leadership elections were in 1989, when the old guard was in exile.

“It is difficult for anybody, even for Arafat, to control Fatah’s members 100 percent,” said Nabil Amr, one of the older generation of leaders.

The discord within Fatah is building at a time when Arafat has already been pushed by international pressure into a confrontation with the most militant groups and forced to round up dozens of their members.

Hamas has said that it will follow Arafat’s call to suspend attacks inside Israel, but other groups have been less categorical. Young Fatah leaders say the arrests are unjustified after the suspension of attacks by the fighters.

But despite the difficulties, some believe Arafat is Fatah’s best hope of staying in one piece and retaining its significance in the struggle for Palestinian statehood.

“Arafat’s leadership is the glue that keeps together the old guard and the young guard,” said analyst Khalil Shaki.—Reuters