FATAH'S decline in the aftermath of Yasser Arafat's death is a major tragedy for the Palestinian liberation movement. As one of the factions of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Fatah, founded in 1954, played a major role in reviving the Palestinian question, which most thought was dead after Israels 1967 victory over the Arab armies. Fatah's stunning resistance to the Israeli attack on Karameh added to its stature, and Mr Arafat and Fatah became symbols of the Palestinian people's resolve to gain freedom. The defining moment came when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Mr Arafat had that famous handshake and signed the historic Declaration of Principles on the lawns of the White House in September 1993.

Yasser Arafat's death led to Fatah's rapid decline. There were allegations that the aid coming in from Arab and non-Arab sources for running the Palestinian Authority was not well utilised, that there was corruption among Fatah cadres, and that jobs had been given to favourites to create a bureaucracy that was out of proportion with the PA's needs. The result was to be seen in the parliamentary election in 2006 when the Palestinian people voted overwhelmingly for Hamas and Fatah suffered a devastating defeat. Hamas had also won the people's sympathies by running a well-organised social welfare network that provided healthcare and monetary benefits to widows and orphans. Among the mistakes to which President Mahmoud Abbas did not refer in his address to the Fatah congress in Bethlehem on Tuesday was its failure to reconcile to loss of power. The fratricide between Hamas and Fatah has frozen the peace process, and the West Bank and Gaza have become two cantons with no status in international law. Fatah can undo this mistake by ending its feud with Hamas, because unity is a prerequisite for a successful struggle for the liberation of Palestine.