RAMALLAH, Feb 7: More than 300 members of President Yasser Arafat's ruling Fatah movement resigned collectively from the Palestinian group on Saturday in protest against internal strife and a lack of reform, a statement said.

There were no leading figures among those who quit, but the unusual step by rank-and-file members signalled an emerging power struggle between a more radical, younger generation and older leaders of the mainstream Palestinian national movement.

Those who resigned want greater democracy within Fatah and the Palestinian Authority and an end to corruption.

Some observers worried that the move could lead to a splintering of a movement that spearheaded the Palestinian cause for decades, which led the way to peacemaking with Israel and an uprising that erupted when peace talks collapsed in 2000.

"We the sons of the Fatah movement place in your hands our collective resignations from Fatah," a statement, signed by 356 Fatah members from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said.

"Fatah is beginning to disintegrate as a result of internal contradictions, Fatah is not united...Fatah has not asked the Palestinian Authority to punish those who have harmed the Palestinian peoples' interests", it added.

Yasser Arafat was expected to discuss the resignations in a leadership meeting he was to chair in his battered headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Fatah officials said.

The resignations seemed to pose no threat to Mr Arafat, who remains a symbol of Palestinian nationalism, but could weaken his grip on the actions of individual Fatah members.

A weakened Fatah could further strengthen the movement's rival, Hamas, a group that has vowed to destroy Israel.

Many Palestinians blame signs of chaos and corruption in Palestinian territories on Mr Arafat's unwillingness to make reforms and Israel's reoccupation of parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the uprising. They worry that these problems could lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

Hussein al Sheikh, a senior Fatah official in Ramallah, called the resignation statement a "warning bell".

"I am worried this expression of anger could expand and get out of control if the leadership does not treat it right. The only solution is to carry out democratic reforms and hold elections," he said.-Reuters