Palestinian leaders hold rare party meeting as discontent grows
The ruling Palestinian Fatah faction held a rare top-level meeting to refresh its decision-making bodies after years of inaction. Polls show ordinary Palestinians increasingly view the leadership as out of touch with daily reality. The session also weighs heavily on the post-war governance framework for Gaza.
The ruling Fatah faction held the long-postponed session of its Revolutionary Council, the political centre of the Palestinian Authority side. New names came forward in some of the top decision-making positions, while a debate over the leadership of the movement itself was pushed to a later date. About 130 members attended.
In the most recent poll by the independent Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, more than 70 per cent of residents in the West Bank and Gaza said the Fatah leadership is 'out of touch' with daily reality. In the same poll, around half of young respondents said they want an alternative structure to the current presidency.
The meeting was also read against the debate over the post-war governance framework for Gaza. Arab states and the European Union view reform of the Palestinian Authority as a precondition for its return to Gaza. US officials, for now, have stayed within a nominal language of support.
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