Fatah moves to launch Palestinian national dialogue as divisions persist ahead of election

Fatah agreed to begin discussions in Egypt with other Palestinian factions ahead of elections in November and reaffirmed the desire for Palestinians in Gaza and East Jerusalem to participate.

Fatah's Central Committee agreed to begin a comprehensive Palestinian national dialogue in Egypt with other Palestinian factions on Saturday, according to official statements, as the movement reaffirmed its support for holding elections across the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

The committee said it would remain in continuous session to monitor developments and address existing and emerging challenges ahead of the November 28 election.

The committee unanimously agreed to Abbas's call for Egypt to host the dialogue. Egypt has recently hosted representatives of Mohammed Dahlan's Democratic Reform Current, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions for talks on Palestinian unity.

As part of the talks, it was reaffirmed that Palestinians across all the territories, including East Jerusalem, should participate in the vote, an issue that allowed Abbas to indefinitely postpone elections in 2021.

Sources previously told Yoni Ben-Menachem, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, that Palestinian Vice-President Hussein al-Sheikh was pushing Abbas to postpone the elections again because the Central Elections Commission cannot hold elections in the Gaza Strip or East Jerusalem. Senior Fatah figures told The New Arab on Sunday that discussions in Cairo could lead to the postponement of the long-awaited vote.

Two decades after Hamas seized control of Gaza

Though the official statement did not name the factions expected to participate, reports in Arab media said Hamas, PIJ, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and factions within the PLO could be invited. The reports said exiled Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan and Nasser al-Qudwa, head of the Palestinian National Democratic Forum, would be excluded.

Cairo previously hosted Fatah-Hamas reconciliation talks in 2023, though the efforts failed to produce a lasting agreement and prompted concerns in Western capitals that closer Fatah-Hamas ties could weaken the PLO's standing internationally and complicate efforts to establish a Palestinian state. The latest initiative comes nearly two decades after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah in 2007 following violent clashes between the rival factions.

Despite leaks suggesting many within Fatah want the PLC elections postponed, the Central Elections Commission confirmed on Saturday, the day nominations opened, that it received applications from the Future Palestine Coalition, Qa'imat Al-Adala Wal-Bina (Justice and Construction), the Democratic Reform Current, al-Mubadara (National Initiative), A New Path, and Labor.