Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opened a congress of his Fatah party, the first in seven years, with some 1,400 mostly elderly delegates gathered to elect new leaders and discuss longer-term policy, including how best to confront Israel. “This congress is a congress for the independent national decision, a congress for building and liberation, a congress for developing and getting to national unity, it is the seventh congress and you are all welcome,” said Abbas.
As part of the first decisions made by the Palestinian congress, Mahmoud Abbas was yet again re-elected as the leader of the Fatah party, fending off any rivals to the powerful Palestinian post. The congress, scheduled to last five days, is expected to elect new faces to a 21-member central committee, Fatah’s top decision-making body, and a new 80-person revolutionary council, a quasi-parliament within the faction. “Here you are today living historic moments which will write the present in the light of the past, which was marked by leaders and martyrs who established (Fatah), who died while they were working for liberation and independence and who are still waiting to see Jerusalem as our eternal capital,” added Abbas.
In a lengthy address to the 1,400 delegates, President Abbas announced that he will seek the support of US President-elect Donald Trump for an independent Palestinian state. Abbas said he hoped that 2017 will be the year that the Palestinians finally gain independence and promised that the Palestinians would eventually attain the desired state and that the Jewish settlements, that were constructed on lands the Palestinian demand for their future state, would be removed. The Palestinian leader also warned Israel that he would not continue to recognize Israel forever, stressing that If Israel does not recognize the Palestinians, he will stop recognizing Israel; a reality which may lead to dangerous consequences.