BETHLEHEM: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement renewed its charter for the first time since the launch of the Middle East peace process in 1991 but Israel reacted angrily on Sunday to its insistence on the right to resist.
At its first congress in 20 years and the first ever on occupied Palestinian soil, Fatah stressed its commitment to a negotiated peace with Israel but delegates stopped short of renouncing any resort to violence.
“Fatah stresses its commitment to the pursuit of a comprehensive peace but reiterates the Palestinian people’s right to resistance to occupation in all its forms in line with international law, the new charter said, according to extracts carried by the Palestinian WAFA news agency.
Israel reacted angrily with Environment Minister Gilad Erdan saying the Palestinians show “no real desire to reach a compromise with Israel.
He also complained that they have “no desire to recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people as requested by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Palestinians reject that demand amid concerns to safeguard the right of return for an estimated 4.5 million refugees and their descendants to homes they fled after the creation of Israel in 1948.
Fatah delegates, who included representatives from the diaspora allowed by Israel to travel to the West Bank congress in a bid to boost Abbas’ authority, renewed their commitment to the refugees’ right of return.
“Fatah remains faithful to its martyrs and prisoners, and expresses its commitment to the abiding demands of the Palestinian people – the liberation of its land, including Jerusalem, the dismantlement of settlements and the return of the refugees.
Netanyahu’s government has rejected even Abbas’ minimum demand for a resumption of peace talks – a freeze on settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.
On Sunday the prime minister pledged he will never evict Jewish settlers from occupied Palestinian land as Israel did in 2005 in the Gaza Strip, calling that move a “mistake.
“We will not evict any more people from their homes, Netanyahu said.
A poll on Sunday showed that two thirds of Israeli Jews support the government’s refusal to freeze settlement building in occupied east Jerusalem, where the Palestinians hope to establish their future capital.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak also expressed his frustration about the convention.
“The Fatah congress has been disappointing and not promising, because in the Middle East there is no other path than to sit down at the negotiating table and reach agreement on a program for peace, he said.
Information Minister Yuli Edelstein said he saw no difference between the programs of Fatah and of the Islamist Hamas.
“If its program is to be believed, Fatah is just as extremist as Hamas and that’s worrying because it damages the prospects of reaching a compromise with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, he said.
Later on Sunday, the Fatah congress was to hold elections initially slated for Friday to renew its governing bodies – the 21-strong Central Committee and the 120-member Revolutionary Council.
Delegates were due to elect 80 members of the Revolutionary Council and 18 for the Central Committee, with the remainder of places assigned.
Abbas was re-elected unopposed as party leader late on Saturday, but fierce arguments have overshadowed the rest of the congress amid a keen awareness of Fatah’s need to restore its battered authority in the face of the power of Hamas.
The Islamists swept parliamentary elections in 2006, capitalizing on Fatah’s reputation for corruption and infighting, and the following year they seized Gaza from Fatah loyalists in a week of deadly street-fighting.
