Failure to reform may lead to an internal explosion

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opened today the first Fatah Congress on Palestinian soil and the first in 20 years with a call for a "new start" that would help Fatah regain its leading role in Palestinian politics.
Sitting on a stage in a hall in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem infront of a portrait of the late Yasser Arafat, Abbas admitted mistakes were committed by Fatah such as losing touch with the people, weak performance, an impasse in the peace process, and absence of democratisation within the movement. He urged some 2,200 Fatah members to adopt reforms.
The moderate Palestinian President and Fatah leader reaffirmed resistance legitmised by international law as an option while asking his group members to give peace with Israel a chance, despite all the setbacks and impasses.
Posters of a child carrying a Kalashinkov were glued to the walls of the meeting hall, and Fatah's 1989 interim Charter adopts the eradication of Israel and armed struggle as the only means to liberate Palestine.
But the issue of negotiations with Israel was not a contested issue at the Fatah Congress. Most of the secular group's members back Abbas' call for focusing on popular, peaceful resistance against Jewish settlement expansion.
The issue of prime importance for the younger generation in Fatah was to end their exclusion from decision-making by the older, once-exiled leadership.
The mentality of exclusion of the achievements of the local leaders who have lived under occupation and led the first peaceful Intifada was reflected in Abbas' three-hour speech which left out any reference to the seven-year Intifada of 1987.
"I don't care about the Fatah political program or charter. What I want to see this conference do is give the local leadership the dominate role in the decision-making process. I want to see the local leaders get the majority of seats in the Central Committee (top Fatah body)," a Fatah local leader said.
Statements like this reflect that Fatah has learned little from its political mistakes that led to its defeat to Hamas in the 2006 election and military defeat in 2007 that resulted in losing Gaza to the Islamists. Fatah wants to return to power without a clear agenda. Analysts and diplomats believe Hamas would not forfeit Gaza and seeks to share power with Fatah in the West Bank. Factional rivalries and thirst for power will continue to precede national goals.
On Thursday, the Congress members, a mix of local and exiled members, will elect a new leadership to replace the old guard who have dominated the decision-making bodies of the group for the past 20 years.
The test of the secular group will come after the Congress.
Palestinians now have a leadership crisis. The Palestinians are divided between the two big groups Fatah and Hamas. The other smaller secular groups and indepedents have failed to win people to create a "third" way.
If Fatah fails to reform after the new leadership is elected, and if Hamas continues to control Gaza by force, many Palestinians, including the Fatah grassroots may lose confidence in leaders in both the West Bank and Gaza, and turn against them this time.