Backers of Abbas rival excluded from Fatah confab, despite Egypt's push for inclusivity

Key Points:

• The Fatah party conference in Ramallah proceeded without the participation of hundreds of members from the Fatah Reformist Democratic Faction, led by Mohammad Dahlan, despite Egyptian efforts to promote inclusion.
• Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the conference to elect Fatah’s Central Committee and Revolutionary Council, but critics of Abbas, including Dahlan’s faction, were excluded, with Abbas refusing to reconcile with Dahlan.
• Egypt urged Abbas to democratize Fatah and allow broader political representation, but Abbas gave a non-committal response and maintained that expelled members must individually apply for amnesty, a condition Dahlan’s faction rejects.
• The conference included satellite gatherings in Beirut, Gaza City, and Cairo, with over 2,500 delegates participating; the Cairo event was controversially held at the Palestinian embassy, which was closed to the public during the event.
• Fatah defended its stance on the exclusion of Dahlan’s faction and the embassy closure, emphasizing that amnesty requires individual applications and rejecting collective negotiations with Dahlan’s group, while Egypt has not publicly commented on the situation.