source: Fatah extends stormy conference
(The interesting bit.)
Another more detailed account from Fatah delegates accuse leadership of corruption:Another row also broke out on Tuesday when another delegate, Hossam Khader, who has been critical of corruption among Fatah leaders, challenged Mr Abbas to provide a detailed report about the Central Committee's activities in the 20 years since the last conference.
Mr Abbas reportedly told him his lengthy opening speech on Tuesday should suffice and ordered him to sit down.
It's puzzling why open challenges to Abbas' authority (and lack of accountability) by his fellow Fatah members received such little attention. Doesn't this have a bearing on the legitimacy of his leadership?One of the delegates, Hussan Khader, who was sentenced to five years in an Israeli prison, rose to demand a detailed report by Fatah's top decision-making body, the Central Committee, of its activities since the last conference 20 years ago, particularly its expenditures. He, like many other younger Fatah members, have accused the “old guard” of the Fatah leadership of building luxurious villas for themselves with foreign aid money and of ensuring that relatives received remunerative appointments.
President Abbas, himself a prominent member of the old guard, replied that his lengthy opening statement to the conference should suffice as an overview of the Central Committee’s activities over the past two decades. Khader told reporters afterwards that he had objected and that Abbas had ordered him to sit down. “He said, ‘either you stop or leave’.”
