EXPLAINER

Delayed for years, the congress is seen as a pivotal moment for Palestinian leadership consolidation amid war and succession talk.

The Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) is convening its eighth general congress on Thursday, May 14. While officially a routine organisational event, the gathering is taking place at one of the most volatile junctures in Palestinian history.

Here is what you need to know about the congress and why it is being described as a “quiet battle” for the movement’s future.

What is the Fatah General Congress?

The congress is Fatah’s highest decision-making body. According to its internal bylaws, it should meet every four years to elect its top leadership: the 18-member Central Committee and the 80-member Revolutionary Council.

This 8th congress was originally due in 2021 but has been delayed for five years. The previous meeting, the 7th congress, took place in 2016. Approximately 2,580 members are participating across four locations – Ramallah, Gaza, Cairo, and Beirut – to overcome the geographical fragmentation of the movement.

Why is there talk of ‘engineering’ the outcomes?

Critics and analysts suggest that the leadership has carefully curated the list of delegates to ensure a pre-determined result. By “flooding” the congress with more than 2,500 members – many of whom are senior officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civil services – the leadership is accused of prioritising loyalty over democratic debate.

“There is unprecedented controversy regarding the selection criteria,” Ahmed Rafiq Awad, president of the al-Quds Center for Political Studies, told Al Jazeera. “The goal seems to be controlling the results to avoid any ‘leaps into the unknown’ and establishing a new phase free of provocative voices.”

Is this about succession for President Mahmoud Abbas?

While not explicitly on the agenda, the question of who will eventually succeed 90-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas looms large. Analysts see the congress as a move to weaken democratic mechanisms and install a circle of loyalists in key positions to manage the transition.

However, Nabil Amr, a veteran Fatah leader and former minister, told Al Jazeera that such “engineering” may have a limited impact on the broader Palestinian stage. “The era where Fatah decides who its candidate is, and that person automatically becomes president, is over,” Amr said. “The movement’s standing among the public has declined, and any future leader must emerge from a general national election, not just a factional meeting.”

How does the war in Gaza influence the congress?

The congress meets as the Gaza Strip remains under attack in Israel’s devastating war and the West Bank faces systematic annexation. There is a growing international demand for a “revitalised” PA to manage the “day after” in Gaza.

Experts are sceptical that the congress will produce a breakthrough political strategy. “The newly elected leadership will face a severely difficult political situation,” Awad noted. “Gaza is besieged, PA funds are drying up and the two-state solution is being dismantled on the ground. Can this new leadership renew its legitimacy through the field? The reality suggests otherwise.”

Has Fatah transformed from a liberation movement into a bureaucracy?

A central theme among critics is that Fatah has been “swallowed” by the Palestinian Authority. Because the movement has managed a massive bureaucratic system for 30 years, its leadership criteria have shifted from revolutionary activism to “functional loyalty.”

“Everyone attending this congress, without exception, receives a salary from the authority,” Amr pointed out. Awad added that the candidates now represent a “bureaucratic mentality” rather than the field-oriented spirit of the movement’s founders, making it difficult for Fatah to reinvent its national liberation role.

What lies ahead for Fatah’s youth?

For the younger generation of Fatah, the gap between the ageing leadership and the grassroots is widening. The message from reformers is that the movement’s survival depends on returning to the people.

“Instead of exhausting itself in an internal struggle for positions, Fatah must look toward the ballot box,” Amr concluded. “The real measure of power is winning the trust of the Palestinian people in a general election, not securing a seat in a closed-room assembly.”