Son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas elected to top Fatah body

The son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has secured a seat on Fatah’s highest leadership body, as initial results emerged from the movement’s first Congress in the occupied West Bank in a decade. The three-day Eighth General Conference in Ramallah, which began on Thursday and finished on Sunday, came as Fatah faces existential challenges following Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Recommended Stories list of 3 items end of list Yasser Abbas, 64, a businessman who spends most of his time in Canada, joins the central committee after being appointed around five years ago as his father’s “special representative”. With several existing members retaining their seats, the Congress’s outcome was already being criticised. Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian leader held in Israeli prison since 2002, retained his seat on the committee with the highest number of votes, according to figures seen by the AFP news agency. Jibril Rajoub was re-elected as the committee’s secretary-general, while Palestinian Vice President Hussein Al-Sheikh retained his position. The Congress had 2,507 voters and a turnout of 94.6 percent, organisers said. Fifty-nine candidates competed for 18 seats on the central committee, while 450 vied for 80 seats on the revolutionary council, the party’s parliament. Counting for the revolutionary council is continuing. …