Farouk Kaddoumi - PLO Power Struggle

PLO Power Struggle

Upon Arafat's death, Farouk Kaddoumi constitutionally succeeded him to the position of Fatah chairman. No new elections have been held since, and so he still occupies the post. Finding himself once again in a position of power, he began wrestling for control of the ideologically diverse movement, and of the PLO, pitted against PLO chairman and PNA president Mahmoud Abbas. Mud-slinging between the factions has been intense, with Kaddoumi trying to claim primacy for the PLO (which formally delegates power to the PNA). Among other things, Kaddoumi has denied that the PNA has a right to call its government members "ministers" or open embassies abroad. He also campaigns to come across as defender of the PLO vs. the PNA, and as a spokesman for the refugees, who like him remain in exile; both subjects stirring powerful sentiments in the Palestinian movement.

While most of the struggle has been carried out behind the scenes, the Palestinian Authority recently suppressed an attempt by Kaddoumi to organize an armed militia outside of the Authority's control in the Gaza strip. Kaddoumi responded by issuing a decree to expel all Fatah members who cooperated with the PNA, but this was declared unlawful by Fatah's central committee, as was Kaddoumi's styling himself "president of the movement".

As head of the PLO's political department, Kaddoumi has primary responsibility for foreign representation, however, PLO embassies were reorganized by Abbas and PNA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad by removing Kaddoumi loyalists as ambassadors in PLO representations world wide. Abbas has redirected foreign contacts to pass through the PNA's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Al-Qidwa, and later Ziad Abu Amr and Riad Al-Maliki, which has infuriated Kaddoumi.

The 6th Fatah conference was scheduled to be held in Bethlehem in August 2009. Holding the conference in the occupied territories came as a disappointment to many exiled Fatah leaders who will be unable to attend and who felt betrayed by this decision; Kaddoumi being one of those leaders. A few weeks before the conference, Kaddoumi accused Abbas of conspiring to kill Yasser Arafat and claimed that he has evidence for his involvement in a plot to poison Arafat. Abbas and his aides denied those allegations and accused Kaddoumi of inflaming fitna (divisions, internal strife).

While Abbas is undoubtedly the stronger player in this power struggle, members of the Abbas faction reportedly worry that Kaddoumi's militant attitude will eventually win over radical segments of the Fatah, or that he will ally with hardline forces outside the movement, such as the Hamas. Kaddoumi has repeatedly made official visits to the Asad regime in Damascus, where he was presented as representing the Palestinian movement in the Syrian press.