Abbas’s Fatah holds rare congress as succession talk builds

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party will hold its first congress since 2009 on Tuesday as the 81-year-old leader seeks to close ranks and fend off a key rival.

While Abbas’s advisers insist the congress is being held because it is overdue, some analysts see it as an opportunity for him to sideline allies of his exiled longtime rival Mohammad Dahlan.

Talk of who will eventually succeed Abbas as Palestinian Authority president has intensified, with the aging leader not having publicly designated a successor.

 

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