Fatah newly-elected leadership to hold first meeting

RAMALLAH, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The newly-elected leadership of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party will hold its first meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday.

Hussein al-Sheikh, a new member of the central committee, the highest executive body in Fatah, said that President Abbas will chair the first meeting.

"The central committee will discuss the sixth general conference of Fatah and the files of the national Palestinian dialogue between Fatah and Hamas," al-Sheikh told Voice of Palestine radio.

The Palestinian Fatah movement kicked off its sixth general conference in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on August 4 to renew its leadership, the first in 20 years and the first on the Palestinian soil. The conference has officially announced the new central committee which is made up of 19 Fatah members.

Islamic Hamas movement, Fatah's bitter rival, has prevented some 400 Gaza-based Fatah delegates from traveling to Bethlehem in a bid to force the secular movement to release Hamas's supporters in the West Bank.

The two movements have been engaged in feud since Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

The issue of "Gaza's capture" and Hamas's control had been thoroughly discussed in the general conference, al-Sheikh said.

He added that Fatah supports Egypt's efforts to reconcile Hamas and Fatah via dialogue.

Al-Sheikh said that the stalled peace talks between the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and Israel would also be discussed in the meeting this afternoon. He accused Israel of trying to foil the negotiations.

As for the central committee, al-Sheikh said that Abbas, on his capacity as Fatah's general leader, would appoint three more people to the committee in addition to himself to complete its number of 23 members.