Fatah searches for renewal

摘要

They were all there: party functionaries from Ramallah, the West Bank's administrative hub, in their shiny suits; rugged district leaders from the West Bank's gritty northern reaches; ambassadors from around the world; grassroots campaigners; and local business bigwigs, smoking fat cigars. Some of the women wore traditional dress and head scarves; most had Western clothes and flowing hair. But everyone had one thing in common: around their necks they all wore the black-and-white check scarf of Fatah, the Palestinian movement founded in 1954 that has long struggled to create an independent country in a land that is still controlled by Israel.