BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK — For nearly five years Mahmoud Abbas had moved timidly in the shadow of his charismatic predecessor, the late Yasser Arafat. His demeanor matched his somber dark suits, his rambling speeches lulled audiences to sleep, and his indecision led the Palestinians' preeminent political movement to defeat and disarray.
Over the last week, however, a more forceful Abbas stepped forward. After cajoling the aging leaders of his Fatah movement to hold its first convention in two decades and put their jobs on the line, he fended off an assault by younger activists on his own record.
A telling moment came when Hussam Khader, a firebrand critic of corruption in the movement, rose to demand a detailed accounting of Fatah's finances over the years. Abbas, who was not in the convention hall, was summoned and ordered the delegate to drop the subject. When he persisted, Abbas' presidential security guards pushed him back into his seat.
By Tuesday, the 74-year-old Palestinian Authority president had what he wanted: a renewal of his mandate as Fatah chairman and an elected leadership body that embraces fresh, younger faces but poses no immediate threat to his dominance. And despite chaotic proceedings that degenerated at times into fistfights, he managed to keep the movement intact.
These achievements do not necessarily make it easier for Abbas to negotiate peace with Israel or heal the rift between his secular West Bank-based administration and the Islamic movement Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip. But they offer some reassurance for an Obama administration that is pushing to revive Middle East peace talks and needs a strong Palestinian partner who champions nonviolence and compromise with the Jewish state.
"Abbas got his way from A to Z," said Mouin Rabbani, an independent Palestinian analyst based in Jordan. "He can now go to Obama and say: 'I'm the legitimate, unchallenged leader in the West Bank. I'm a responsible partner you can count on.' The message of this convention was very much aimed at the outside world."
Nonetheless, Abbas faces longer-term risks. Fatah's new Central Committee, with 14 newcomers among its 18 elected members, is not expected to rubber-stamp Abbas' decisions, as the old one often did. It includes several members who might, against Abbas' wishes, press for a return to confrontation with Israel if any U.S.-brokered peace talks were to drag on without signs of progress.
