Members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fateh movement, demanded the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resign from his post after the movement’s defeat for Hamas in the elections.
The armed members fired several rounds of live ammunition in the air, hurled stones at the parliamentary building, in Gaza, and set ablaze several cars, including cars which belong to foreign journalists.
The brigades’ members chanted slogans which held the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, responsible for the deterioration of Fateh. Some of the slogans considered Abbas as "a member of Hamas".
Several leaders of Fateh movement, including the Mahmoud Dahlan, who enjoys wide support in Gaza, addressed the protestors and called them for calm.
Dahlan managed to organize a meeting with Fateh activists in order to enable them submit their demands for reform in the movement. The meeting will most likely take place early next week.
The Young Guard of Fateh movement blames its Old Guard for the defeat in the legislative elections; they believe that movement lost the elections after the Old Guard resisted the integration of the younger Fateh generation into Fateh leadership.
According to the Israeli Ynet online daily, Fateh activists will hold similar protests next week in the West Bank to demand the resignation of the movement’s leaders.
