Fatah chief refuses deputy president post: sources

Fatah chief Farouq Kadoumi refused to take the post of deputy president offered by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, well-informed Fatah sources revealed on Tuesday.

Kadoumi, who is based in Tunis and refuses to return to the Palestinian territories citing the Israeli occupation, has turned down the proposal, the sources said.

Kadoumi rejected the proposal because if he accepted it, he had to return to the Palestinian lands, they added.

The refusal came against a backdrop of recent disputes between Abbas and Kadoumi over the leadership of the movement.

Fatah is the mainstream group in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the political umbrella group that rules the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

After the late leader Yasser Arafat passed away last November, Abbas was elected president of the PNA and chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Kadoumi became Fatah chairman.

The three posts used to be held by Arafat alone.

The sources said Fatah's central committee would hold a meeting later this month in Amman, Jordan, and that both Abbas and Kadoumi would attend to settle disputes and discuss the issue of naming a deputy president.

Kadoumi is currently the only candidate for the post.

The Fatah Revolutionary Council, the second-highest ruling institution in the mainstream faction, agreed earlier this month on Abbas' offer to name a deputy.

Source: Xinhua