Abbas spokesman joins top Fatah committee
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat insisted on a quota system for Christians, and the Palestinian leadership has gone out of its way to ensure that this community is represented at all levels of Palestinian society and on the political scene.
The appointment of Nabil Abu Rudeineh in a unanimous vote June 19 as a member of the ruling Fatah Central Committee is the latest sign of the unique relationship between Fatah and Palestinian Christians. Abu Rudeineh, a Christian Palestinian from Bethlehem, has been the official spokesman for the Palestinian presidency since the days of President Yasser Arafat.
Afif Safieh, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council since 2009 and a former ambassador to Moscow, London, Washington and the Holy See, told Al-Monitor that President Mahmoud Abbas has followed in the steps of Arafat on this issue. “Since the days of Arafat, the Fatah movement was always keen to ensure a significant and visible Christian Palestinian participation in all levels of society.”
Safieh, a Palestinian Christian from Jerusalem, was very supportive of the decision. “It was an obvious choice and I fully endorse it,” he said. Safieh noted that there were always at least two Christians in the Executive Committee of the PLO, always at least two Christians in all the successive Palestinian governments and a minimum quota representation in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).
An elected member of the Revolutionary Council since 2009, Safieh said that Fatah congresses elected four and five Christian members respectively for the movement’s Revolutionary Council in 2009 and 2016, while 10% of ambassadors are Christians — Arafat took the bold decision that all cities and villages that had a Christian significance presence will have a Christian mayor in spite of the demographic changes that have occurred in recent decades.
