RAMALLAH, December 5, 2016 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas told members of the seventh Fatah congress on Sunday night that the greater struggle is still ahead of them.

“When you go back to your towns, villages and camps tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, remember at every moment that what you have accomplished in this conference is the lesser struggle and now we have a mission ahead of us and that is to fight the greater struggle,” Abbas told the members at the closing session of the Fatah congress.

Fatah opened its conference on Tuesday in Ramallah in the presence of more than 1400 members from all over the Palestinian areas and the Diaspora. On Saturday, the members elected 18 members for the Central Council and 80 members for the Revolutionary Council.

Abbas said that the program of the seventh congress included “detailed guideline for the struggle of our movement and people in the next stage.”

He said the comprehensive program shows that Fatah is capable of leading the struggle and the national project for liberation and independence, explaining that the success of Fatah is “a victory for Palestine, its people, the Palestine Liberation Organization and its factions and forces, and an important contributor to the Palestinian national struggle.”

The Palestinian leader stressed the importance of empowering youth and women and their inclusion in the movement’s decision making process.

“I have promised you and I am keeping this promise that I will act along with my brothers and sisters in the Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council and in the nearest time possible to adopt the needed and necessary changes to the movement’s internal bylaws in order to allow for the creative participation of women and the innovative performance of the young generations,” he said.

“Let us be specific and firm,” said Abbas. “The empowerment of the youth in our movement is not just a slogan or a requirement imposed by the situation, nor a necessity required in life or a task for our generation. Rather it is a fundamental requirement and an assurance that we cannot bypass for the sustainability of the movement, its tasks and the durability of its leadership role and victories,” added Abbas.

M.K.