Abbas cancels speech at historic Fatah congress

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided on a whim to cancel his speech at the opening night of the Fatah Congress, reportedly in order to give time for others to talk.

He will speak tomorrow evening.

Half the hall was falling asleep after two hours of speeches by a variety of non-Palestinian politicians, including a Chinese Communist Party member, who spoke in Arabic, and an Irish EU Parliament member.

https://twitter.com/GrantRumley/status/803677084463742976

The most notable speech was by Khaled Mashaal, the political chief of the rival Hamas faction. He did not attend the congress, nor give the speech via satellite. Instead, a surrogate read his speech.

Mashaal repeated his recent calls for reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, and said his movement will do whatever needs to be done to bring this about.

— Dov Lieber