Palestinian youth frustrated by Arafat's old guard

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/17/wmid17.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/17/ixworld.html

Palestinian youth frustrated by Arafat's old guard
By Patrick Bishop in Gaza
(Filed: 17/01/2006)

The banner stretched over the rubbish-strewn street boasts of "41 years of democracy and struggle". It gets a grim laugh from many who pass beneath it.

This is the campaigning slogan of Fatah, the movement that dominates Palestinian life.

To those whose interests it is supposed to represent it seems far from democratic. Rather, it is a pyramid of privilege. As for struggle, the only fighting is between rival factions scrapping over the spoils of power.

Fatah has fallen a long way since the days when it and its leader, Yasser Arafat, enjoyed the support of most Palestinians. "I'm 34 now," said Kamal Abu Shabab who works for an international aid organisation in the Gaza Strip. "When I was 13 or 14, when Abu Ammar was talking on the radio I believed him. Since he's gone the whole thing has fallen apart. They should have achieved something by now."
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