This UAE-backed Fatah dissident allying with Hamas with a proposal to change Palestinian politics
Qassam Muaddi writes in Mondoweiss on 4 September 2026:
The Palestinian legislative elections scheduled for next November are already shaking up Palestinian politics in ways not seen in years, with different actors across the Palestinian political spectrum making power moves in an attempt to secure their position within a shifting political landscape in the fallout from the Gaza genocide. The latest of these moves is the announcement of a plan by UAE-based dissident Fatah leader Muhammad Dahlan to “end Palestinian division.”
Dahlan’s plan is more than an election program, going so far as to propose a complete remaking of the Palestinian political system and a change to the decades-old way power balances have been managed in Palestinian institutions.
Dahlan’s move doesn’t come in a vacuum. It follows the earlier announcement of an electoral alliance between Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the two main dissident currents in Fatah — one led by former Palestinian diplomat and nephew of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Nasser Al-Qudwah, and the other led by Dahlan.
The alliance brings together most of the main Palestinian political forces, with the exception of the leftist factions and the dominant Fatah leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, who runs the Palestinian Authority (PA) and serves as its President.
Dahlan’s plan hasn’t been endorsed yet by his electoral allies, but they haven’t disavowed it either. The presentation of the plan right after forming the alliance establishes Dahlan as the alliance’s leading figure and puts him at the center of the Palestinian political game, closer than ever to a comeback to Palestinian leadership and decision-making.