18/05/2026

MONDAY | MAY 18, 2026

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Abbas’s son elected to top Fatah body

commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – Fatah’s armed wing in the Jenin refugee camp – who was freed from Israeli prison last year under a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas. Two women also won seats, including Ramallah governor Laila Ghannam. The three-day congress, held simultaneously across Ramallah, Gaza, Cairo and Beirut, drew 2,507 voters – a turnout of 94.64%, organisers said. Fifty-nine candidates competed for 18 seats on the central committee, while 450 vied for 80 seats on the revolutionary council, the party’s parliament. Counting for the council was still under way. The congress opened on Thursday, with Abbas being re-elected as head of the movement. In his opening address, he vowed to pursue reforms and hold long-delayed presidential and parliamentary elections. Abbas and the Palestinian Authority are under mounting international pressure to implement reforms and hold elections, amid widespread accusations of corruption and political stagnation, which have eroded its legitimacy among Palestinians. Fatah has historically been the dominant force within the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO),

RAMALLAH: The son of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas won a seat on Fatah’s top decision-making body yesterday, as initial results emerged from the Palestinian movement’s first congress in years. Yasser Abbas, 64, a businessman who spends most of his time in Canada, secured a place on the central committee after being appointed about five years ago as his father’s “special representative” – a role that marked his gradual emergence on the political scene. Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti topped the preliminary results, retaining his seat on the committee with the highest number of votes, according to figures seen by AFP. Jibril Rajoub was re-elected as the secretary-general of the committee, retaining the seat he has held since 2017. Palestinian vice-president Hussein Al-Sheikh, Fatah deputy leader Mahmoud Al-Aloul and ex-Palestinian intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi also held their seats on the body. Among the newcomers was Zakaria Zubeidi, 50, a former o President vows to pursue reforms

Abbas voting on Saturday. – PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESS OFFICE HANDOUT/AFPPIC

which made huge political gains in the occupied West Bank in 2006 elections that it won, before going on to expel Fatah from the Gaza Strip. – AFP

dwindled amid internal divisions and growing public frustration over the stagnation of the peace process. The sense of disappointment led to a surge in support for Hamas,

which groups most Palestinian factions but excludes Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In recent decades, Fatah’s popularity and influence have

Tens of thousands march in London rival protests LONDON: Tens of thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday in two separate protests – one against high levels of immigration and a perceived threat to British identity, and another in support of Palestinians. Police deployed 4,000 officers, including reinforcements from “largely without significant incident”. They had earlier forecast a turnout of at least 80,000. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday accused organisers of the Unite the Kingdom march of “peddling hate and division, plain and simple”. The march was organised by activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson. On Saturday, Robinson supporters gathered in central London, waving mainly British and English flags. “I think that too much migration – not migration, but too much migration – is causing a lot of problems, upsetting a delicate balance here,” said Allison Parr, who also criticised net-zero environmental policies.

276 FRAUD SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN DUBAI BEIJING: Police in China, the United States and United Arab Emirates arrested 276 fraud suspects in a joint operation to crack down on scam gangs in Dubai. The operation, the first of its kind between the three countries, “destroyed nine fraud dens”, CCTV reported. Victims were tricked into fake cryptocurrency investments. China’s Public Security Ministry said its police will work with more countries to crack down on wire fraud. – Reuters ISRAEL CONTINUES LEBANON STRIKES BEIRUT: Israeli strikes targeted eastern and southern Lebanon yesterday, despite a fragile ceasefire. Two Israeli strikes hit the town of Sohmor in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, the National News Agency said, adding that others took place in southern Lebanon. Israeli attacks since the start of the war have killed more than 2,900 people in Lebanon, including more than 400 since the truce began on April 17. – AFP MOSCOW: A huge wave of more than 500 Ukrainian drones attacked Russia on Saturday night, killing three people in the Moscow region. Air defences shot down 556 drones in more than a dozen regions, Russia’s Defence Ministry said, in one of the largest Ukrainian barrages of the conflict so far. The interceptions took place across 14 Russian regions. – AFP DRONE BARRAGE KILLS 3 IN RUSSIA

commemorating loss of land by Palestinians in the 1948 war that followed the creation of Israel. “Nakba” means catastrophe in Arabic. “Israel, its behaviour is unjust beyond belief. After the Holocaust etc, all you can do is wish the Jewish people all the best. But they won’t be able to live in peace until they allow the Palestinian people to form their own state,” protester Sharon De-Wit said. While protesters held a range of views, police said the marches routinely led to arrests for racially and religiously aggravated public order offences. – Reuters

BR I E F S

outside the capital, and pledged “the most assertive possible use of our powers” in what they called their biggest public order operation in years. After both marches had ended in the evening, police said they had made 43 arrests for a range of offences and described both protests as

Annual net migration approached 900,000 in 2022 and 2023, but fell to about 200,000 last year after tighter work visa rules. Nearby, demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags and placards calling for an end to the conflict in Gaza held a march to mark Nakba Day,

The government barred 11 people it described as “foreign far-right agitators” from entering Britain to address the protest. A previous protest led by Robinson in September drew about 150,000 people, police said, and featured a video address by Elon Musk.

Far-right protesters making their way to Parliament Square in London on Saturday. – AFPPIC