GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The internal Fatah conflict continues between the current affiliated with President Mahmoud Abbas and another headed by dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan. Everyone in Dahlan's camp has been excluded from participating in the seventh Fatah conference held today, Nov. 29, in Ramallah.

The Dahlan current, the so-called reformist current, protests the convening of the conference amid Abbas’ rejection of Arab efforts to reconcile with Dahlan and the president's insistence on excluding all those affiliated with Dahlan’s current from the conference. The conference’s attendees will number 1,400, far fewer than the 2,355 of Fatah's last conference held in August 2009.

Supporters of Dahlan’s current have threatened to take action in response to being prevented from participating. Ashraf Jumaa, a parliamentarian close to Dahlan, told Al-Monitor that the Dahlan current is preparing to hold a conference in parallel to the one Fatah is holding in Ramallah. The second conference will also be called the “Seventh Conference of the Fatah Movement,” according to Jumaa.

Jumaa said that the figures participating in the parallel conference come from all levels of the Fatah organization. He added that the conference's date has not yet been determined and that it will likely be held in Egypt or a European country if it cannot be held in the Gaza strip.