GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Sources close to Mohammed Dahlan are claiming that the former high-ranking Fatah member intends to form a political party with backing from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Such a move would pave the way for the Democratic Reform Current (DRC), the movement Dahlan founded within Fatah, to participate in future Palestinian elections, unidentified sources told Arabi21 in July. The prospect of Dahlan founding a new party to rival Fatah has shed light not only on ongoing Palestinian divisions, but also on the latest manifestation of Arab states' involvement in Palestinian affairs, which oddly finds archenemies Qatar and the UAE standing together in opposition to Fatah. 

The report coincided with the decision by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Dahlan's archrival, to hold Fatah leadership elections in Gaza, a Fatah source told the Gaza-based Safa news agency in July. The move reportedly came at the recommendation of the Fatah Central Committee in the West Bank. The last Fatah elections in Gaza, which Hamas has controlled since 2007, took place in 2015. No date has been set for the upcoming vote.

Dahlan, currently living in the UAE, has not commented publicly on the issue of a new party, which if true, would require internal DRC elections. Dahlan had been dismissed from Fatah in 2011, on Abbas' orders, on charges of “delinquency,” that is, having other allegiances. He founded the DRC in Gaza in 2016 after he and Abbas failed to reconcile. Fatah members who joined Dahlan in DRC leadership roles were also expelled from Fatah in what was essentially a purge ahead of the seventh Fatah conference in 2016, though rank-and-file DRC supporters were allowed to remain. Dahlan aside, those expelled still claim fealty to, and even membership, in Fatah.

As a security adviser and as head of the Palestinian Security Services in Gaza in the early 2000s, Dahlan had established close relations with Israel and Egypt through security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Dahlan's influence remains strong in Palestinian politics. A Gaza native, Dahlan has played an instrumental role in Egypt working with Hamas, Fatah's rival, on various issues concerning the territory and in Cairo's effort to mediate a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas. After the falling out with Fatah, Dahlan also gained the patronage of the UAE, Egypt's ally in the Saudi-led effort to isolate Qatar.