President Abbas re-elected as movement leader at Fatah’s conference

After a two-year delay, Fatah movement’s seventh congress kicked off in Ramallah today, where the movement has re-elected President Mahmoud Abbas to a new five-year term. Abbas said that 60 delegations from 28 countries will be joining the conference tonight. Party official Salim Zanoun asked the gathering on Monday to elect Abbas “by consensus.” The hundreds of delegates stood up and applauded Abbas, who then hugged Zanoun, AP reported. The five-day conference is expected to cement Abbas’ control of Fatah and lock out his chief rival, the exiled Mohamed Dahlan.