
 Once again, Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, the Palestinian faction the  international community wants everyone to view as "moderate," has proved itself  to be anything but. At the conclusion of the Fatah convention in Bethlehem on Tuesday, party  members voted out most of the "old guard" Central Committee members and replaced  them with younger party activists that the international media is trying to  paint as "reformers." Fatah has been plagued by corruption and mismanagement, and the new Central  Committee members may indeed do something to remedy that, if for no other reason  than to stop losing political ground to Hamas. But these "fresh faces," as some media outlets referred to them, are some of  Fatah's most violent and blood-soaked personalities. Leading the list is Marwan Barghouti, who is serving several life sentences  in an Israeli prison for his role as leader of the Fatah-aligned terror group  the Al Aksa Brigades, which killed numerous Israelis at the start of the recent  terror war. Lebanon-based Fatah strongman Sultn Abu al-Aynain, who was described by Fatah  insiders who spoke to the Jerusalem Post as a "ruthless thug," is also  near the top of the list. Favorites of past US presidents, Mohammed Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub, also won  places on the powerful Central Committee. During their time as the Palestinian  Authority security chiefs in Gaza and the "West Bank," respectively, Dahlan and  Rajoub actively facilitated terrorist activity against Israel. As a top advisor to Abbas today, Dahlan openly advocates a return to near  open warfare with Israel. Indeed, earlier in the week all of the new members of the Central Committee  voted in favor of a new Fatah party platform that officially places the option  of renewed terrorism against Israel back on the table, in violation of the PA's  signed peace agreements. The new party platform also officially endorses Barghouti's Al Aksa Brigades  as an integral part of the Palestinian "security" forces.