Oliver Farry is pleased to welcome Dr. Tahani Mustafa, Lecturer in International Relations in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. At first glance, the controversy surrounding Mahmoud Abbas’s alleged attempt to elevate his son into Fatah’s top leadership appears to be a familiar story of dynastic politics. But according to Dr. Mustafa, the real story runs much deeper. She argues that the battle unfolding at Fatah’s eighth congress is less about succession than survival. It’s existential, of a political order, built on fragmentation, external backing, and what she calls Abbas’s long-standing strategy of “divide and rule within his own movement.”