by Saud Abu Ramadan

    BETHLEHEM, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Bethlehem Hotel had been quiet since Christmas, but the hotel lobby was again filled with guests in the past few days, after President Mahmoud Abbas announced Fatah party's sixth General Assembly would be held here on Tuesday.

    Five well-dressed police officers stood outside the hotel, ready for the biggest ever event. The narrow road leading up to the hotel was overcrowded with guests, most of who are members of the assembly, pulling their baggage to the hotel.

    Hundreds of cars and buses drove along the road from the Church of Nativity up to the end of al-Kurkoffa road in the downtown area of Bethlehem. Vehicles were busy transporting hundreds of Fatah leaders and members, coming from all over the West Bank and abroad, to the city's main hotels.

    Fatah's three-day congress is the first in 20 years in the Palestinian territories. The last one was held in Tunis in 1989.

    The congress will decide the future of the old movement, which was founded in 1965 and became weaker after its founder late leader Yasser Arafat died in November, 2004.

    Fatah members, who have not met for several years, happily hugged and kissed each others upon their arrival at the hotel. Many of them sat in the lobby talking about Fatah, memories of the past, and how to revitalize the movement and make it even stronger during the three-day conference.

    Governor of Bethlehem Abdel Fatah Hamayel told Xinhua that 80 delegations from Arab and foreign countries have already arrived in Bethlehem to participate in the three-day general assembly meetings. The most significant attendance was the arrival of Fatah delegation from Lebanon.

    He said 4,000 people will be attending the conference, including about 2,000 Fatah congress members, in addition to Arab and foreign visitors and diplomats. Some 400 Gaza Fatah members were banned by Hamas from leaving the enclave for the assembly.

    "We have already finished all the logistic and administrative preparations 24 hours before the Fatah congress starts in the holy city, where Jesus Christ was born," said Hamayel, adding that "only minor technical touches are needed before the historic event kicks off."

    He revealed that his city began the preparations to host Fatah conference several weeks ago, and these preparations were intensified in the last two weeks, mainly including hotel booking,arranging the transportation and administrative registrations for the arriving Fatah members.

    The conference will be held in a hall in one of the local schools in the city, which has a 50,000 population, most of who are Christians. Hamayel said the school auditorium was well-prepared with all technical equipment, seats and the platform.

    A full security plan was launched to facilitate the movement of Fatah leaders and members. Thousands of security and police officers as well as bodyguards will be stationed around the school, while dozens of traffic police will be arranging the traffic in the city.

    Hamayel said that most of the main roads around the place, where the congress is due to be held, will be closed, and local residents will have to take other roads. A media center was open for reporters and journalists to cover the big event.

    Bethlehem police commander General Suleiman Omran told Xinhua that a security plan was carried out, with 4,200 policemen, security officers and traffic police operating in the city during the three-day conference meetings. "1,500 of them were brought from other West Bank areas," he said.

    El-Farra and other Fatah members said that the aim of the conference "is to evaluate the past 20 years and see where we succeeded and where we failed, and who is responsible. We want to see what are the problems Fatah suffers from and agree on a strategy for the movement's future."