Davis first Israeli Jew on Abbas party's Council

(16 Aug 2009) SHOTLIST 1. Wide of Palestinian Presidential compound 2. Fatah members greeting each other just before meeting 3. Mid of Uri Davis, the only Jewish Fatah member shaking hands with other members 4. Members greeting each other at meeting 5. Members greeting Davis 6. Wide pan across meeting room 7. Davis sitting at meeting 8. Wide of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas entering room 9. Wide of room 10. Pan left of meeting 11. Davis approaching media outside 12. SOUNDBITE (English) Uri Davis, Israeli Jewish member of Fatah: "As a Palestinian Hebrew of Jewish origin, anti-Zionist and a citizen of an apartheid state, the state of Israel, and an alleged constitutional monarchy, the United Kingdom, I hope to make a constructive contribution to the Revolutionary Council." 13. Cutaway of people arriving at meeting 14. SOUNDBITE (English) Uri Davis, Israeli Jewish member of Fatah: "Recording oral history, recognising with due ceremonial ritual their (foreign supporters) contribution to the defence of Palestinian rights and assisting them (foreign supporters) in their contribution to the international solidarity movement, calling for sanctions against the apartheid state of Israel, divestment of investments and boycott of Israeli produce and institutions." 15. Wide of Davis walking up steps and entering building STORYLINE The only known Israeli Jewish member of the Palestinian group Fatah met for the first time with the other newly-elected members of the organisation's governing body on Sunday. Uri Davis, a fierce critic of Israel who identifies himself as a Palestinian Hebrew-speaking citizen of "the apartheid state of Israel," was elected to Fatah's Revolutionary Council at the group's conference last week. The conference was Fatah's first gathering in 20 years. "As a Palestinian Hebrew of Jewish origin, anti-Zionist and a citizen of an apartheid state, the state of Israel, and an alleged constitutional monarchy, the United Kingdom, I hope to make a constructive contribution to the Revolutionary Council," he said. Davis had been one of around 700 Fatah members vying for 89 open seats in the body that oversees the group's day-to-day decision making. While there are no other Israelis known to be members of Fatah, Palestinian nationalism has had its active supporters on the fringes of Israeli society. Several followers of a tiny Orthodox and anti-Zionist sect, Neturei Karta, visited the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as he lay dying in a Paris hospital in 2004 and have expressed support for Palestinian attacks against Israel. Davis joined Fatah in the 1980s, at a time when its fighters undertook militant attacks against Israeli citizens, becoming the director of the group's London office. He lived abroad during that period because membership in Fatah was illegal in Israel. Davis, a professor at a Palestinian university married to a Palestinian, is a longtime critic of Israel's policies toward Palestinians. He refused military conscription in the 1960s, at a time when doing so was considered treason by most Israeli Jews, and wrote a book criticising the Zionist movement in the mid-1970s. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Davis urged for greater recognition of international supporters of the Palestinian cause, and called for sanctions against Israel as well as "divestment of investments and boycott of Israeli produce and institutions." Fatah is the main party of the Palestinian Authority, which now effectively rules only the West Bank after Hamas expelled Fatah forces from Gaza two years ago. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...