BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Fatah has decided revitalize its committee in Gaza with young leaders, senior party official Nabil Shaath said Monday.

Fatah will hold a meeting when the president returns from an overseas trip to discuss appointing younger members to party leadership roles in Gaza, the central committee member said.

The central committee has decided that young members will constitute around half of the 15-member leadership committee in Gaza, Shaath told Ma'an.

The new committee will include young figures in important leadership positions for the first time, Shaath said. He declined to name any candidates.

"This doesn't mean older members will be excluded," he added.

"I am surprised when people say that those who are 40-years-old are young, because (former President Yasser) Arafat led the movement when he was only 30," Shaath said.