Fatah

Fatah (Arabic: فتح‎, romanized: Fatḥ), sometimes called Al-Fatah, is a Palestinian political-military organization, founded in 1958 in Kuwait, by Yasser Arafat. It constitutes a main component of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was created in 1964, and is a consulting member of the Socialist International, created in 1951. As of mid-2020, its president is Mahmoud Abbas and its secretary general is Jibril Rajoub.

The name is the Arabic acronym for "National Movement for the Liberation of Palestine" (Harakat Al-Tahrir Al-Watani Al-Falastini, حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني). The article "al" is not part of the official acronym, although its journalistic or colloquial use is quite frequent.

Etymology

The full name of the movement is حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني (ḥarakat al-taḥrīr al-waṭanī al-Filasṭīnī), meaning the "Palestinian National Liberation Movement". From this was developed the reverse acronym Fatḥ (Fatah) meaning "opening", "conquest" or "victory". The word "fatḥ" or "fatah" it is used in religious discourse to signify Islamic expansion in the early centuries of Islamic history, as in Fatḥ al-Sham, the "conquest of the Levant". "Fatah" it also has religious significance as it is the name of the 48th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an which, according to leading Muslim commentators, details the history of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. This Islamic precedent was cited by Yasser Arafat as justification for signing the Oslo Accords with Israel.

Foundation

Since the end of World War II, a Palestinian movement had been formed that aspired to build an independent Arab state on the then British Mandate of Palestine, which clashed with Zionist aspirations on the same territory.

After the creation of Israel in 1948, groups of Palestinian students came together, convinced that the best way to defend the integrity and sovereignty of the Palestinian people was to organize a major resistance movement, in the form of a autonomous, secular and national revolutionary movement, that is to say, a movement independent of the Arab countries and of any other foreign or religious power. In this way, Yasir Arafat founded the organization, together with Salah Khalaf and Khalil al-Wazir, who resided in Kuwait, with the manifest objective of fighting Israel to achieve the liberation of Palestine, calling on all Palestinians to fight against the State of Israel.

The conflict with Israel

Fatah established itself in the Gaza Strip in the early 1960s, and the movement began its armed struggle against Israel on January 1, 1965, through a broad military operation, under the name of its armed wing, al- Asifah (the storm).

After the Arab defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War, which meant the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the movement increased its importance among Palestinians. From that moment on, the stage of internal struggle began, in which the group radicalized its actions. About a thousand volunteers traveled from the refugee camps and from Europe to Fatah training camps to join the movement. At the same time, Arafat settled in the West Bank in the town of Qabatiya, and later in Nablus and Ramallah, respectively. He then left the occupied territories, and set up his headquarters in Jordan, where he also set up a training camp for the fedayeen (Palestinian fighter commandos) less than 10 km from the new border with Israel.

During 1967, Fatah carried out 2,432 attacks against Israel, but Israeli security forces thwarted most of these attacks. In these operations close to a thousand Palestinian militiamen were detained and almost 200 were killed. Thus, the attempt at a popular uprising in the occupied territories failed. In January 1968, only 6 attempted attacks were recorded.

In view of this situation, Arafat and the Fatah leadership decided to change tactics, and began launching their attacks from Jordan. These were regularly covered by foot soldiers and the artillery of the Arab Legion. In response, Israel erected barbed wire barriers along the border with Jordan, and installed electronic surveillance systems and fortified points at potential crossing points. Thanks to this, they managed to intercept most of the Palestinian squads that were heading to Israel. Although the incursions subsided, the attacks continued to take their toll on the Israeli civilian population, motivating Israeli retaliation inside Jordanian territory.

In 1968, the movement joined the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), founded 4 years earlier, and on February 3, 1969, Yasser Arafat became president of both the PLO and Fatah, symbolizing ever since the Palestinian nationalist aspirations.

From that moment on, the fedayeen multiplied their attacks against Israel from different Arab countries, such as Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Which caused tensions between these governments —subject to Israeli reprisals— and the PLO to intensify. In 1970, Fatah found itself overwhelmed by radical PLO member groups, in particular the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which led to the expulsion of Palestinian forces from Jordan to Lebanon, after a series of fighting between Palestinian militants and the Jordanian army.

Policy Change

After the worldwide impact caused by numerous terrorist attacks against civilians, and in particular the assassination of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, Fatah and the PLO decided to reorient their policy, seeking international recognition of the Palestinian cause.

In 1983, the movement suffered a serious internal crisis, after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. A split occurred within the movement, due to the deep discrepancies caused by the policy of dialogue followed by Arafat. Arafat emerged from this crisis strengthened and his movement consolidated his dominance in the PLO.

In 1985, the PLO headquarters was bombed by Israeli forces, weakening its leadership within the organization. However, he managed to reverse the situation by carrying out the Intifada in the occupied territories in 1987.

During the Oslo Accords of 1993, Arafat, who was recognized as the representative of the Palestinian people, signed the Declaration of Principles with Israel as part of the peace process, in which the withdrawal was agreed of the occupied territories, the right to self-government of the Palestinians and the renunciation of terrorism against Israel by the PLO. Allowing the return of Arafat from exile in Tunisia.

Starting in 1994, the Fatah leadership took over the fledgling Palestinian Authority, with Arafat serving as its chairman until his death in 2004.

Terrorism accusations

The movement was rejected in many Western countries for alleged links to Arab terrorism; but it also had moments of acceptance, such as Arafat's address to the United Nations (1974) by virtue of the recognition of the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, or his admission as a member of the Arab League (1976).

Fatah was designated a terrorist under Israeli law and used to be considered as such by the United States until it formally rejected all forms of terrorism and recognized the State of Israel's right to exist in 1988.

On the other hand, independent groups born under the wing of Fatah, such as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, have perpetrated various attacks since the Second Intifada, being described as terrorist organizations by the United States and Israel. According to Israeli sources, this group is responsible for at least 32 attacks between 2001 and 2007, 10 of them suicide, with a balance of around 130 fatalities, between civilians and soldiers.

2017 negotiations with Hamas

Since 2007 when Hamas expelled Fatah from the Gaza Strip there have been various attempts at political negotiation that have been truncated. The signing in May 2011 of a National Reunification Agreement with the different Palestinian factions stands out, the agreement in 2014 for the creation of a unity government that failed and the signing on October 12, 2017 in Cairo of the Pact of Palestinian reconciliation with Hamas.