Fatah
Encyclopedia of the Middle East
Fatah
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Fatah
Fatah (or Al-Fatah) - a Palestinian radical movement founded in Kuwait informally in 1957, but officially founded about 1965. It  has the declared aim of destroying Israel and replacing it with a 'secular democratic state.' 'Fatah' means victory in  Arabic. The name is also a reverse acronym for Harakat Tahrir el Wataniyeha Filistiniyeh - Palestine Liberation  Movement. It  represents the moderate end of the Palestinian political spectrum. Their slogan is "Revolution  until Victory."
Fatah was founded by Yasser Arafat ,  Khalil Al Wazir (Abu Jihad) Farouq Kadumi, Mahmoud Abbas, Khalid al-Hassan and other Palestinian refugeees in Kuwait. Many, like Arafat,  had a background  in Ikhwan (fedayoun) groups (a tag which stuck until �68) drawn from refugees in Gaza, which  provided military training to Palestinian youth. Ikhwan military bodies eg Revenge Youth and  Battalion of Right (led by  Khalil al Wazir); launched small sabotage attacks on Israel from late 1954 and  pulled away from disapproving Ikhwan.  They also refused to get involved in Ikhwan-Egypt conflict, which resulted in Wazir's expulsion from Egypt. Wazir later  moved to Saudi Arabia, then joined Arafat in Kuwai). Yasser Arafat at this stage was working through Palestinian  Students Union in Cairo; formed alliance with youth leaders (especially Khalaf) and Palestinian activists in Syria  (especially �Adil �Abd al-Karim and  �Abdullah al-Dannan).  In 1957, after university,  activists  including Yasser Arafat and  Mahmoud Abbas  formed a clandestine  organization in Kuwait, taking the name Fatah in 1959 or 1960 or according to other accounts, at the foundation meeting. Fatah was to be modeled on the Algerian FLN as a "National Liberation Movement" that would win support of the Palestinian masses for armed liberation of Palestine. This  was opposed to the traditional terror-only strategy that relied on Arab countries to liberate Palestine. Fatah achieved  popularity through the Filastinuna magazine edited by Yasser Arafat. However, it did not have any effective military  cadres until Syria began recruiting and training terrorists for Fatah in 1964. The first Fatah raids on Israel were  conducted in 1965.
The organizational structures  were established at a Kuwait meeting on 10.10.59.
Organization - Fatah  tripartite organizational structure:
General conference, the  ruling body, which is supposed to meet every 5 years, but has not met since its fifth session on 8 Aug 89: made up of  members of regional congresses, military forces, mass orgaanizations and  Fatah-RC. At the last meeting, it had 1200  members. Earlier meetings: 4th General Conference (Damascus, 31 May 80);
The Fatah Revolutionary  Council, decides policy when GC is not in session;
Central Committee (al-lajna  al-markaziyya), which acts according to the principle of collective leadership. Members are largely elected by  secret ballot from the GC, but RC can appoint 3 other members by a two-thirds majority, and  others from the occupied  territories.
Prominent founders include  Yasser Arafat, Salah Khalaf , Khalil al-Wazir , Muhammed Yusif al-Najjar , Kamal �Udwan . Joined in �59 by Khalid al-Hasan , a civil servant  who'd been in Kuwait since 1952; and  Tawfiq al-Huri, who gave his magazine Nida� al-Hayat-Filastinuna (The Call  of Life - Our Palestine) to use as a mouthpiece: largely written by Wazir, but also �Arafat. Main centers were Kuwait  (Arafat, Wazir, later Qaddumi) and Qatar (Najjar, �Udwan, �Abd al-Fattah Hammud). Fatah's main platform was the 'liberation' of  all of Palestine for Arabs (not necessarily Palestinian Nationalist) which could be achieved only through relentless  armed struggle. Fatah believed that the Arab governments were not to be trusted (had prevented victory in 1948 war since  they were concerned only with their own interests; also shown in treatment of refugees) and that therefore it must  remain independent of all Arab governments, including Nasserism; also stress upon own distinctiveness as a people, �Palestinianness�.  They also disapproved of ideological debates and  party politics, which they viewed as a distraction from the sole goal of  liberating Palestine, and therefore portrayed itself as a movement rather than an organization. .
The publication Filastinuna,  appearing from 1959 until Nov 64, served to publicize the group, and won recruits from Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood  in Gaza) (eg Ahmad Quray ; Muhammad Ghnaym , who opposed Ikhwan loyalty  to the Hashemite throne), Ba'ths, especially after the dissolution of the UAR (especially Faruq al-Qaddumi ; a West Bank resident),  and  student groups (especially Mahmud �Abbas ,  then working in Qatari civil service). Acted to unify various groups formed by Palestinian refugees in Kuwait, Saudi,  Qatar. Acted in Eu through Hani al-Hasan (b.1937, Haifa) who was studying in W.Germany. In 1963, extensively reorganized, with a Central Committee formed. By  1962-4, was winning support from Arab States, especially Syria, which sought a counterfoil to Egyptian designs and a  means to discredit Nasser and  the PLO.
Damascus became �Arafat�s  base; and  Algeria (through �Arafat�s elder brother, Jamal �Abd al-Ra�uf). The Palestine Office was created by Fatah in  Algiers, and  through these connections met Vietnamese, Chinese and  Portuguese African leaders, and  Che Guevara.  Arab states, and in particular Syria, pushed for armed attacks on Israel. Such attacks were also supported by �Arafat and  Wazir, to opposition of �Abd  al-Karim and  Dannan; the former view won out, especially with formation of the Palestinian Liberation Army in  September 1964 and because of the view that a military  confrontation between the PLO and Israel, and in fact, involvement of Arab states, could be precipitated by Fatah actions, thus bringing about a popular struggle.  Arafat and Fatah  strove for al-tawrit al-wa�i (�conscious entanglement�) of the masses in a liberation war (as opposed to  conventional warfare of Arab armies invading Israel: Fatah indicated at times that this would not be able to liberate  Palestine, in part due to Israel�s NWs, and  its promotion would prevent mass mobilization): believed that mass  mobilization would be triggered by engaging in highly visible armed attacks, which would also propel Fatah to the  leadership of PLO institutions, and therefore carried out  terror attacks with the aid of Syrian recruited commands.
Rifts started emerging in  Fatah in �65/6, with the Higher Central Committee in Kuwait (�Abd al-Karim, Dannan) opposing Field Command in Damascus (Wazir,  �Arafat): former (probably also with Syrian pressure) imposed merger with Ba'thist Revulutionary Front for the  Liberation of Palestine, under Yusif al-�Urabi, and  Palestinian Liberation Front, under Ahmad Jibril, in order both to  control �Arafat and  to bring in professional military expertise. Arafat and his allies assassinated Urabi, and the  Syrians then arrested Arafat. tensions led to attempted putsch of Mar-May 66; but resolution left Fatah with  strengthened links with Syrian forces (especially Asad), the removal of �Abd al-Karim and  Dannan from HCC, and  domination of Fatah by commando groups in Syria led to a crackdown, with mass imprisonment, especially in Jordan and  Lebanon.  Syrians released Arafat and other leaders only after they agreed to cooperate with Syria. Once released, they  escaped to Lebanon and attempted to establish an organization independent of Syrian control.  Following the �67 war,  �Arafat and  Wazir urged the immediate relaunching of the struggle from within the occupied territories, despite  opposition of Khalid al-Hasan and  Khalaf (and  Syrian government); �Arafat formally became field commander and  set up  clandestine HQ in Nablus from Aug 67. Fatah actions in late�67 killed approx 97 IDF, but caused mass imprisonment of  West Bank supporters and therefore by �68 Fatah sought a base outside occupied territories, and  chose Jordan. Gained  unofficial support from many Jordanian soldiers, but tensions with government, especially intelligence chief Muhammed  Rasul al-Kaylani. Also sought leadership within PLO: formed a Permanent Bureau for Guerrilla Actions in Cairo, Jan�68,  with 7 minor guerrilla groups, so as to form a bloc within PLO; PFLP, with similar ambitions, boycotted it.
However, Fatah gained  popularity with battle of Karameh, in which they gained a partial victory over Israeli forces, bringing extensive  publicity and  recruits. �Arafat now became the leader and  spokesperson of Fatah in April 1968, possibly  on Khalaf�s  unilateral initiative. Fatah gained support from King Faysal of Saudi (financially), Hussein of Jordan, USSR (after  �Arafat�s visit to Moscow in Feb70) and Gamal Abdel Nasser who met the Fatah leadership in 1968, following Karameh. This  resulted in increased arms deliveries, military training and  intelligence facilities, which Nasser saw as a complement  to diplomacy. China (after �Arafat and  Khalaf visited in Feb70) and  Algeria (both major weapons suppliers) both became  Fatah supporters.
By late 1968, though, Israel  had forced Fatah out of the Jordan valley, and  guerrilla movement into Jordan�s cities brought increased tensions and  armed conflicts (especially Nov�68). Karameh also allowed Fatah to take over PLO, taking many seats in the PNC from May 68, and  33/105 seats in Feb 69 as the largest single bloc. Thereupon  �Arafat was elected chairman of PLO, with 4/11  seats on Executive Committee. Fatah�s statist ambitions led it to create the organizational norms for its mass party in  traditional guise, and  adopt populist political rhetoric; but tensions due to rapid expansion, with founding elite  largely drawn from Islamist parties, producing a paternalistic style of leadership, using the Islami notion of  consensus, whilst new recruits came up through Jordanian Ba'thist and  communist parties. Statist ambitions also led it  to set up social welfare provisions, such as the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and  schooling program; as well as  expansion of autonomous intelligence apparatus, the Rasd (briefly under Qaddumi, but under Khalaf from �68, when it  became a rival power base to �Arafat). At first it encouraged fragmentation of Palestinian groups to ensure its own  dominance; but rivalry and  the sense that Arab States, particularly Syria, were creating groups to further their own  causes led to calls to impose a unified political front on Palestinian groups. This was rejected as impossible by  �Arafat, who rejecting internal violence because of what it had done in 1936-9. He instead offered posts within PLO to  other groups (including unions and  other mass organization) on a fixed quota while expanding PNC so that more seats could be  allocated.
The PLO attempted to take over the  Jordanian government in September of 1970, with Syrian backing. This forced a showdown with the Jordanian Legion, called "Black  September. Fatah members were largely forced to flee, eventually setting up shop in Lebanon. A sense of siege overtook Fatah  after Black September because of Syrian pressure, successful Israeli purges in Gaza, Israel and  Jordan attempted to  cultivate an alternative leadership in occupied territories, and owing as well to a Lebanese crackdown on all guerrilla  activity, there were contradictory tendencies within Fatah. On the one hand, it saw the �adventurism� of PFLP as  responsible for Black September, and therefore the September 1971 conference condemned �extremism� within PFLP for their  problems. PLO under Fatah also  sought to consolidate the movement and incorporated �Isam Sartawi's Active Organization  for the Liberation of Palestine (AOLP) and  Ahmad Za�rur�s Org of Arab Palestine at the July 1971 PNC session. But also  strove for revenge. Thus, a breakaway faction from the Rasd, which was extensively criticized for its role in Jordan,  became the �Black Sept Organization� (Khalaf�s role unclear, but he supported and  promoted its activities); much sympathy in Fatah  for their activities, including PFLP / Red Army strikes, and  various Fatah members took the "Black September" name in the September 1972  Munich Olympic attack. It is apparent that Yasser Arafat both authorized and organized the Munich strike, while carefully  attempting to disown it, without condemning it.
Following international  condemnation, loss of public support and  Israeli reprisals (especially the  death of Najjar and  �Udwan in Apr73  raid), Fatah condemned further hijackings and  airport attacks by Sabri al-Banna and  Haddad�s PFLP faction in 1973,  and  �Arafat ordered the assassination of al-Banna�s sponsor, Muhammed �Abd al-Ghafur (12Sept 74). In October 1972,  a Fatah congress of 300 delegates elected the leadership, and a new policy formulated, viewing guerrilla warfare as only  one of the means of struggle. Increasing leftward shift within Fatah after 1973 war, with �the Soviet Group� ( Nimr Salh,  Fatah-CC member; Majid Abu-Sharar, director of news department; Ahmad �Abd al-Rahman, ed-in-chief of Filastin al-Thawra)  strong; though opposed by various other leftist factions, eg �Vietnamese line� under Hanna Mikha�il and  �Maoist  tendency� under Munir Shafiq, as Soviet group was moving t/w supporting SCR242 and  which gained considerable popularity  among Fatah rank-and -file, which saw interests of 1948 refugees as vital. This led to internal factionalist, and  the  formation of the rejectionist front and  Abu Nidal group. These came into open conflict in South Lebanon in April of  1977 when a leftist group under Abu Daud (Muhammed Daud Awda) tried to break the ceasefire in S.Lebanon, resulting in  open clashes with Fatah mainstream forces.  �Arafat  sought to, gain personal control. Amidst  increasing accusations of  autocracy, Arafat did not convene a general Fatah conference after Sept 1971 until pressure led to the May 1980  conference.
Fatah�s success was due to its  lack of emphasis on ideology as well as to the unique personality of Yasser Arafat, leading to support from all sectors  of society, and  its principle of non-interference in affairs of other Arab States resulting in support from most of  them. It generally opposed violent attacks outside the Middle East, especially after 1974. Main splits in Fatah in 1983  and  Nov 1993 occurred, when half of Fatah-Revolutionary Council, including Farouk Qaddumi (as Secretary-General),  boycotted the meeting to protest the Oslo accords. Fateh began to disintegrate after the death of founder Yasser Arafat.  In January of 2006, it lost Palestinian Legislative Council elections to candidates representing the Hamas movement. Voters were unhappy with corruption and nepotism in the Fateh and chaos in the Palestinian authority. Mahmoud  Abbas, who succeeded Arafat was not an effective leader of either Fatah or the PLO.  The Hamas promised to end chaos and  corruption. In June of 2007, the Fatah were violently deposed by Hamas in Gaza, leading in effect to two separate  Palestinian governments.