O Fatah It is currently a secular political party in Palestine. Since 2005, Mahmoud Abbas, a member of Fatah, has been the president of the Palestinian National Authority, currently considered the legal representative of the Palestinians by most countries in the world.
Fatah was created in the late 1950s by Palestinians exiled in other countries. Initially, Fatah was a guerrilla group and carried out several terrorist attacks against Israel and several places associated with the country. From the 1990s onwards, with agreements reached with Israel, Fatah stopped the armed struggle and began to act only politically.
In 2006, the group lost control of the Palestinian Legislature to Hamas, a Muslim group considered terrorist by many countries. The victory triggered a series of events that culminated in armed conflict between members of Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip. After the conflict, Fatah came to govern the West Bank, and Hamas, the Gaza Strip.
Read too: Origin of conflicts between Israel and Palestine
Summary about Fatah
- Fatah is currently a Palestinian political party that governs the West Bank region.
- Initially, it was founded as a guerrilla group that aimed to create a secular Palestinian state.
- Yasser Arafat was the main leader of Fatah until his death in 2004.
- In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO, was founded. Fatah was the main group of the PLO.
- In 1993, after agreements with Israel, Fatah became a political party and began to command the Palestinian National Authority, created the following year.
- Hamas was against the peace agreements signed between the PLO, Fatah and the Israeli government.
- In 2006, Fatah lost the elections and Hamas gained the majority of deputies in the Palestinian Parliament. The fact generated an internal and external crisis for the Palestinians.
- A civil war between the two Palestinian groups broke out in 2007, lasting just three days.
- In 2023, Hamas carried out a major terrorist attack on Israel. The attack was criticized by Fatah and PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas.
What is Fatah?
Fatah is currently a political party from Palestine recognized by most countries in the world. The Palestinian National Authority is internationally recognized as the interim government of Palestine. Mahmoud Abbas has been the president of the ANP since 2005 and is a historic leader of Fatah.
Fatah was founded in 1959 as a guerrilla group by Palestinians who immigrated from the country due to conflicts with Israel that had been occurring since the late 1940s. Among the founders of Fatah was Yasser Arafat, he became the main Palestinian representative until 2004.
In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization, known as the PLO, was created. This organization was made up of several Palestinian groups, including Fatah, which joined the organization in 1967, during the Six Day War. During the conflict, Fatah became the largest political group in Palestine, and Arafat, the main representative of the Palestinian cause.
After 1967, Fatah began carrying out attacks against Israelstarting from its bases in Palestine, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. In 1968, the Israeli army attacked Fatah's largest base, in Karameh, Jordan. After an intense Israeli attack, Fatah fighters managed to resist and Israeli troops left Jordan. Despite losing around 150 members, Fatah considered the Battle of Karameh a victory. The Israelis officially lost 28 fighters.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Fatah created cells in several countries from Europe, Africa and Asia. Terrorist groups from these cells carried out several bombings, plane hijackings and other types of attacks, including the terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. The violence was perpetrated by Black September, a Fatah splinter group.
At the end of the 1980s, Fatah agreed to leave the armed struggle and begin negotiations with Israel. Negotiations culminated in the 1993 Oslo Peace Agreement. The following year, the Palestinian National Authority was founded, which became recognized by Israel as the political representative of the Palestinian people.
Read too: Palestine Question — the Palestinian people's quest for the creation of their national state
Meaning of the word Fatah
Fatah's name is officially the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, and its reverse acronym is the word Fatah, which in Arabic means something like “initial victory”. The term Fatah is related to Islamic expansion in the 7th century and can also have the meaning of “armed struggle”.
Fatah's goals
The Fatah Constitution was written in 1964 and its main objectives are to “complete liberation of Palestine” and the “establishment of a democratic Palestinian state whose capital would be the city of Jerusalem”. The text still considers the presence of Jews in the region as a “Zionist invasion with a base of colonial expansion”.
Fatah is a secular, left-wing movement. For a few moments, the party had political and financial support of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Until the end of the 1980s, Fatah was a guerrilla group that carried out terrorist attacks. From 1988 onwards, the group began to abandon armed struggle and transform into a political party. In 1993, with the Oslo Accords, Fatah began to recognize the State of Israel and its right to exist in the Palestine region.
From 1994 onwards, Fatah became the main party of the Palestinian National Authority, internationally recognized as the provisional representative of the Palestinian people. O Fatah has always been a majority in the ANP, but in 2006 this reality changed. In this year's elections, Hamas, a Palestinian group rival to Fatah, elected 74 deputies, making up the majority of parliamentarians in the Palestinian Legislature.
Unlike Fatah, Hamas is seen by most Western countries as a terrorist group, and shortly after the group's election victory, foreign investment in Palestine was cut.
Still in 2006, Israel began attacks on the Gaza Strip, attacking Hamas positions and arresting part of its leadership, including dozens of deputies elected to the Palestinian Legislature. Palestinians accused Israel of ending the Palestinian Authority by eliminating the leaders of its main party. After a civil war between Fatah and Hamas, the West Bank came to be governed by Fatah, and the Gaza Strip, by Hamas.
Fatah's performance
Officially, Fatah was a guerrilla group from its founding until 1993, when the Oslo Peace Accords took place. However, the group always had a political wing and a military wing.
Currently, although it is officially a political party, Fatah is directly associated with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The group formed in 2000, during the Second Palestinian Intifada, when Muslims were killed near the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The armed group was created with the aim of avenging the martyrs of Al-Aqsa. From 2002 onwards, the Martyrs' Brigades began carrying out attacks against Israelis.
Differences and rivalry between Fatah and Hamas
O Hamas is a radical Islamic group that was created in 1987, during the First Palestinian Intifada. Since its founding, it has proposed the creation of an Islamic Palestinian State, unlike Fatah, which proposes the founding of a secular State.
With the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords, Fatah stopped using armed struggle as a strategy and recognized the State of Israel. O Hamas was against the Oslo Peace Accords and continued to carry out several attacks on Jews, compromising the peace agreements. In 1995, Yitzhak Rabin, the leader of Israel who signed the peace treaties, was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish extremist, from a group opposed to the agreements.
In 2006, Hamas won the elections, obtaining a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council, which governs the ANP. Between June 12 and 14, 2007, a war took place between members of Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Fatah troops left the region, and it became controlled by Hamas. Fatah currently rules the West Bank.
Image credits
[1] Anas-Mohammed / Shutterstock
[2] Mark Reinstein / Shutterstock
Sources
GILBERT, Martin. History of Israel. Editions 70, São Paulo, 2015.
TELES, Gustavo. Eternal Peace Between Jews and Arabs on Earth: World War II (Volume 1). Autoografia Editora, Rio de Janeiro, 2021.
ZUCCHI, Luciano Kneip. Blood between brothers: the genesis of conflicts between Jews and Arabs. Amazon Digital Books. 2021.
