Fatah

Fatah (/ˈfɑːtə, fəˈtɑː/ FAH-tə, fə-TAH; Arabic: فتح, romanized: Fatḥ [ˈfʌtɑħ]), officially the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني, Ḥarakat at-Taḥrīr al-Waṭanī l-Filasṭīnī), is a Palestinian nationalist and social democratic political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the second-largest party in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, is the chairman of Fatah.

Fatah was historically involved in armed struggle against the state of Israel (as well as Jordan during the Black September conflict in 1970–1971) and maintained a number of militant groups, which carried out attacks against military targets as well as Israeli civilians, notably including the 1978 coastal road massacre, though the group disengaged from armed conflict against Israel around the time of the Oslo Accords (1993–1995), when it recognised Israel, which gave it limited control over the occupied Palestinian territories. During the Second Intifada (2000–2005), Fatah intensified armed conflict against Israel, claiming responsibility for a number of suicide attacks. Fatah had been closely identified with the leadership of its founder and chairman, Yasser Arafat, until his death in 2004, when Farouk Kaddoumi constitutionally succeeded him to the position of Fatah Chairman and continued in the position until 2009, when Abbas was elected chairman. Since Arafat's death, factionalism within the ideologically diverse movement has become more apparent.

In the 2006 election for the PLC, the party lost its majority in the PLC to Hamas. The Hamas legislative victory led to a conflict between Fatah and Hamas, with Fatah retaining control of the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank through its president. Fatah is also active in the control of Palestinian refugee camps.

The full name of the movement is Ḥarakat al-Taḥrīr al-Waṭanī l-Filasṭīnī, meaning the 'Palestinian National Liberation Movement'. From this was crafted the inverted and reverse acronym Fatḥ (generally rendered in English as Fatah), meaning 'opening', 'conquering', or 'victory'. The word fatḥ is used in religious discourse to signify the Islamic expansion in the first centuries of Islamic history – as in Fatḥ al-Shām, the 'conquering of the Levant'. Fatḥ is also religiously significant as the name of the 48th sura (chapter) of the Quran which, according to major Muslim commentators, details the story of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. During the peaceful two years after the Hudaybiyyah treaty, many converted to Islam, increasing the strength of the Muslim side. It was the breach of this treaty by the Quraysh that triggered the conquest of Mecca. This Islamic precedent was cited by Arafat as justification for his signing the Oslo Accords with Israel.

The Fatah movement was founded in 1959 by members of the Palestinian diaspora, principally by professionals working in the Persian Gulf States, especially Kuwait (then a British protectorate) where the founders Salah Khalaf, Khalil al-Wazir, and Yasser Arafat resided. The founders had studied in Cairo or Beirut and had been refugees in Gaza. Salah Khalaf and Khalil al-Wazir were official members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Arafat had previously been head of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) at the Cairo University (1952–1956), whilst another co-founder, Khaled Yashruti, then a 22-year-old student, was the GUPS head in Beirut. Upon founding, Arafat summoned Mahmoud Abbas (who was residing in Qatar, then a British protectorate) to join. The group of Gulf-based young Palestinian professionals were the core of Fatah in its early days of existence. Fatah espoused a Palestinian nationalist ideology in which Palestinian Arabs would be liberated by their own actions.

Immediately after its establishment the name of the movement was first used in Falastinuna which was the official media organ of Fatah.

Fatah became the dominant force in Palestinian politics after the Six-Day War in 1967.

Fatah joined the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1967, and was allocated 33 of 105 seats in the PLO Executive Committee. Fatah's Arafat became Chairman of the PLO in 1969, after the position was ceded to him by Yahya Hammuda. According to the BBC, "Arafat took over as chairman of the executive committee of the PLO in 1969, a year that Fatah is recorded to have carried out 2,432 guerrilla attacks on Israel."