Fatahland or Fatah land was a term used by Israel to refer to the areas in Southern Lebanon controlled by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its largest faction, Fatah, during the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon from 1968 to 1982. [1] Today, the term is used to refer to Fatah's governance over the Palestinian enclaves in the West Bank, as opposed to Hamastan, in the context of the Fatah–Hamas conflict that has been ongoing since 2006. [2] [3]
The term "Fatahland" emerged following the Six-Day War in 1967, after which the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) relocated to southern Lebanon and established a semi-autonomous region there. This effort gained momentum with the complete relocation of PLO leadership from Jordan to Lebanon following Black September from 1970 to 1971, which led to the PLO being expelled from Jordan. [4] With its own army operating freely in Lebanon, the PLO had effectively created a state within a state in Lebanon. [5] The 1969 Cairo agreement, signed by PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and Lebanese Armed Forces commander Emile Boustany, established that the presence and activities of Palestinian guerrillas in southern Lebanon would be tolerated and regulated by the Lebanese authorities. [6]
Israel regarded "Fatahland" as a serious threat, as Palestinian fedayeen used the area as a base for launching artillery shells and guerrilla operations into Galilee. Fatah grew in power in Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War. [7] In March 1978, Israel invaded southern Lebanon up to the Litani River in an effort to drive the PLO away from the Israeli border. Control of the area near the Israeli border was subsequently transferred to the South Lebanon Army. In 1982, Israel launched another invasion of Lebanon with the goal of eliminating the PLO. Following the Israeli siege of Beirut, the PLO evacuated and relocated to Tunisia. [4]
Following the escalation of the Fatah–Hamas conflict into a civil war, Fatah and Hamas respectively seized control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Consequently, the West Bank was described as a new Fatahland. [8] [2] According to Riyad al-Maliki, instead of a two-state solution with a united State of Palestine and Israel as neighbors, the new map of the region may feature Gaza as a country and the West Bank as another, with Israel situated in between. [9] Scholars note that Israel, the United States, and the European Union viewed the split favorably as it allowed for the Islamist government in Gaza to be isolated while the Fatah government in the West Bank could engage in agreements more amenable to Israel. [2]
Fatah, formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, 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.
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people; i.e. the globally dispersed population, not just those in the Palestinian territories who are represented by the Palestinian Authority. Founded in 1964, it initially sought to establish an Arab state over the entire territory of the former Mandatory Palestine, advocating the elimination of the State of Israel. However, in 1993, the PLO recognized Israeli sovereignty with the Oslo I Accord, and now only seeks Arab statehood in the Palestinian territories that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.
Yasser Arafat, also popularly known by his kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004 and president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) from 1994 to 2004. Ideologically an Arab nationalist and a socialist, Arafat was a founding member of the Fatah political party, which he led from 1959 until 2004.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command or PFLP-GC is a Palestinian nationalist militant organisation based in Syria.
The history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict traces back to the late 19th century when Zionists sought to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in Ottoman-controlled Palestine, a region roughly corresponding to the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition. The Balfour Declaration of 1917, issued by the British government, endorsed the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which led to an influx of Jewish immigrants to the region. Following World War II and the Holocaust, international pressure mounted for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, leading to the creation of Israel in 1948.
Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir was a Palestinian leader and co-founder of the nationalist party Fatah. As a top aide of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat, al-Wazir had considerable influence in Fatah's military activities, eventually becoming the commander of Fatah's armed wing al-Assifa.
The government of Palestine is the government of the Palestinian Authority or State of Palestine. The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (EC) is the highest executive body of the Palestine Liberation Organization and acts as the government. Since June 2007, there have been two separate administrations in Palestine, one in the West Bank and the other in the Gaza Strip. The government on the West Bank was generally recognised as the Palestinian Authority Government. On the other hand, the government in the Gaza Strip claimed to be the legitimate government of the Palestinian Authority. Until June 2014, when the Palestinian Unity Government was formed, the government in the West Bank was the Fatah-dominated Palestinian government of 2013. In the Gaza Strip, the government was the Hamas government of 2012. Following two Fatah–Hamas Agreements in 2014, on 25 September 2014 Hamas agreed to let the PA Government resume control over the Gaza Strip and its border crossings with Egypt and Israel, but that agreement had broken down by June 2015, after President Abbas said the PA government was unable to operate in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian political violence refers to actions carried out by Palestinians with the intent to achieve political objectives that can involve the use of force, some of which are considered acts of terror, and often carried out in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Common objectives of political violence by Palestinian groups include self-determination in and sovereignty over all of Palestine, or the recognition of a Palestinian state inside the 1967 borders. This includes the objective of ending the Israeli occupation. More limited goals include the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and recognition of the Palestinian right of return.
The Cairo Agreement, or Cairo Accord, was an agreement reached on 2 November 1969 during talks between Yasser Arafat and the Lebanese army commander, General Emile Bustani. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser helped to broker the deal.
"Hamastan" is a pejorative neologism, blending 'Hamas', a Palestinian political party with a military wing, and '-stan', a suffix of Persian origin meaning "home of/place of". The term Hamastan generally relates to the Hamas administration of Gaza.
The Prisoners' Document, officially the National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners was written in May 2006 by Palestinian prisoners, who were being held in an Israeli jail. The five prisoners who took part in writing the Document were respectively affiliated with Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
The next legislative elections in Palestine have been repeatedly postponed or cancelled. Most recently it was scheduled for 22 May 2021 according to a decree by President Mahmoud Abbas on 15 January 2021, but was indefinitely postponed on 29 April 2021.
Palestinian fedayeen are militants or guerrillas of a nationalist orientation from among the Palestinian people. Most Palestinians consider the fedayeen to be freedom fighters, while most Israelis consider them to be terrorists.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was based in Lebanon for a significant period of time (1960s-1982), using their set-up in the country to expand as an organization, gathering support and maintaining their armed struggle with Israel. Arguably, the Lebanon period was the most significant time in the PLO's existence, both for reasons of political gain and international recognition – though it also involved a great deal of violence, displacement of civilians and economic instability. The PLO was able to maintain a strong presence, particularly in Southern Lebanon for a number of years and at times was able to have a positive impact on the local population, but was often the cause of dissatisfaction and fear amongst Lebanese citizens due to religious tensions and a confusion of structure.
The Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon was a multi-sided armed conflict initiated by Palestinian militants against Israel in 1968 and against Lebanese Christian militias in the mid-1970s. It served as a major catalyst for the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. Fighting between the Palestinians and the Christian militias lasted until the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which led to the expulsion of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Lebanese territory. While the PLO relocated to Tunisia in the aftermath of Israel's invasion, other Palestinian militant factions, such as the Syria-based PFLP–GC, continued to carry out low-level operations from Syrian-occupied Lebanon. After 1982, the insurgency is considered to have faded in light of the inter-Lebanese Mountain War and the Israel–Hezbollah conflict, the latter of which took place for the duration of the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary socialist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization, the largest being Fatah.
The 2014 Fatah–Hamas Agreements were two successive reconciliation agreements between Fatah and Hamas, concluded in 2014. The Gaza Agreement was signed in Gaza City on 23 April 2014 by Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Hamas administration in Gaza, and a senior Palestine Liberation Organisation delegation dispatched by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Its main purpose was reconciliation between the parties and the formation of a Palestinian Unity Government within five weeks, to be followed by general elections within six months. The Unity Government was formed on 2 June 2014.
A series of attempts to resolve the hostility between Fatah and Hamas have been made since their 2006–2007 conflict and Hamas' subsequent takeover of the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Cairo Declaration was a declaration signed on 19 March 2005 by twelve Palestinian factions, including Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). The Cairo Declaration affirmed the status of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people through the participation in it of all forces and factions according to democratic principles. The Declaration implied a reform of the PLO by the inclusion in the PLO of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.