What is Fatah?
Fatah (Arabic for “conquest” or “opening”) is a Palestinian nationalist organization that was founded in the late 1950s with the goal of destroying Israel and creating a Palestinian state from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. The late Yasser Arafat was one of the group’s founders. Fatah, the most important member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, gained attention for its guerrilla attacks on Israeli targets in Israel and abroad; the Black September group that killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics was an extremist group within Fatah. In 1993, the Fatah-dominated PLO called off its guerrilla war by signing the Oslo peace accords with Israel, accepting the existence of the Jewish state, and setting the stage for negotiations toward an eventual Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (which Israel occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War). Arafat later became president of Palestinian Authority, and Fatah would hold majority rule of the country’s legislative council until 2006. The current president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is a leader of Fatah.
What is Hamas?
The militant Islamic group, founded in 1987, grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood, a religious and political movement in Egypt. The word “Hamas,” which means “zeal” in Arabic, is also an acronym for the phrase Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas remains committed to the destruction of Israel and envisions an Islamic state in what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories. Accordingly, Hamas opposed the 1993 Oslo accords between Israel and the PLO. The group has used violence, including suicide bombings, to attack Israelis and others, and the United States and the European Union consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization. Hamas has killed, by some accounts, more than 500 people in more than 350 terrorist attacks since 1993. Aside from its terrorist actions, Hamas has won much support among Palestinians, particular in the impoverished Gaza Strip, with its extensive social services network and a reputation for avoiding the corruption endemic to Fatah. In 2006, Hamas candidates won a majority of the seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council. This prompted the United States and European Union to enact sanctions against Palestinian Authority that included cutting off foreign aid. Last week, Hamas militia forces seized control of the Gaza Strip.
Why are they fighting with each other?
The groups have fundamentally opposing philosophies. Fatah is a secular organization that has shown its willingness to negotiate with Israel. Hamas rejects negotiations with Israel, decries the corruption of Fatah, and envisions an Islamic state once Israel is destroyed. Under an accord negotiated in March by Saudi Arabia, Hamas and Fatah agreed to share power in a so-called unity government intended to end what had been fighting between the Palestinian groups. That accord collapsed with Hamas’ armed takeover of the Gaza Strip.
What now?
President Abbas used his powers to dissolve the former government and to install an emergency Fatah-allied government. Essentially, Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip split the Palestinian government in two: the Hamas leadership headed by deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, and the new Palestinian Authority Cabinet led by Salam Fayyad, a widely respected, U.S.-educated economist, in the West Bank. The Bush administration on Monday lifted its economic and political embargo against the Palestinian government, which now excludes Hamas, in a measure intended to strengthen Abbas by resuming direct U.S. aid. The 27-nation European Union is also resuming direct financial aid to the Palestinian Authority now that Hamas is no longer part of the government. Israel is also expected to free up customs duties and other Palestinian government funds that had been frozen after Hamas’s election victory. Israeli President Ehud Olmert, in a previously scheduled trip, is due to meet with President Bush at the White House on Tuesday for talks now likely to center on what do next.
Sources: Associated Press. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Council on Foreign Relations
-- Terry Atlas and Jennifer O'Shea
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