Fatah al-Intifada
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Fatah al-Intifada (Arabic, Fatah Uprising, فتح الانتفاضة) is a Palestinian militant faction founded by Col. Said al-Muragha, better known as Abu Musa. The group is often referred to as the 'Abu Musa Faction'. Officially it refers to itself as the Palestinian National Liberation Movement - "Fatah" ("حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني - "فتح), the identical name of the major Fatah movement. Fatah al-Intifada is not part of the PLO.
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[edit] History
Originally part of Fatah, Fatah al-Intifada broke away from the organization in 1983, during the PLO's participation in the Lebanese Civil War. The split was due to differences between Abu Musa and Yassir Arafat over a number of issues, including military decisions and corruption. Fatah al-Intifada was formed with Syrian support and quickly attracted a number of Palestinian guerrillas disillusioned with Arafat's role in Fatah and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). There was also a political dimension: the organization took a more leftist view than the generally apolitical Fatah, and used socialist phraseology. Abu Musa is known to have advocated the view that the Lebanese Civil War was not a sectarian conflict, but a form of class war. Syria provided extensive backing as the Abu Musa forces attacked Arafat loyalists in Fatah, while several radical PLO organizations in the Rejectionist Front stayed on the sidelines. The fighting led to heavy losses on both sides, and helped Syria extend its influence into Palestinian-held areas of Lebanon. Fatah al-Intifada quickly fell under the dominance of the Syrian army, and came to be widely regarded as a Syrian puppet organization.
In 1985-88, Fatah al-Intifada took part in the War of the camps, a Syrian attempt to root out the PLO from its refugee camp strongholds backed by the Shiite Amal militia and some Palestinian rejectionist factions. After a joint effort by the Syrian Army and a number of Palestinian and Lebanese groups controlled or supported by Damascus, including Fatah al-Intifada, the PFLP-GC, as-Sa'iqa, Amal, the Syrian PLA and parts of the PLF, the PLO was gradually expelled from Lebanon in the mid-to late 1980s. By that time Fatah al-Intifada had been reduced to a minor part of Syria's network of militia proxies, with little or no independent decision-making.
By the late 1980s, Fatah al-Intifada had a brief rapprochement with Arafat's Fatah, but due to its opposition to the Oslo Accords, and generally poor relations between the PLO and the Assad regime, Fatah al-Intifada has not been able to secure a role in today's Palestinian politics. Instead it remains a minor faction in the Palestinian refugee camps of Syria and Lebanon, where it was able to organize under the umbrella of the Syrian military presence until its end in 2005. However, it has little or no influence outside these countries, and there is no official Fatah al-Intifada presence in the Palestinian Territories.
[edit] Leadership
Abu Musa retired from leadership in the 1990s. The post of Secretary-General is now held by Abu Khalid al-'Umla, while Abu Fadi Hammad acts as Regional Secretary-General for Lebanon.
[edit] Militant activities
During the 1980s, Fatah al-Intifada committed a number of attacks on Israel, including on Israeli civilians, but it has not been involved in attacks on Israel since before the Oslo Accords in 1993.
