Fatah, at the Heart of the Palestinian Institutions
Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which on Tuesday holds its first congress in seven years, is at the heart of the Palestinian institutions:
- Fatah -
A secular movement which is a member of the Socialist International, Fatah has since 1994 controlled the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), more commonly known as the Palestinian Authority, and which since 2007 has been confined to the occupied West Bank.
The forthcoming congress, at a time of increased talk of who will eventually succeed Abbas as president, is the seventh since the creation of Fatah in 1959 in Kuwait by Yasser Arafat. The congress is to elect members for its 23-member Central Committee and 132-member Revolutionary Council, the party's de facto parliament.
- PLO and PNA -
Fatah is the main component of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), created in 1964 in Jerusalem, and which at the time brought together the main Palestinian nationalist movements.
The PLO was recognized in 1974 by the United Nations General Assembly and the Arab League as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."
The PLO's Executive Committee is the only body competent to take decisions committing the Palestinians, notably in the context of the peace process with Israel.
Abbas has led the PLO since November 2004, after Arafat's death.
The PLO also heads the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank city of Ramallah and was set up on July 1, 1994 when Arafat returned to Palestinian soil after 27 years in exile, following the 1993 Oslo accords.
The authority was initially intended to last for a transitional period, in principle to end in May 1999, with autonomy intended to pave the way for a Palestinian state.
After Arafat's death, Abbas in January 2005 took over as head of the Palestinian Authority, which has limited power over about 40 percent of the occupied West Bank, mainly its urban centers, with Israel controlling 60 percent of the territory.
In theory the PA is supposed to have power over the Gaza Strip, but that is being run by Hamas now.
The Palestinian Authority has responsibility for 4.8 million Palestinians living in the territories, while the PLO says it represents the 12.4 million Palestinians around the world.
- Hamas -
Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood that was founded in 1987 and opposes the Oslo accords. It is not a member of the PLO.
Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 following bloody fighting with Fatah. The clashes broke out after Hamas was denied its victory in 2006 legislative elections that led to the defeat of Arafat's party, ending 10 years of dominance.
Since 2007 the PNA has been confined to the occupied West Bank, its parliament no longer meets and the mandate of Abbas, which expired in 2009, has been extended for a lack of elections.
There has been no general election in the Palestinian territories since 2006. Hamas agreed to take part in local elections set for October 2016 but they have been postponed indefinitely.
Divisions between Fatah and Hamas have scuppered three reconciliation accords since 2011, but further attempts have been made. In late October Abbas met Hamas' exiled chief Khaled Meshaal in Doha for the first time in two years.
Meanwhile, faced with an impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Abbas has set about gaining international support for the Palestinian cause. He secured for Palestine non-member observer status at the United Nations, where its flag was hoisted for the first time in 2015.
Source: Agence France Presse
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