View source for Fatah

{{Short description|Palestinian political party}}
{{other uses}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox political party
| logo             = Fatah logo.png
| flag             = Fatah Flag Vector Graphic.svg
| logo_alt         = Crest of Fatah, featuring two hands adorned with Palestinian flags wielding rifles, map of Palestine and a grenade
| flag_title       = Flag
| name             = Palestinian National Liberation Movement
| native_name      = {{lang|ar|حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني}}
| colorcode        = {{party color|Fatah}}
| chairman         = [[Mahmoud Abbas]]
| leader1_title    = Vice Chairman
| leader1_name     = [[Mahmoud Aloul]]
| secretary_general = [[Jibril Rajoub]]
| abbreviation     = Fatah
| founders         = {{ubl|[[Yasser Arafat]]|[[Khaled Yashruti]]|[[Salah Khalaf]]|[[Khalil al-Wazir]]}}
| founded          = {{start date|1959}} (as a political movement)<br>{{start date|1965}} (as a political party)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fatehorg.ps/index.php?action=show_page&ID=11455&lang=ar|title=مفوضية التعبئة والتنظيم - فصائل منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية|publisher=Fatehorg.ps|access-date=2013-04-25|archive-date=26 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126163001/http://www.fatehorg.ps/index.php?action=show_page&ID=11455&lang=ar|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| headquarters     = [[Ramallah]], [[West Bank]]
| youth_wing       = Fatah Youth
| wing3            = [[Al-'Asifah]] (1965–2000)<br>[[al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]] (2000–2007)
| wing3_title      = [[Paramilitary|Armed wing]]
| ideology         = {{ubl|class=nowrap|
 |[[Palestinian nationalism]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Jailed-Fatah-leader-Barghouti-Gaza-war-was-victory-for-Palestinians-375739|title=Jailed Fatah leader Barghouti: Gaza war was victory for Palestinians|work=The Jerusalem Post - JPost.com|date=18 September 2014 |access-date=3 July 2015}}</ref>
 |[[Social democracy]]{{refn |<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wienthal|first1=Benjamin|title=German Jews slam party for working with Fatah|url=https://www.jpost.com/International/German-Jews-slam-party-for-working-with-Fatah|access-date=2 May 2016|work=The Jerusalem Post|quote=[Sigmar Gabriel] added that Fatah was part of the values of social democracy and was represented in the European coalition of social democrats as an observer partner.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.firstpost.com/world/only-6-of-gazans-now-want-hamas-to-continue-operations-after-war-with-israel-ends-poll-13868105.html |title=Only 6% of Gazans now want Hamas to continue operations after war with Israel ends: Poll |quote=Following the ceasefire, support for Fatah, a Palestinian nationalist and social democratic political party, rose by 12 percentage points, as per the poll |date=March 3, 2025 |access-date=July 26, 2025 |work=[[Firstpost]] }}</ref>}}
 |[[Secularism]]{{refn |<ref>{{cite book|editor=Ulrika Möller, Isabell Schierenbeck |title=Political Leadership, Nascent Statehood and Democracy: A comparative study |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKbAAwAAQBAJ&dq=Fatah+Secularism&pg=PA139 |quote=Hamas' rejection of secularism and implicit contempt of 'territorial' nationalism challenged the Palestinian narrative as defined by Fatah and PLO [...] Thus, Arafat kept the secular, albeit expressed rhetorically with Islamic (and occasionally Christian) connotations, vision of the state project. |date=2014 |page=139 |publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9781317673101 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=Yonah Alexander |title=Palestinian Secular Terrorism: Profiles of Fatah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine |date=2021 |publisher=BRILL}}</ref>}}
 |[[Pan-Arabism]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Committee |first=United States Congress House Internal Security |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B4CVV1UXrNQC&pg=PA34 |title=Terrorism, a Staff Study Prepared by ..., August 1, 1974 |quote=Al Fatah is a nationalist, pan-Arab movement... |date=1974 |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref>
 |[[Conservatism]]{{refn |<ref>{{cite book |editor=Ora Szekely |title=The Politics of Militant Group Survival in the Middle East: Resources, Relationships, and Resistance |quote=To balance against their rivals, the Gulf states tended to back the comparatively conservative Fatah. |page=54 |date=2016 |publisher=Springer International Publishing }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=July 2, 2024 |title=The Left Has Played a Key Role in the Palestinian Struggle |url=https://jacobin.com/2024/07/palestine-left-pflp-habash-fatah-plo-hamas |quote=Today’s absence of a progressive option between two conservative nationalist parties, Fatah and Hamas, contributes to the impasse that Palestinians face in terms of political initiative. |access-date=October 18, 2025 |work=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]] }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Høigilt |first=Jacob |date=7 December 2015 |title=Fatah from Below: The Clash of Generations in Palestine |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13530194.2015.1116375#abstract |journal=Taylor & Francis Online |doi=10.1080/13530194.2015.1116375}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor=Robert O Freedman |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Middle_East_Since_Camp_David/X6yhDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=conservative+Fatah&pg=PT172 |title=The Middle East Since Camp David |quote=By 1969 (the year Arafat assumed chairmanship of the PLO/EC and Fatah moved to unite the PLO) the corporate identities of the various groups were already becoming established. Groups like the PFLP and DFLP emerged as independent organizations with revolutionary/internationalist outlooks in contrast to Fatah's more conservative nationalism. |date=July 9, 2019 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] }}</ref>}}
 |[[Anti-imperialism]]{{refn |<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/rewriting-history-abbas-calls-israel-a-colonial-project-unrelated-to-judaism/ | title=Rewriting history, Abbas calls Israel a 'colonial project' unrelated to Judaism | website=[[The Times of Israel]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor=Ely Karmon |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Coalitions_Between_Terrorist_Organizatio/v8pKEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=anti-imperialist+%22Fatah%22&pg=PA291 |title=Coalitions Between Terrorist Organizations: Revolutionaries, Nationalists and Islamists |quote=Fatah's affiliation with the anti-imperialist Third World movement was far more concrete and enduring than ETA's brief flirtation with the idea of ''tercermundismo''. |page=291 |date=June 2005 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=9789047407386 }}</ref>}}
 |[[Two-state solution]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 22, 2025 |title=Fatah spokesperson talks about the potential for a two-state solution in Palestine |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/09/22/nx-s1-5547081/fatah-spokesperson-talks-about-the-potential-for-a-two-state-solution-in-palestine |access-date=October 18, 2025 |work=[[NPR]] }}</ref><br/>'''Historical:'''<br/> |[[Arab socialism]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://otralectura.com/2019/03/17/quien-fue-yasser-arafat/ | title=Quién fue Yasser Arafat? | date=17 March 2019 }}</ref>
}}
| position         = [[Centrism|Centre]]{{efn|<ref>{{cite book |editor=Colin P. Clarke |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Terrorism/zQTHEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22centrist%22+%22Fatah%22&pg=PT161 |title=Terrorism |quote=The PLO is {{sic|comprised|hide=y| of}} centrist-nationalist groups (such as al-Fatah), rightist groups, leftist groups (including communists), militant groups, and nonmilitant groups. |date=2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|quote=A Palestinian organization, affiliated with the centrist Fatah movement, which filtered funds from the Palestinian diaspora back into social services in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. |last1=Christina|first1=Rachel|title=Tend the Olive, Water the Vine: Globalization and the Negotiation of Early Childhood in Palestine|publisher=IAP-Information|page=xxi|year=2006|isbn=9781607525592}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1=Marshall Breger |editor2=Yitzhak Reiter |editor3=Leonard Hammer |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sacred_Space_in_Israel_and_Palestine/okOtiV8OaAkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22centrist%22+%22Fatah%22&pg=PT267 |title=Sacred Space in Israel and Palestine: Religion and Politics |quote= Even Fatah (the centrist party of the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasser Arafat), which had supported Hamas's Gazan campaign against the Communist Party and the Popular and Democratic Fronts, suffered the onslaughts of the movement just prior to the outbreak of the Intifada. |date=2013 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781136490330 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|quote=The failure of the Palestinian left in consolidating a counterweight to the right-wing Islamic Hamas or to the centrist Fatah, furthermore, left Palestinian voters with no viable alternative to Hamas or Fatah.|last1=Halabi|first1=Yakub|title=Democratic Peace Across the Middle East: Islam and Political Modernisation|publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]]|location=London|year=2016|isbn=9780857728821}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor=Avi Tuschman |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Our_Political_Nature/MRhnAAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22centrist%22+%22Fatah%22&pg=PA53 |title=Our Political Nature: The Evolutionary Origins of What Divides Us |quote=On the Muslim Palestinian side, respondents with the lowest scores sup- ported left-wing parties; intermediate scorers supported the centrist Fatah party; and those who scored highest supported Hamas and Islamic Jihad (which have "destroy Israel" ideologies). |page=53 |date=September 3, 2013 |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |isbn=9781616148249 }}</ref>}} to [[centre-left politics|centre-left]]{{efn|<ref>{{cite book|editor=Youssef H., Aboul-Enein |title=Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lHUKBAAAQBAJ&q=taiwan+far-right+NP&pg=PA44 |quote= Fatah is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine liberation Organization (PlO), a multiparty confederation. in Palestinian politics, it is on the center-left of the spectrum.|date=2011 |page=230 |publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=9781317755098 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor=Jeffrey Ian Ross |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Religion_and_Violence/I_DqBgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq="center-left"+"Fatah"&pg=PT73 |title=Religion and Violence: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict from Antiquity to the Present |quote=The Brigades originated from Fatah (Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini, or Movement of Liberation of the Nation of the Palestinians), a secular nationalist party of center-left and the oldest and largest organization of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). |date=March 4, 2015 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=9781317461081 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1=Youssef Aboul-Enein |editor2=Youssef H. |editor3=Aboul-Enein |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Militant_Islamist_Ideology/tX3suVDTJz0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22center-left%22+%22Fatah%22&pg=PA230 |title=Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat |quote=Fatah is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a multiparty confederation. In Palestinian politics, it is on the center-left of the spectrum. |page=230 |date=January 15, 2011 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=9781612510156 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/yasser-arafats-unfinished-saga/ |title=Yasser Arafat’s Unfinished Saga |author=Muqtedar Khan |quote=The emergence of the Islamic movement as an alternative to his more or less center-left secular Fatah movement has divided the Palestinian people and their aspirations. |date=November 12, 2004 |access-date=26 July 2025 |work=[[Brookings Institution]]}}</ref>}}
| national         = [[Palestine Liberation Organization]]
| european         = [[Party of European Socialists]] (observer)
| international    = {{ubl|[[Progressive Alliance]]|[[Socialist International]]}}
| colours          = {{color box|{{party color|Fatah}}|border=darkgray}} Yellow
| slogan           = {{Script/Arabic|يا جبل ما يهزك ريح}}<br/>''Yā jabal mā yhizzak rīḥ''<br/>('O mountain, no wind can shake you')<br/>{{Script/Arabic|ثورة حتى النصر}}<br/>''Thawra ḥattā l-naṣr''<br/>('Revolution until victory')
| seats1_title     = [[Palestinian Legislative Council]]
| seats1           = {{Composition bar|45|132|hex={{party color|Fatah}}}}
| website          = {{URL|https://www.fatehmedia.ps|fatehmedia.ps}}
| country          = Palestine
}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name             = Fatah
| leader_title     = Groups
| leaders          = * [[Al-'Asifah]] (1965–2000)
* [[Black September Organization]] (1970–1988)
* [[Fatah Special Operations Group]] (?–?)
* [[Force 14]] (1960s–2001)
* [[Force 17]] (1970s–2007)
* [[Fatah Hawks]] (1991–2005)
* [[Tanzim]] (1995–2005)
* [[Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]] (2000–2007)
| active           = 1959–2007<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 August 2007 |title=Palestinian govt platform drops "armed resistance" |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/world/palestinian-govt-platform-drops-armed-resistance-idUSL27739771/ |work=Reuters}}</ref>
| ideology         = 
| clans            = 
| headquarters     = [[Ramallah]], [[West Bank]]
| size             = 2,000–3,000 (2006)<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Fatah militia to counter Hamas |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2006/5/3/new-fatah-militia-to-counter-hamas |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-06-03 |title=Palestinian tensions mount as Fatah deploys new militia force |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/palestinian-tensions-mount-as-fatah-deploys-new-militia-force-624657.html |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>
| partof           = [[Palestine Liberation Organization]]
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = 
| allies           = '''State allies:'''
* {{flag|Algeria}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karmon |first=Ely |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v8pKEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA236 |title=Coalitions Between Terrorist Organizations: Revolutionaries, Nationalists and Islamists |date=2005-06-01 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-0738-6 |pages=236 |language=en}}</ref>
* {{flag|Saudi Arabia}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Committee |first=United States Congress House Internal Security |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B4CVV1UXrNQC&pg=PA34 |title=Terrorism, a Staff Study Prepared by ..., August 1, 1974 |date=1974 |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref>
* {{flag|Kuwait}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Committee |first=United States Congress House Internal Security |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B4CVV1UXrNQC&pg=PA34 |title=Terrorism, a Staff Study Prepared by ..., August 1, 1974 |date=1974 |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref>
* {{flagicon|Syria|1980}} [[Ba'athist Syria|Syria]] (until 2024)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hasaneen |first=Mai Abu |date=2022-01-16 |title=Fatah builds bridges with Syria after rupture with Hamas - Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East |url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/01/fatah-builds-bridges-syria-after-rupture-hamas |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=www.al-monitor.com |language=en}}</ref>
* {{flagicon|Iraq|1963}} [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]] (until 2003)
* {{flag|United Kingdom}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/palestinepapers/2011/01/2011125142614893217.html|title=Blair's counter-insurgency "surge"|first=Alastair|last=Crooke|website=www.aljazeera.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405154012/https://www.aljazeera.com/palestinepapers/2011/01/2011125142614893217.html|archive-date=April 5, 2018|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
* {{flag|United States}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/04/gaza200804|title=The Gaza Bombshell|first=David|last=Rose|website=vanityfair.com|date=March 3, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428115827/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/04/gaza200804|archive-date=April 28, 2018|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.medienanalyse-international.de/gaza_Walles0804.pdf |title='gaza_Walles0804.pdf' Archived copy |access-date=2013-08-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223343/http://www.medienanalyse-international.de/gaza_Walles0804.pdf |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2008/04/mideast-this-bombshell-took-a-year-falling/|title=MIDEAST: This 'Bombshell' Took a Year Falling - Inter Press Service|website=www.ipsnews.net|date=April 2, 2008|access-date=April 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405154106/http://www.ipsnews.net/2008/04/mideast-this-bombshell-took-a-year-falling/|archive-date=April 5, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
| opponents        = '''State opponents:'''
* {{flag|Iran}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 April 2024 |title=Palestinian Fatah group says Iran trying to spread chaos in West Bank |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/palestinian-fatah-group-says-iran-trying-spread-chaos-west-bank-2024-04-03/ |access-date=11 June 2024 |work=Reuters}}</ref>
* {{flag|Israel}} ([[Oslo Accords|until 1993]])<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/11/what-is-the-palestinian-authority-and-how-is-it-viewed-by-palestinians | title=What is the Palestinian Authority and what is its relationship with Israel? }}</ref>

'''Non-state opponents:'''
* {{flagicon image|Flag of al-Qassam Brigades.svg|size=22px}} [[Hamas]] ([[Fatah–Hamas reconciliation process|reconciliation ongoing]])
* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Lebanese Forces.svg}} [[Lebanese Forces (militia)|Lebanese Forces]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Salhani |first=Justin |title=Beyond Hezbollah: The history of tensions between Lebanon and Israel |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/17/beyond-hezbollah-the-history-of-tensions-between-lebanon-and-israel |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref>
* {{flagicon image|Simplified Fatah flag.jpg|size=22px}} [[Abu Nidal Organization]]
| battles          = {{plainlist|
* [[War of Attrition]]
* [[Black September]]
* [[Lebanese Civil War]]
* [[Uganda–Tanzania War]]
* [[First Intifada]]
* [[Second Intifada]]
* [[2006 Gaza–Israel conflict]]
* [[Fatah–Hamas conflict]]
* [[Battle of Gaza (2007)]]
* [[Syrian civil war spillover in Lebanon]]
}}
| designated_as_terror_group_by = '''Until 1988:'''<br>{{flag|Israel}}<br/>{{flag|United States}}
}}

'''Fatah''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|ɑː|t|ə|,_|f|ə|ˈ|t|ɑː}} {{respell|FAH|tə|,_|fə|TAH}}; {{langx|ar|فتح|Fatḥ}} {{IPA|apc|ˈfʌtɑħ|label=}}), officially the '''Palestinian National Liberation Movement''' ({{langx|ar|حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني|Ḥarakat at-Taḥrīr al-Waṭanī l-Filasṭīnī|label=none}}),<ref name="alzaytouna.net">{{cite web|url=http://www.alzaytouna.net/arabic/?c=1598&a=97061|title=Al-Zaytouna Centre|publisher=Alzaytouna.net|access-date=2013-04-25|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005145530/http://www.alzaytouna.net/arabic/?c=1598&a=97061|archive-date=5 October 2011}}</ref> is a [[Palestinian nationalist]] and [[social democratic]] political party. It is the largest faction of the [[Confederation|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 National Authority|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 [[#Armed factions|a number of militant groups]],<ref name="Terrorism in Tel Aviv">[https://web.archive.org/web/20100428221247/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838675,00.html Terrorism in Tel Aviv] ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' Friday, 13 Sep 1968</ref> 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 [[List of Palestinian suicide attacks|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]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2018/11/07/Leader-of-Hezbollah-linked-Ansar-Allah-leaves-Lebanon-to-Syria.html| title = Palestinian Leader of Hezbollah-linked Ansar Allah leaves Lebanon to Syria| date = 7 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/lebanese-army-deployed-to-palestinian-camp-after-fatah-ansar-allah-clash-570393| title = Lebanese army deployed to Palestinian camp after Fatah-Ansar Allah clash| date = 26 October 2018}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The full name of the movement is {{Transliteration|ar|Ḥarakat al-Taḥrīr al-Waṭanī l-Filasṭīnī}}, meaning the 'Palestinian National Liberation Movement'. From this was crafted the inverted and [[reverse acronym]] {{Transliteration|ar|Fatḥ}} (generally rendered in English as ''Fatah''), meaning 'opening', 'conquering', or 'victory'.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9033809|title=Fatah|quote=Fatah [...] inverted acronym of Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini [...]|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071129222152/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9033809|archive-date=2007-11-29}}</ref> The word {{Transliteration|ar|fatḥ}} is used in religious discourse to signify the [[History of Islam#The spread of Islam|Islamic expansion]] in the first centuries of Islamic history – as in {{Transliteration|ar|Fatḥ [[Syria (region)|al-Shām]]}}, the 'conquering of the [[Levant]]'. {{Transliteration|ar|Fatḥ}} is also religiously significant as the name of the [[Al-Fath|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]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Martijn Theodoor Houtsma, P.J. Bearman|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Volume X (Tā'-U[..])|year=2000|publisher=Brill|page=539|display-authors=etal}}</ref> that triggered the [[conquest of Mecca]]. This Islamic precedent was cited by Arafat as justification for his signing the [[Oslo Accords]] with Israel.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://arabic.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2074 |title=معهد واشنطن - معهد واشنطن لسياسة الشرق الأدنى |publisher=Arabic.washingtoninstitute.org |access-date=2013-04-25 |archive-date=13 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713221122/http://arabic.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2074 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=1725 |title=Thursday, May 21, 1998 Arafat Again Calls Oslo Accords A Temporary Truce |publisher=IMRA |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref>

==History==
===Establishment===
[[File:Yasser-arafat-1999.jpg|thumb|[[Yasser Arafat]] was the primary founder of Fatah and its leader until his 2004 death]]

The Fatah movement was founded in 1959 by members of the [[Palestinian diaspora]], principally by professionals working in the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf|Persian Gulf States]], especially [[Sheikhdom of Kuwait|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 Strip|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.{{sfn|Aburish|1998|pp=41–90}} Upon founding, Arafat summoned [[Mahmoud Abbas]] (who was residing in [[Qatar]], then a British protectorate) to join.<ref name="myth">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/behindmyth00andr |url-access=registration |last1=Gowers |first1=Andrew |first2=Tony |last2=Walker |title=Behind the Myth: Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Revolution |year=1991 |location=New York |publisher=[[Olive Branch Press]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/behindmyth00andr/page/65 65] |isbn=978-0-940793-86-6}}</ref> The group of Gulf-based young Palestinian professionals were the core of Fatah in its early days of existence.<ref name="myth"/> Fatah espoused a Palestinian nationalist ideology in which [[Palestinians|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.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Shemesh|first=Moshe|title=The Fida'iyyun Organization's Contribution to the Descent to the Six-Day War|journal=Israel Studies| volume=11|issue=1|year=2006|doi=10.2979/isr.2006.11.1.1|page=3|s2cid=145315984  |issn = 1084-9513 }}</ref>

===1967–1993===
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 [[Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO Executive Committee]]. Fatah's Arafat became [[Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization|Chairman of the PLO]] in 1969, after the position was ceded to him by [[Yahya Hammuda]].{{sfn|Aburish|1998|pp=41–90}} 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 warfare|guerrilla]] attacks on Israel."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/israel_and_the_palestinians/profiles/1371998.stm |title=Fatah: Political heavyweight floored |work=BBC News|access-date=7 January 2007|date=4 August 2009}}</ref>

====Battle of Karameh====
{{main|Battle of Karameh}}
[[File:Operation Inferno. XXI.jpg|thumb|Israeli troops in combat in Karameh]]
Throughout 1968, Fatah and other Palestinian armed groups were the target of a major [[Israeli Defense Forces]] (IDF) operation in the Jordanian village of [[Karameh]], where Fatah headquarters{{spaced ndash}}as well as a mid-sized [[Palestinian refugees|Palestinian refugee camp]]{{spaced ndash}}were located. The town's name is the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] word for ''dignity'', which elevated its [[symbol]]ism to the Arab people, especially after the Arab defeat in 1967. The operation was in response to attacks against Israel, including rocket strikes from Fatah and other Palestinian militias into the occupied West Bank. Knowledge of the operation was available well ahead of time, and the government of Jordan (as well as a number of Fatah commandos) informed Arafat of Israel's large-scale military preparations. Upon hearing the news, many guerrilla groups in the area, including [[George Habash]]'s newly formed group the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] (PFLP) and [[Nayef Hawatmeh]]'s breakaway organization the [[Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] (DFLP), withdrew their forces from the town. Fatah leaders were advised by a pro-Fatah Jordanian divisional commander to withdraw their men and headquarters to nearby hills, but on Arafat's orders, Fatah remained, and the [[Royal Jordanian Army|Jordanian Army]] agreed to back them if heavy fighting ensued.{{sfn|Aburish|1998|pp=41–90}}

On the night of 21 March, the IDF attacked Karameh with heavy weaponry, armored vehicles and fighter jets.{{sfn|Aburish|1998|pp=41–90}} Fatah held its ground, surprising the Israeli military. As Israel's forces intensified their campaign, the Jordanian Army became involved, causing the Israelis to retreat in order to avoid a full-scale war.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bulloch|first=John|title=Final Conflict|year=1983|publisher=Faber Publishing|page=165|isbn=978-0-7126-0171-9|oclc=9803075}}</ref> By the end of the battle, nearly 150 Fatah militants had been killed, as well as twenty Jordanian soldiers and twenty-eight Israeli soldiers. Despite the higher Arab death toll, Fatah considered themselves victorious because of the Israeli army's rapid withdrawal.{{sfn|Aburish|1998|pp=41–90}}

====Black September====
{{further|Black September}}
In the late 1960s, tensions between Palestinians and the Jordanian government increased greatly; heavily armed Arab resistance elements had created a virtual "state within a state" in Jordan, eventually controlling several strategic positions in that country. After their victory in the Battle of Karameh, Fatah and other Palestinian militias began taking control of civil life in Jordan. They set up roadblocks, publicly humiliated Jordanian police forces, molested women and levied illegal taxes – all of which Arafat either condoned or ignored.<ref>Sayigh, Yezid (1997). Armed Struggle and the Search for State, the Palestinian National Movement, 1949–1993. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-829643-0}}. {{OCLC|185547145}}.</ref>{{sfn|Aburish|1998|p=100–112}}

In 1970, the Jordanian government moved to regain control over its territory, and the next day,{{dubious|The next day after 1970? Wow, THAT fast?!|date=July 2019}} [[Hussein of Jordan|King Hussein]] declared [[martial law]].{{sfn|Aburish|1998|p=100–112}} By 25 September, the Jordanian army achieved dominance in the fighting, and two days later Arafat and Hussein agreed to a series of ceasefires. The Jordanian army inflicted heavy casualties upon the Palestinians – including civilians – who suffered approximately 3,500 fatalities. Two thousand Fatah fighters managed to enter [[Syria]]. They crossed the border into Lebanon to join Fatah forces in that country, where they set up their new headquarters. A large group of guerrilla fighters led by Fatah field commander [[Abu Ali Iyad]] held out the Jordanian Army's offensive in the northern city of [[Ajloun|Ajlun]] until they were decisively defeated in July 1971. Abu Ali Iyad was executed and surviving members of his commando force formed the [[Black September Organization]], a splinter group of Fatah. In November 1971, the group assassinated Jordanian prime minister [[Wasfi al-Tal]] as retaliation to Abu Ali Iyad's execution.<ref>Seale, 1992, pp.81–82.</ref>

In the 1960s and the 1970s, Fatah provided training to a wide range of European, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African militant and insurgent groups, and carried out numerous attacks against Israeli targets in Western Europe and the Middle East during the 1970s. Some militant groups that affiliated themselves to Fatah, and some of the ''fedayeen'' within Fatah itself, carried out civilian-[[aircraft hijacking]]s and terrorist attacks, attributing them to Black September, [[Abu Nidal]]'s [[Abu Nidal Organization|Fatah-Revolutionary Council]], [[Said al-Muragha|Abu Musa]]'s group, the PFLP, and the PFLP-GC.{{dubious|Means what, freelancers did it an "atributed" it to whom they liked best/hated most?|date=July 2019}} Fatah received weapons, explosives and training from the [[Soviet Union]] and some of the [[communist state]]s of [[East Europe]]. [[China]] and [[Algeria]] also provided munitions.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} In 1979, Fatah aided [[Uganda]] during the [[Uganda–Tanzania War]]. Members of the organization fought alongside the [[Uganda Army (1971–1980)|Uganda Army]] and Libyan troops against the [[Tanzania People's Defence Force]] during the [[Battle of Lukaya]] and the [[Fall of Kampala]], but were eventually forced to retreat from the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://al-akhbar.com/Opinion/226891 |title= مهمة "فتح" في أوغندا  |trans-title=Fatah's mission in Uganda |author=Janan Osama al-Salwadi |work=Al Akhbar (Lebanon) |language=ar |date=27 February 2017 |access-date=6 October 2019 }}</ref>

====Lebanon====
{{further|Lebanese Civil War}}

The Lebanese Civil War lasted from 1975 to 1990. Although hesitant at first to take sides in the conflict, Arafat and Fatah played an important role in the [[Lebanese Civil War]]. Succumbing to pressure from PLO sub-groups such as the PFLP, DFLP and the [[Palestinian Liberation Front]] (PLF), Fatah aligned itself with the communist and [[Nasserism|Nasserist]] [[Lebanese National Movement]] (LNM). Although originally aligned with Fatah, [[President of Syria|Syrian President]] [[Hafez al-Assad]] feared a loss of influence in Lebanon and switched sides. He sent his army, along with the [[Syria]]n-backed Palestinian factions of [[as-Sa'iqa]] and the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command]] (PFLP-GC) led by [[Ahmed Jibril|Ahmad Jibril]] to fight alongside the Christian forces against the PLO and the LNM. The primary component of the Christian militias was the [[Maronite Church|Maronite]] [[Kataeb Party|Phalangists]].{{sfn|Aburish|1998|p=150–175}}

Phalangist forces killed twenty-six Fatah trainees on a bus in April 1975, marking the official start of the 15-year-long Lebanese civil war. Later that year, an alliance of Christian militias overran the Palestinian refugee camp of [[Karantina massacre|Karantina]] killing over 1,000 civilians.<ref name="Harris">{{cite book|last=Harris|first=William |title=Faces of Lebanon. Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions |url=https://archive.org/details/facesoflebanonse0000harr |url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers|pages=[https://archive.org/details/facesoflebanonse0000harr/page/162 162–165]|isbn=978-1-55876-115-5|oclc=34753518}}</ref> The PLO and LNM retaliated by attacking the town of [[Damour massacre|Damour]], a Phalangist and [[Free Tigers]] ({{Lang|ar-Latn|Numūr al-Aḥrar}}) stronghold, killing 684 civilians.{{sfn|Aburish|1998|p=150–175}} As the civil war progressed over 2 years of urban warfare, both parties resorted to massive artillery duels and heavy use of sniper nests, while atrocities and war crimes were committed by both sides.

In 1976, with strategic planning help from the Lebanese Army, the alliance of Christian militias, spearheaded by the [[National Liberal Party (Lebanon)|National Liberal Party]] of former President [[Camille Chamoun]]'s militant branch, the Free Tigers, took a pivotal refugee camp in the Eastern part of Beirut, the Tel al-Zaatar camp, after a six-month siege, also known as the [[Tel al-Zaatar massacre]] in which hundreds perished.{{refn|Disputed; in ''Faces of Lebanon. Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions'' pp. 162–165, William Harris states "Perhaps 3,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, died in the siege and its aftermath." The Lebanese-American Association<ref>[http://www.laa.org/tours/thewar.htm "The Civil War ...1975"]. Lebanese-American Association. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908233103/http://laa.org:80/tours/thewar.htm |date=8 September 2006 }}.</ref> suggests several thousand.}} Arafat and Abu Jihad blamed themselves for not successfully organizing a rescue effort.{{sfn|Aburish|1998|p=150–175}}

PLO cross-border raids against Israel grew somewhat during the late 1970s.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} One of the most severe{{spaced ndash}}known as the [[Coastal road massacre]]{{spaced ndash}}occurred on 11 March 1978. A force of nearly a dozen Fatah fighters landed their boats near a major coastal road connecting the city of [[Haifa]] with [[Tel Aviv|Tel Aviv-Yafo]]. There they hijacked a bus and sprayed gunfire inside and at passing vehicles, killing thirty-seven civilians.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1977-1979/133%20Statement%20to%20the%20press%20by%20Prime%20Minister%20Begin |title=133 Statement to the press by Prime Minister Begin on the massacre of Israelis on the Haifa – Tel Aviv Road- 12 March 1978|date=12 May 1978|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}</ref> In response, the IDF launched [[1978 South Lebanon conflict|Operation Litani]] three days later, with the goal of taking control of Southern Lebanon up to the [[Litani River]]. The IDF achieved this goal, and Fatah withdrew to the north into Beirut.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14649284|title=Time Line: Lebanon Israel Controls South|work=BBC News |date=9 October 2007|access-date=9 October 2007|publisher=BBC MMVII}}</ref>

Israel [[1982 Lebanon War|invaded Lebanon again]] in 1982. Beirut was soon besieged and bombarded by the IDF;{{sfn|Aburish|1998|p=150–175}} to end the siege, the US and European governments brokered an agreement guaranteeing safe passage for Arafat and Fatah{{spaced ndash}}guarded by a multinational force{{spaced ndash}}to exile in [[Tunis]]. Despite the exile, many Fatah commanders and fighters remained in Lebanon, and they faced the [[War of the Camps]] in the 1980s in their fight with the Shia [[Amal Movement]] and also in connection with internal schisms within the Palestinian factions.{{sfn|Aburish|1998|p=150–175}}
<!---The following recaps the above?:
When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, the faction was dispersed to several Middle Eastern countries with the help of US and other Western governments: [[Tunisia]], Yemen, [[Algeria]], Iraq and others. In the period 1982–1993, Fatah's leadership resided in [[Tunisia]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}}
---->

===After 1993===
[[File:Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat at the White House 1993-09-13.jpg|thumb|[[Yitzhak Rabin]], [[Bill Clinton]], and [[Yasser Arafat]] during the [[Oslo Accords]] signing ceremony at the [[White House]] on 13 September 1993]]
[[File:P20220715AS-1244 (52325477560).jpg|thumb|Fatah leader [[Mahmoud Abbas]] with U.S. President [[Joe Biden]] at the Palestinian Presidential Palace in Bethlehem on 15 July 2022]]

====Presidential and legislative elections====
In the 1993–1995 [[Oslo Accords]], Fatah, as part of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO]], made some interim agreements with Israel, including recognition of Israel by the PLO. Until his 2004 death, Arafat headed the [[Palestinian National Authority]], the provisional entity created as a result of those Oslo Accords.  Soon after Arafat's death, [[Faruq al-Qaddumi]] was elected to the post.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

Fatah nominated [[Mahmoud Abbas]] in the [[2005 Palestinian presidential election|Palestinian presidential election of 2005]].

In 2005, [[Hamas]] won in nearly all [[Palestinian local elections, 2004–2005|the municipalities it contested]]. Political analyst [[Salah Abdel-Shafi]] told the BBC about the difficulties of Fatah leadership: "I think it's very, very serious{{spaced ndash}}it's becoming obvious that they can't agree on anything." Fatah is "widely seen as being in desperate need of reform," as "the PA's performance has been a story of corruption and incompetence{{spaced ndash}}and Fatah has been tainted."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4386355.stm |title=Fatah faces reform crossroads|work=BBC News|access-date=7 January 2007|date=27 March 2005 |first=Alan |last=Johnston}}</ref>

====Internal discord====
<!--Deleted image removed: [[File:Marwan-barghouti.jpg|thumb|right|[[Marwan Barghouti]] is the founder of the [[Al-Mustaqbal (electoral list)|al-Mustaqbal]] political party and leader of the [[Tanzim]] and [[al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades]] {{Deletable image-caption|date=May 2012}}]]-->
In December 2005, jailed [[Second Intifada|Intifada]] leader [[Marwan Barghouti]] broke ranks with the party and announced that he had formed a new political list to run in the elections called the ''[[Al-Mustaqbal (electoral list)|al-Mustaqbal]]'' ('The Future'), mainly composed of members of Fatah's "Young Guard." These younger leaders have repeatedly expressed frustration with the entrenched corruption in the party, which has been run by the "Old Guard" who returned from exile in [[Tunisia]] following the Oslo Accords. Al-Mustaqbal was to campaign against Fatah in the [[2006 Palestinian legislative election]], presenting a list including [[Mohammed Dahlan]], [[Qadura Fares|Kadoura Fares]], [[Samir Mashharawi]] and [[Jibril Rajoub]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1134309581046&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120605010641/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1134309581046&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 June 2012|title=Fatah officials negotiate with Barghouti |work=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=7 January 2007}}</ref> However, on 28 December 2005, the leadership of the two factions agreed to submit a single list to voters, headed by Barghouti, who began actively campaigning for Fatah from his jail cell.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reut-institute.org/Publication.aspx?PublicationId=1225 |title=Crisis of Representation|publisher=Reut-institute.org|access-date=2013-04-25|archive-date=12 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012085657/http://www.reut-institute.org/Publication.aspx?PublicationId=1225|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/international/middleeast/15cnd-mide.html?ex=1168318800&en=19dddb2093472ac9&ei=5070 |title=Main Palestinian Faction Splits Sharply Ahead of Election|work=The New York Times |access-date=7 January 2007|first=Steven|last=Erlanger|date=15 December 2005}}</ref>

There have been numerous other expressions of discontent within Fatah, which is just holding its first general congress in two decades. Because of this, the movement remains largely dominated by aging cadres from the pre-Oslo era of Palestinian politics. Several of them gained their positions through the patronage of Arafat, who balanced above the different factions, and the era after his death in 2004 has seen increased infighting among these groups, who jockey for influence over future development, the political line, funds, and constituencies. There is concern over the succession once Abbas leaves power.<ref name="CG23">{{cite web | title=Managing Palestine's Looming Leadership Transition | website=Crisis Group | date=1 Feb 2023 | url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/east-mediterranean-mena/israelpalestine/238-managing-palestines-looming-leadership-transition | access-date=5 Jul 2023}}</ref>
[[File:West Bank Access Restrictions (United Nations OCHA oPt) May 2023.jpg|thumb|[[Palestinian enclaves]] in May 2023 ([[West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord|Area A and B]] under the [[Oslo II Accord]]). Area A (light yellow) is exclusively administered by the Fatah-controlled [[Palestinian National Authority]].]] 
There have been no open splits within the older generation of Fatah politicians since the 1980s, though there is occasional friction between members of the top leadership. One founding member, Faruq al-Qaddumi (Abu Lutf), openly opposed the post-Oslo arrangements and led a campaign for a more hardline position from exile in [[Tunis]], until his death in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-08-22 |title=National fighter Faruq al-Qaddumi dies in Amman |url=https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/148304 |access-date=2025-09-06 |website=WAFA Agency |language=en}}</ref> Since Arafat's death, he is formally head of Fatah's political bureau and chairman, but his actual political following within Fatah appears limited. He has at times openly challenged the legitimacy of Abbas and harshly criticized both him and [[Mohammed Dahlan]], but despite threats to splinter the movement, he remains in his position, and his challenges have so far been fruitless. Another influential veteran, [[Hani al-Hassan]], has also openly criticized the present leadership.

Fatah's internal conflicts have also, due to the creation of the Palestinian Authority, merged with the turf wars between different PA security services, e.g., a longstanding rivalry between the West Bank ([[Jibril Rajoub]]) and Gaza (Muhammad Dahlan) branches of the powerful Preventive Security Service. Foreign backing for different factions contribute to conflict, e.g., with the United States generally seen as supportive of Abbas's overall leadership and of Dahlan's security influence, and Syria alleged to promote al-Qaddumi's challenge to the present leadership. The younger generations of Fatah, especially within the militant [[al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]], have been more prone to splits, and a number of lesser networks in Gaza and the West Bank have established themselves as either independent organizations or joined Hamas. However, such overt breaks with the movement have still been rather uncommon, despite numerous rivalries inside and between competing local Fatah groups.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}}

====2009: Sixth General Assembly====
The Sixth General Assembly of the Fatah Movement began on 4 August 2009 in [[Bethlehem]], nearly 16 years after the [[Oslo I Accord]] and 20 years since the last Fatah convention, after being repeatedly postponed over conflicts ranging from representation to venue.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120708043824/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249275691810&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull editiorial.jpost.com Fatah's goals]. Last accessed 11 August 2009.</ref> More than 2,000 delegates attended the meeting,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/20098435612729372.html|publisher=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] |title=Delegates gather for Fatah congress |access-date=11 August 2009}}</ref> while another 400 from the [[Gaza Strip]] were unable to attend the conference after Hamas barred them from traveling to the [[West Bank]].<ref name="Jerusalem Post"/>

The internal dissension was immediately obvious.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] [[Abdullah of Saudi Arabia|King Abdullah]] told the delegates that divisions among the Palestinians were more damaging to their cause of an independent state than the Israeli "enemy".<ref name="Jerusalem Post">{{cite news|url=https://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418529052&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130706010736/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418529052&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |url-status=dead|archive-date=6 July 2013|title=Disputes break out at Fatah conference in Bethlehem|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=5 August 2009}}</ref>

Delegates resolved not to resume [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process|Israeli–Palestinian peace talks]] until 14 preconditions were met. Among these preconditions were the release of all Israel-held Palestinian prisoners, a freeze on all [[Israeli settlement]] construction, and an end to the [[Blockade of the Gaza Strip|Gaza blockade]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/EditionFrancaise/Home.aspxservlet/Satellite?cid=1249418545003&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708225643/http://www.jpost.com/EditionFrancaise/Home.aspxservlet/Satellite?cid=1249418545003&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|url-status=dead|title=Israel News |date=8 July 2012|archive-date=8 July 2012}}</ref>

By affirming its option for "armed resistance" against Israel, Fatah appealed to Palestinians who wanted a more hardline response to Israel.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25897575-15084,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912144608/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25897575-15084,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 September 2012|work=The Australian|first1=John|last1=Lyons|title=Israel to blame for Arafat death: Fatah|date=8 August 2009}}</ref>

Israeli deputy foreign minister [[Danny Ayalon]] said the conference was a "serious blow to peace" and "was another lost opportunity for the Palestinian leadership to adopt moderate views."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Arafat-assassination-accusation-irks-Israel|work=The Jerusalem Post|title=Arafat assassination accusation irks Israel|date=6 August 2009}}</ref>

====Elections to Central Committee and Revolutionary Council====
On 9 August 2009, new members of the [[Central Committee of Fatah]] and the Revolutionary Council were chosen.<ref>[http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=217680 ''Abdul-Rahim: Fatah conference 90 percent over'']. Ma'an News Agency, 9 August 2009</ref> Delegates voted to fill 18 seats on the 23-seat Central Committee, and 81 seats on the 128-seat Revolutionary Council after a week of deliberations. At least 70 new members entered the latter, with 20 seats going to Fatah representatives from the Gaza Strip, 11 seats filled by women (the highest number of votes went to one woman who spent years in Israeli jails for her role in the resistance), four seats went to Christians, and one was filled by a Jewish-born convert to Islam, [[Uri Davis]], the first Jewish-born person to be elected to the Revolutionary Council since its founding in 1958. Fatah activists from the [[Palestinian diaspora]] were also represented and included [[Samir Rifai]], Fatah's secretary in Syria, and Khaled Abu Usba.
[[File:2013 Fatah anniversary rally in Gaza (04).jpg|thumb|A demonstration in support of Fatah in [[Gaza City]] in January 2013]]
Elected to the central council was Fadwa Barghouti, the wife of [[Marwan Barghouti]] who was serving five life sentences in Israel for his role in terrorist attacks on civilians in Israel during the [[Second Intifada]].

====Reconciliation process with Hamas====
{{main|Fatah–Hamas reconciliation process}}
A meeting of the Revolutionary Council was held in Ramallah from 18 to 19 October 2014. Many important questions were discussed, including reconciliation with Hamas. Opinion was divided on the issue.<ref name=al-mon_growing_issues>[http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/10/fatah-revolutionary-council-meeting-hamas-dahlan.html ''Fatah's Revolutionary Council grapples with growing issues'']. Adnan Abu Amer, Al-Monitor, 27 October 2014</ref>

====2016: Seventh Congress====
In December 2016, more than 1400 members of Fatah's 7th Congress elected 18 members of the Central Committee and 80 for the Revolutionary Council. Six new members were added to the Central Committee while 12 were reelected. Outgoing members included Nabil Shaath, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Zakaria al-Agha and Tayib Abdul Rahim.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=hWTZzja51779170212ahWTZzj|title=Fatah Congress elects Central Committee and Revolutionary Council members|editor=WAFA|date=5 December 2016|access-date=5 December 2016}}</ref>

Its leader Abu Ashraf Al-Armoushi and his comrades were killed in the Al-Basateen neighborhood of Ain Al-Helweh camp on 30 July 2023 during fighting.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.mtv.com.lb/en/News/Live-Feed/1378673/brigadier-general-abu-ashraf-al-armoushi-has-been-killed--along-with-a-number-of-his-companions--in-the-bsatine-neighborhood-of-ain-al-helweh-camp |title=Brigadier General Abu Ashraf Al-Armoushi has been killed |date=30 July 2023 |access-date=31 July 2023 |work=[[MTV Lebanon]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/en/justice-law/630117 |title=Fatah Leader Abu Ashraf al-Armoushi killed in Ain al-Hilweh |date=30 July 2023 |access-date=31 July 2023 |work=NNA}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.jordannews.jo/Section-20/Middle-East/Fighting-erupts-in-Palestinian-refugee-camp-in-Lebanon-30029 |title=Fighting erupts in Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon |date=30 July 2023 |access-date=31 July 2023 |work=Jordan News}}</ref>

==Ideology==
Fatah has member status at the [[Socialist International]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.socialistinternational.org/library/|title=Library|website=Socialist International}}</ref> and observer status within the [[Party of European Socialists]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pes.eu/en/about-pes/pes-members/parties |title=PES member parties |publisher=Party of European Socialists |access-date=2013-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503194245/http://www.pes.eu/en/about-pes/pes-members/parties |archive-date=3 May 2013 }}</ref>

The November 1959 edition of Fatah's underground journal ''Filastinuna Nida al-Hayat'' indicated that the movement was motivated by the status of the Palestinian refugees in the Arab world:<blockquote>
:The youth of the catastrophe (''shibab al-nakba'') are dispersed... Life in the tent has become as miserable as death... [T]o die for our beloved Motherland is better and more honorable than life, which forces us to eat our daily bread under humiliations or to receive it as charity at the cost of our honour... We, the sons of the catastrophe, are no longer willing to live this dirty, despicable life, this life which has destroyed our cultural, moral and political existence and destroyed our human dignity.<ref>Baumgarten 2005, p. 32.</ref>
</blockquote>

Armed struggle{{spaced ndash}}as manifested in the [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine]] and the military role of Palestinian fighters under the leadership of [[Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni]] in the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]{{spaced ndash}}was central to Fatah's initial ideology of how to liberate Palestine.{{sfn|Aburish|1998|pp=41–90}}

==Structure==
Fatah's two most important decision-making bodies are the [[Central Committee of Fatah|Central Committee]] and Revolutionary Council. The Central Committee is mainly an executive body, while the Revolutionary Council is Fatah's [[Legislature|legislative]] body.<ref name=al-mon_growing_issues/><ref>[http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/12/content_11871601.htm Xinhua News Agency. ''Fatah begins vote count for revolutionary council after delays''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107205131/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/12/content_11871601.htm |date=7 November 2012 }} by Saud Abu Ramadan. Last accessed: 14 August 2009.</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20130706010716/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418557097&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull JPost. Fatah moves 'to remove, defeat occupation'] by KHALED ABU TOAMEH. Last accessed: 14 August 2009.</ref>

===Armed factions===
Fatah has maintained a number of militant groups since its founding. Its mainstream military branch is [[al-'Asifah]]. Fatah is generally considered to have had a strong involvement in terrorism in the past,<ref name="Terrorism">{{cite encyclopedia |title=terrorism |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/588371/terrorism/217764/History |access-date=3 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="britannica.com">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Palestine |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/439645/Palestine/45082/Resurgence-of-Palestinian-identity |access-date=3 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="Terrorism in Tel Aviv"/><ref name="Arafat's means' failed in the end">{{cite web |last=Phares |first=Walid |date=1974-11-13 |title=Arafat's 'means' failed in the end |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6436578 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705144346/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6436578/ |archive-date=5 July 2015 |access-date=2013-04-25 |work=NBC News}}</ref> though unlike its rival [[Islamism|Islamist]] faction [[Hamas]], Fatah is no longer regarded as a terrorist organization by any government. Fatah used to be designated terrorist under [[Israel]]i law and was considered terrorist by the [[United States Department of State]] and [[United States Congress]] until it renounced terrorism in 1988.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mod.gov.il/pages/general/teror.asp|title=Israel ministry of Defense|publisher=Mod.gov.il|access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kushner |first=Harvey W. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780761924081/page/13 |title=Encyclopedia of Terrorism |publisher=SAGE |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7619-2408-1 |edition=illustrated |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780761924081/page/13 13–15, 281–83] |oclc=50725450 |author-link=Harvey Kushner}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Judge Rules PLO Can Retain Office|last=Lubasch|first=Arnold H.|date=30 June 1988|work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>''Palestine Information Office v. Shultz'', 853 F.2d 932 (D.C.Cir. 1988).</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1079/is_n2128_v87/ai_6198831 |title=United States Department of State Bulletin |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |date=15 September 1987 |access-date=23 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090808192756/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1079/is_n2128_v87/ai_6198831/ |archive-date=8 August 2009 }}</ref>

Fatah has, since its inception, created, led or sponsored a number of armed groups and militias, some of which have had an official standing as the movement's armed wing, and some of which have not been publicly or even internally recognized as such. The group has also dominated various PLO and Palestinian Authority forces and security services which were/are not officially tied to Fatah, but in practice have served as wholly pro-Fatah armed units, and been staffed largely by members. The original name for Fatah's armed wing was al-'Asifah ('The Storm'), and this was also the name Fatah first used in its communiques, trying for some time to conceal its identity. This name has since been applied more generally to Fatah armed forces, and does not correspond to a single unit today. Other militant groups associated with Fatah include:
*[[Force 17]], which played a role akin to the Presidential Guard for senior Fatah leaders.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} Created by Arafat.
*[[Black September Organization]], a group formed by leading Fatah members in 1971, following the events of [[Black September]] in Jordan, to organize clandestine attacks with which Fatah did not want to be openly associated. These included strikes against leading Jordanian politicians as a means of exacting vengeance and raising the price for attacking the Palestinian movement; and also, most controversially, for "international operations" (e.g. the [[Munich massacre|Munich Olympics massacre]]), intended to put pressure on the US, Europe and Israel, to raise the visibility of the Palestinian cause and to upstage radical rivals such as the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine|PFLP]]. Fatah publicly disassociated itself from the group, but it is widely believed that it enjoyed Arafat's direct or tacit backing. It was discontinued in 1973–1974, as Fatah's political line shifted again, and the Black September operations and the strategy behind them were seen as having become a political liability, rather than an asset.
*[[Fatah Hawks]], an armed militia active mainly until the mid-1990s.
*[[Tanzim]], a branch of Fatah under the leadership of Marwan Barghouti, with roots in the activism of the [[First Intifada]], which carried out armed attacks in the early days of the Second Intifada. It was later subsumed or sidelined by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.
*[[Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]], created during the Second Intifada to bolster the organization's militant standing vis-à-vis the rival Hamas movement, which had taken the lead in attacks on Israel after 1993, and was gaining rapidly in popularity with the advent of the Intifada. The Brigades are locally organized and have been said to suffer from poor cohesion and internal discipline, at times ignoring ceasefires and other initiatives announced by the central Fatah leadership. They are generally seen as tied to the "young guard" of Fatah politics, organizing young members on the street level, but it is not clear that they form a faction in themselves inside Fatah politics; rather, different Brigades units may be tied to different Fatah factional leaders.

During the Second Intifada, the group was a member of the [[Palestinian National and Islamic Forces]].<ref>[http://www.jmcc.org/banner/banner1/bayan/aqsbayan14.htm Statement issued by the National and Islamic Forces] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060425165617/http://www.jmcc.org/banner/banner1/bayan/aqsbayan14.htm |date=25 April 2006 }} 10 February 2001</ref>

===Constitution===
In August 2009, at Fatah's Sixth General Conference in [[Bethlehem]], Fatah delegates drew up a new "internal charter".<ref>{{cite web |title=Palestine National Liberation Movement Fatah Internal Charter |url=https://irp.fas.org/dni/osc/fatah-charter.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019111346/https://irp.fas.org/dni/osc/fatah-charter.pdf |archive-date=2021-10-19 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Leaders' electoral performance ==
=== Presidential elections ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Election year
! Candidate(s)
! Votes
! %
! Result
|-
! [[1996 Palestinian general election|1996]]
| [[Yasser Arafat]]
| 643,079
| 89.82
| {{Y}} '''Victory'''
|-
! [[2005 Palestinian presidential election|2005]]
| [[Mahmoud Abbas]]
| 501,448
| 67.38
| {{Y}} '''Victory'''
|}

=== Legislative Council ===
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Election
! Leading candidate
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/–
! Position
|-
![[1996 Palestinian general election|1996]]
| [[Yasser Arafat]]
| 1,085,593
| 30.90
|{{Composition bar|50|88|{{party color|Fatah}}}}
| New
| '''1st'''
|- 
![[2006 Palestinian legislative election|2006]]
| [[Faruq al-Qaddumi]]
| 410,554
| 41.43
|{{Composition bar|45|132|{{party color|Fatah}}}}
| [[File:Red Arrow Down.svg|10px]]5
| 2nd
|}

==See also==
*[[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]
*[[List of Fatah members]]
*[[List of political parties in the Palestinian National Authority]]
*[[Palestinian political violence]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Aburish |first=Said |author-link=Said Aburish |year=1998 |title=Arafat, From Defender to Dictator |location=New York |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-58234-049-4 |oclc=61189464}}
*{{cite book|last=Seale|first=Patrick|author-link=Patrick Seale|title=Abu Nidal: a gun for hire|year=1992|publisher=Random House|url=https://archive.org/details/abunidalgunforhi00seal|isbn=978-0-679-40066-0|oclc=24628222}}
*{{cite journal|doi=10.1525/jps.2005.34.4.25|author=Baumgarten, Helga|year=2005|title=The three faces/phases of Palestinian nationalism, 1948–2005|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=34|issue=4|pages=25–48}}
*[[Seyeed Ali Haghshenas|Haghshenas, Seyyed Ali]], "Social and political structure of [[Lebanon]] and its influence on [the] appearance of [the] [[Amal Movement]]", [[Tehran]], [[Iran]], 2009.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Official website|http://fatah.ps}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160421034645/http://www.fateh.ps/ Former website] (archived)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110714090811/http://www.middleeastfacts.com/middle-east/the-fatah-constitution.php/ Fatah's Constitution]
*{{in lang|ar}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20050329023240/http://www.alkrama.com/ Al-Krama Newspaper (Fatah's PR Office)]
*[http://www.reut-institute.org/Publication.aspx?PublicationId=1225 Definition of Fatah] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012085657/http://www.reut-institute.org/Publication.aspx?PublicationId=1225 |date=12 October 2017 }}
*[http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/109/article_2654.asp Interview on Radio France International with Fatah Central Committee member Abdallah Al Frangi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508233744/https://www1.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/109/article_2654.asp |date=8 May 2021 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111008010259/http://www.palestineposterproject.org/content/fatah-palestinian-national-liberation-movement Collection of over 300 Fatah posters]
*[http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?page=1&casualties_type=&casualties_max=&perpetrator=284&count=100&charttype=line&chart=overtime&ob=GTDID&od=desc&expanded=yes#results-table Attacks attributed to FATAH on the START terrorism database]

{{Fatah}}
{{Palestinian political parties}}
{{Israeli-Palestinian conflict |Participants}}
{{Socialist International |Members}}
{{Party of European Socialists}}
{{Arab nationalism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fatah| ]]
[[Category:1959 establishments in Palestine]]
[[Category:1965 establishments in Palestine]]
[[Category:Anti-imperialism in Asia]]
[[Category:Anti-imperialist organizations]]
[[Category:Centrist parties in Asia]]
[[Category:Conservatism and left-wing politics]]
[[Category:Conservative parties in Asia]]
[[Category:National liberation movements]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Ramallah]]
[[Category:Organizations formerly designated as terrorist by the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations supporting the two-state solution]]
[[Category:Nationalist parties in Palestine]]
[[Category:Political parties in Palestine]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1965]]
[[Category:Resistance movements]]
[[Category:Secularism in Palestine]]
[[Category:Social democratic parties in Asia]]
[[Category:Socialist parties in Palestine]]
[[Category:Socially conservative parties]]<!-- {{Cite journal |last=Høigilt |first=Jacob |date=7 December 2015 |title=Fatah from Below: The Clash of Generations in Palestine |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13530194.2015.1116375#abstract |journal=Taylor & Francis Online |doi=10.1080/13530194.2015.1116375}} -->