Fatah Celebrates 52nd Anniversary

The Palestinian Fatah faction on Saturday held celebrations commemorating 52 years since it was formed. Rallies were held in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, the latter erupting into clashes between Fatah members loyal to Palestinian Authority President and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas and Abbas’s principal political opponent, Mohammad Dahlan, a former security chief in Gaza now living in exile. A hospital report said 11 people were treated for minor injuries sustained in the altercations. Events in the West Bank were clearly in support of Abbas according to eyewitnesses. Its name meaning “conquest” in Arabic, Fatah was created in 1965 by Yassir Arafat, two years before Israeli control of lands conquered in the 1967 war became an issue. Fatah is locked in sometimes violent internecine warfare with Hamas, the Gaza Strip-based Islamist faction which physically wrestled control of Gaza from Fatah in 2007. The continued bifurcation of Palestine between the Fatah-controlled West Bank and Hamas ruled Gaza Strip arguably remains the greatest obstacle to Palestinian statehood. Several reconciliation agreements between the two factions have been signed but none have resulted in any implementation.