al-Asifa, Fateh, Harekat at-Tahrir al-Wataniyyeh al-Filastiniyyeh

The Palestinian Authority deducts 1.5% to 2.0% from the salaries of security forces for Fatah membership fees. The close connection between the Palestinian Authority and Fatah allows the PA to redistribute this money to Fatah activities. Fatah has also ha

Fatah is a secular, Palestinian nationalist organization that has played and continues to play a pivotal role in Palestinian politics.  Fatah was founded in the late 1950s by five Palestinian activists operating out of Kuwait: Yasser Arafat, Khalil El-Wazir, Salah Khalaf, Khalid al-Hasan, and Faruk Qaddumi.  The original ideology of Fatah utterly rejected the legitimacy of Israel and espoused violence as a means to drive Israel out of greater Palestine.  Initially, Fatah operated in secret, organizing Palestinian commando attacks against Israel.  Fatah distanced itself from the broader Arab nationalist movement which focused on Arab intervention on behalf of the Palestinian cause.  Fatah stressed Palestinian self-sufficiency as the key to defeating Israel and creating an independent Palestinian state.  <br /><br /><p>Fatah emerged from the underground in the mid-1960s, and, in the power vacuum that followed the Arab defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Fatah aligned itself with the PLO, establishing itself as the dominant faction within the PLO.  By 1969, Arafat was serving as the PLO's Chairman.  Fatah and the PLO operated out of Jordan, but were expelled violently during 1970-71 (the expulsion began in September 1970, referred to as Black September).  Following the expulsion, Fatah and the PLO operated out of Lebanon until they were forced to disperse throughout the Middle East and North Africa after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.  Despite Fatah's shifting bases, it consistently carried out attacks against Israeli targets in the Middle East and Western Europe.  Fatah members also played important roles in driving the first Palestinian intifada in the late 1980s.