As part of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians, all PLO factions, including Fatah, recognized the state of Israel and renounced terrorism and acts of violence.  Since 1993, the PLO has transformed itself into a quasi-government, the Palestinian Authority (PA) with Arafat and Fatah still playing the dominant roles.  While Fatah and Arafat have formally committed themselves to working with Israel towards peace, the reality has been much more complicated.  Many Fatah members are actively engaged in legitimate Palestinian Authority governmental activities.  However, certain factions within Fatah have recommitted themselves to violence.  Notably, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Fatah-Tanzim have been implicated in terrorist activities against Israeli targets.  Fatah leaders maintain that these factions operate autonomously, outside the control of the mainstream Fatah movement.  Israel maintains that the Fatah leadership continues to control and support these terrorist activities.  Fatah therefore appears split between its role as the leader of the Palestinian Authority and its traditional role as the leader of the Palestinian resistance.  <P><br /><br />In January 2006, Fatah suffered a shocking defeat to Hamas in Palestinian parliamentary elections.  Fatah's loss of power has profoundly changed the Palestinian political landscape, and factional clashes between Fatah and Hamas have consumed the Gaza Strip, leading to deaths on both sides.

al-Saiqa -- Ally
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command (PFLP-GC) -- Ally

<a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=JO">Jordan</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=LE">Lebanon</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=SY">Syria</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=8">West Bank/Gaza</a>

Al-Fatah-Uprising was founded as a mutiny within al-Fatah against al-Fatah and PLO leader Yasser Arafat's autocratic leadership. Al-Fatah-Uprising considers itself the true al-Fatah, devoted to the national liberation of the Palestinians through armed struggle and opposed to any compromise with Israel.  The mutiny was sparked by frustration, particularly among al-Fatah military leaders, with the PLO's defeat by Israel and forced withdrawal from Beirut in 1982.   Led by several high-ranking al-Fatah leaders including Col. Sa'id Musa Muragha (Abu Musa) and Col. Abu Saleh, the revolt received extensive support from Syria and also Libya and successfully ousted Arafat from his base in northern Lebanon in late 1983.<p><br /><br />Al-Fatah-Uprising then established its headquarters in Damascus and collaborated with other anti-Arafat Palestinian groups to form the Palestinian National Salvation Front in 1984 and more recently the Alliance of Palestinian Forces, which was founded in 1993 to oppose the peace process with Israel.  Al-Fatah Uprising has collaborated particularly closely with the PFLP-GC, al-Saiqa, and has been accused of acting as a hired gun on behalf of the Syrian government.  <br />