Fatah, Palestine Liberation, And Abu Nidal Organizations

The Rise of Fatah, Palestine Liberation, and Abu Nidal Organizations’
Lisa Carlstrom
CJ430: Terrorism & Homeland Security
Minnesota School of Business

The Rise of Fatah, Palestine Liberation, and Abu Nidal Organizations’
Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) grew to have great power and a reputation in the Arab world. The Palestine Liberation Organization wanted to establish a government for displaced Palestinians. The PLO was made up of people from different areas. Some members lived in Israel, Jordan, or in controlled Palestinian areas that were controlled by Israel. Fatah was created shortly later because of upset Palestinians in Jordan and Arafat wanted to form a multi-national alliance against Israel. Fatah and the PLO made Israeli army’s to back down and retreat. Israel was in great disarray due to Fatah being outnumbered and outgunned. (White, 2012, p.290)
Fatah was formed in 1959 by Yasser Arafat.
The purpose for creating Fatah was so it would create a guerrilla organization, which would aid in a campaign against the Israelis. For the group, Arafat advocated the use of small-unit tactics and terrorist actions. These were actions patterned and followed after the Irgun Zvai Leumi. The tactics and terrorist acts on Israel were said to be more of an annoyance to them and they didn’t see Fatah as an actual serious threat. It made Arafat confused and very frustrated that Israel wasn’t worried about them and that they were more worried about their Arab neighbors. Out of frustration and wanting a higher power Arafat merged Fatah into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964. (White, 2012,
p.290)
In June of 1967 after the Sixth Day War Defeat, Arafat and Kahlil Wazir, leader of the PLO, were even more upset than before and wanted to make a bigger move. He proposed to terrorize unfortified civilian targets in Israel. For the attacks he would create a group of Fatah warriors called fedayeen. Fedayeen warriors would be willing to sacrifice themselves and a very powerful group. These attacks caused high media coverage and in turn caused the PLO’s status to rise in the Arab world. Arab armies couldn’t believe what the fedayeen were capable of and that the PLO had the courage to do so when they were greatly outnumbered and not backed by a country. King Hussein, of Jordan wasn’t happy about Arafat and his business of conducting Fatah from there and his attacks on Israel, but Arafat continued to do so. Arafat made many more attacks on Israel and made Fatah’s reputation a leading role. (White, 2012, p.290)
After terrorizing unfortified civilian targets, fedayeen members growing increasingly, and King Hussein not putting a stop to Fatah’s operations, Israel decided to attack back. On March 21, 1968, Israel sent their tanks, helicopters, infantry, and artillery to Jordan to raid Palestinians in Karamah at a refugee housing center. The Israeli army had to retreat as the fedayeen answered and fought back with assault rifles. No other forces had been able to defeat the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Arafat became known as the heroic commander of the fedayeen and the PLO’s funds flourished. Concerned about the PLO’s growing influence on foreign nations, King Hussein ordered all attacks to stop. Arafat didn’t listen and continued the base out of Jordan and consequently Hussein’s Jordanian army then attacked the PLO. Hussein’s strong attack on the PLO caused them to leave Jordan and move into south Lebanon where they also became a strong force. (White, 2012, p.293-294)
The Abu Nidal Organization was formed out of the Rejectionist Front, a variety of groups that rejected Israel’s right to exist. The Abu Nidal Organization was one of the most deadly of the groups in the Middle East. Abu Nidal’s organization was called Black June and later changed to Fatah Revolutionary Council. Abu had joined the Fatah in hopes to regain a homeland for Palestinians and soon was disillusioned by Arafat. With support from his homeland in Iraq, Abu was able to follow his terrorism ways and build an infrastructure for his organization. In 1987, Abu’s organization was moved to Libya by Muammar Gadhafi, the leader of Libya and a key power player in the socialist revolution. In Libya, Gadhafi helped fund Abu Nidal’s recruiting and terrorist training camps and the Abu Nidal Organization operated as a private contractor. Nidal operated on an international level and his attacks were brutally ruthless as many were murdered because of no distinction between targets and those people in the way. The group continued to operate in Libya more secretly throughout the 1990s and in 2002, Abu Nidal was murdered in Iraq. His group mirrored the standards for Middle Easter terrorism groups and operated out of 20 different countries.