Jump to content

User:Al Ameer son/Fatah Central Committee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Fatah Central Committee is the highest decision-making body of the Palestinian political Fatah movement. It consists of 23 members, 20 of whom—including the secretary-general—are elected by Fatah delegates, while the remaining three are appointed by the elected members of the committee. Its current head is Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian National Authority.[1] Elections are held during Fatah conferences.

History

[edit]

The first Fatah Central Committee was formed in February 1963, consisting of ten members, including Yasser Arafat, Khalil al-Wazir, Salah Khalaf, Khaled al-Hassan. Arafat and al-Wazir, who lobbied for increased personal responsibility, primarily faced opposition from al-Hassan who opposed premature military action against Israel which they pressed.[2]

The establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964 severely undermined Fatah, with 80% of its members joining the PLO's armed wing, the Palestinian Liberation Army. With this, Arafat and al-Wazir convinced the central committee to allow military operations. As a result, al-Assifa was formed as Fatah's armed wing, but Arafat's rival Abu Youssef was appointed its leader. In 1965, Arafat was chosen to replace him, but eventually began facing opposition from the central committee. Al-Hassan led the committee to cut funds to al-Assifa in an attempt to reduce its operations,[2] but Arafat decided to relocate to Damascus, Syria where he received financial aid from Palestinians working abroad.[3]

In the 1989 Fatah Conference, 18 Fatah members were elected to the committee, with Arafat as the secretary-general. Following Arafat's signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, only half of the central committee became leading members in the newly-established Palestinian National Authority. The rest of the committee either resigned or became inactive. Although now he had overwhelming support from the central committee, Arafat decided to restructure it to further strenghten his authority in the Palestinian territories. He convened a conference in Gaza in October 1995, in which he added to the committee "insiders" Zakaria al-Agha and Faisal Husseini. In November, the committee set up councils to organize campaigns for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections and threatened any Fatah member who would run as an independent with expulsion.[4]

Members

[edit]

1963 Conference

[edit]

1989 Conference

[edit]

2009 Conference

[edit]

Sources

[edit]
  1. ^ Fatah elections: Seven members miscounted; Abdul Rahim in Ma'an News Agency. 2000-08-12.
  2. ^ a b Atkins, p.95.
  3. ^ Atkins, p.96.
  4. ^ Rubin, pp.92-98.