Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

178 • FATAH, ALinstitutions of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as the sole legitimaterepresentative and governing institutions of the Palestinian people.Prior to 1974 al Fatah aimed to regain all territory of the former BritishMandate of Palestine but revised this goal gradually. In 1974 alFatah declared its intention to cease terrorism outside Israel and theoccupied territories. By 15 November 1988, al Fatah had persuadedthe 19th Palestine National Council (PNC) to declare its acceptanceof the right of Israel to exist as embodied in UN Resolutions 242 and338, in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from the lands occupied inthe 1967 Six-Day War. On 13 September 1993 a peace accord betweenthe PLO and Israel was signed by PLO Chairman Arafat andIsraeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, allowing mutual recognitionand the eventual creation of an autonomous Palestinian governmentunder PLO auspices within the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Although al Fatah formerly received support from both conservativeand radical Arab states, it temporarily lost the support it onceenjoyed from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf emirateswhen it openly sided with Iraq during the Gulf War of 1990–1991.While the Soviet Union and eastern bloc nations also formerly providedsubstantial aid, following the collapse of Communist governmentsin those countries, this source of support ended.Al Fatah differs from the other Palestinian guerrilla groups withinthe PLO in insisting on self-determination for the Palestinian people,apart from seeking the goal of Pan-Arab unity. Al Fatah also hassought to prevent itself, or the PLO, from becoming co-opted intothe service of any Arab state. Since self-determination also impliesself-initiative and independence of action, al Fatah held that the Palestiniansneeded to undertake armed struggle themselves rather thantrusting in the Arab states to deliver them.Al Fatah’s strong resistance against the Israeli army during thelatter’s March 1968 raid on the al Fatah camp at Karameh, Jordan,boosted the group’s prestige in the Palestinian community and encouragedenlistments of young Palestinians into al Fatah’s ranks. ByJuly 1968 al Fatah was admitted to the PLO in its fourth PalestineNational Council meeting. At the fifth PNC meeting in February1969, al Fatah took control of the PLO, and the history of the twoorganizations merged.From 1969 to 1974, PLO-sponsored terrorism was carried outthroughout the Middle East and non-Communist nations against