Israel-Palestine friction: Fatah the main culprit

The Joe Biden administration in Washington has indicated on numerous occasions that the two-state solution is the way to resolve the conflict. One, however, wonders how practical any such indication can be .

Observers say the administration has not yet gone into any detail regarding the core issues in the matter, such as the future of Jerusalem, final borders between the two sides, and the question of refugees . To resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, what is needed most is that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its ruling faction Fatah come to work as a partner in the process. This has simply been missing from the whole scenario.

The Biden administration thinks the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Fatah can contribute to resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict. It is being too idealistic to take into account the history and functioning of the PA. The PA came into existence after the signing of the Oslo Accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993. Members and activists belonging to Fatah( founded in 1959) dominate it .

In 1993, then leader of Fatah and the PLO Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Accords. He declared he would be committed "to a peaceful resolution of the conflict" with Israel. He announced that the PLO "renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence." However, Fatah has continued to wage terror strikes against Israelis.

Fatah's terrorism reached its peak in 2000, at the beginning of the Second Intifada. Fatah's armed wing, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, has long been operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip . The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and other armed groups are threatening to continue the fight against Israel.

In March this year, Dia Hamarsheh, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, murdered five Israeli civilians in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak. Subsequently, Ra'ad Hazem, another member of the group, murdered three Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and another Fatah-affiliated group called Lions' Den have carried out several terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Last month, on September 23, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades published a poster "mourning the martyrdom of Muhammad Abu Juma'a, who carried out a stabbing attack in which two Israelis were wounded. The poster praised the assailant as a "hero." Earlier, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades mourned the "martyrs" Ahmed Ayman Abed and Abd al-Rahman Abed, who carried out terror attack near the West Bank city of Jenin.

The observers suggest the current dispensation in Jerusalem must be vigilant against the designs of Mahmoud Abbas-led (PA and) Fatah. It must take all appropriate steps to checkmate them.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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