The IDF’s killing of three Fatah terrorists, members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, in broad daylight in Shechem (Nablus) last week has severely embarrassed the Palestinian Authority (PA) which is facing criticism due to its continued security coordination with the IDF, even though the PLO’s Central Council has decided to suspend it.
Following this embarrassment and the fact that there is a very sensitive relationship between the PA and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, senior PA officials tried to express solidarity with the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades over the weekend and PA head Mahmoud Abbas himself sent condolences to the families of the terrorists, who were killed by a special Israeli force.
Abbas said that “this is a difficult event. The city of Nablus is feeling the death of the saints and we are comforting their families and saying that this is premeditated murder of our sons,” Abbas said. “We have suffered for 73 years and we are not ready to suffer anymore. We will repay them (Israel) in kind.”
PA intelligence chief Majd Faraj visited the home of terrorist Adham Mabruka and said that “our wound is great. Our people have lost martyrs and prisoners and our people have learned from the tragedies and pain and we are all in the same ditch and clinging to Palestinian positions until the dream of freedom from this ugly occupation is fulfilled.” Faraj kissed the head of Mabruka’s mother and conveyed to her condolences from Abbas.
Jamal Tarawy, one of the senior Fatah members in Nablus, said in an interview that “those who claim that the Brigades are not part of the Fatah movement are wrong and the movement is proud of its armed military arm. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are an essential part of the Fatah organization, they were born in Fatah and are still part of it.”
“This group represents the rebellious young generation born after the Oslo Accords, these men believe in the culture of resistance and belonging to Fatah and despite their young age, they are still living the first and second intifada. They are the sons of Fatah and are not outside the framework,” he added.
Among the younger generation of armed terrorists in the refugee camps in Nablus and Jenin, there is growing unrest against Abbas’ rule. A senior Fatah official, in the past a commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs, told TPS that the organization, as it was known, actually ceased to exist several years ago, after most of its members were arrested or killed by Israel. Recently, however, armed squads have also been reorganized under the name “Al-Aqsa Martyrs.”
“There is no longer a single body called ‘Al-Aqsa Martyrs’,” he said, “but armed groups are being re-established and although there is no headquarters as there was until 2005 when the “Martyrs” were disbanded in a ceasefire agreement with Israel, it seems the situation is about to change.”
The senior official says that in the mid-2000s, the weapons of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs were purchased by senior PA officials, including Muhammad Dahlan, Hani al-Hassan and ‘Abd al-Fatah Hamail. However, now “there is an arms race of young Palestinians, especially in the refugee camps and villages in the Nablus area.”
“I remember that here in Balata we collected the weapons and handed them over to Dahlan’s men with the intention of giving the PA another chance to advance with Israel, and as part of the ceasefire agreement. However, the PA has since given up the armed struggle for economic benefits from Israel and turned Fatah from a national liberation organization into a meaningless political organization,” said the former commander.
The senior official has very serious allegations against the PA and says that “The Palestinian leadership has been given a period of 28 years since the Oslo Accords were signed, but in light of the fact that it is a corrupt and failing Authority, and after it became clear that Abu Mazen had in fact become an Israeli agent operating under the dictates of the [Israeli] defense minister and the head of the Shin Bet, it seems that there are those in Fatah who believe that they must return and take armed action against Israel and the Palestinian Authority.”
Recent developments, according to various Arab sources, could also put the Palestinian Authority up against the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and not just against Hamas. According to the Fatah member in Balata, the PA recently ordered all its members not to act within the framework of the Fatah organization’s policies and guidelines and has demanded that its officers create complete separation between their security roles and their membership in Fatah.
The PA is threatening to fire officers who will operate under Fatah, on which the PA was founded and is headed by Abu Mazen, Arab sources say, due to fears of escalation by Fatah factions preparing for the succession battle the day after Abbas.
“This is the last nail in Fatah’s coffin,” the al-Aqsa Martyrs official told TPS.
The armed younger generation does not hide its hostility towards Abbas. “Under the consent of Abu Mazen’s policy, General Dayton tamed Fatah and turned the Palestinian security forces into a system that does not operate under the idea of national liberation. Fatah under Abu Mazen has lost its way and is not a liberation movement,” says an activist in the camp near Nablus.
