Fatah marks 55 years with marches in West Bank cities

Hundreds of Palestinians march through the West Bank city of Ramallah today to mark the 55th anniversary of the Fatah movement led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Established by Yasser Arafat in 1965, Fatah led the Palestinian struggle against Israel for decades as the main component of the Palestine Liberation Organization, orchestrating a number of the 20th century’s most notorious terrorist attacks. A Fatah-led PLO then signed the Oslo peace agreements with Israel in the 1990s and became the dominant force in the newly-established Palestinian Authority.

Around a dozen masked men lead the march through Ramallah, firing several rounds of gunfire into the air. Similar marches are planned elsewhere in the West Bank in the coming days.

Fatah has long vied with the Islamist terror group Hamas for leadership of the Palestinian national struggle. In 2007, the two factions battled one another in Gaza, leading to the Hamas takeover of the coastal strip. Several attempts at reconciliation have failed.

The popularity of Abbas, and by extension Fatah, has plunged in recent years as he has failed to achieve an independent state or heal the rift with Hamas. Many Palestinians also accuse the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority of rampant corruption.

— Agencies