MIDDLE EAST: Fatah's armed wing, Al Aqsa, prepares for anniversary celebrations in Gaza

Record ID: 861136

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Fatah's armed wing, Al Aqsa, prepares for anniversary celebrations in Gaza
  • Date: 3rd January 2013
  • Summary: NABLUS, WEST BANK (JANUARY 3, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FATAH SUPPORTERS WAVING FATAH AND PALESTINIAN FLAGS DURING A CELEBRATION FOR FATAH 48TH ANNIVERSARY VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY FORCES MARCHING MORE OF FATAH CELEBRATION GAZA CITY, GAZA (JANUARY 3, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AL AQSA BRIGADES MILITANT WING OF FATAH PARTY MORE OF MILITANTS MILITANT'S WEAPON (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MILITANT FROM AL-AQSA BRIGADES, SAYING: "Since six years we were not able to hold it (anniversary celebration of the movement) and we were not that free so that was the worst period during the division. We thank the brothers in all of the movements to make it happen (the celebration)." MORE OF MILITANT
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA66WKABYO3XDIFWWEDAZ7HLONH
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Palestinians gathered in West Bank and Gaza on Thursday (January 03) to mark the 48th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah group. Crowds of supporters, waving Fatah and Palestinian flags, celebrated in the streets.
    Hundreds of Fatah flags were hanged to celebrate the occasion. As the day drew to a close, Fatah supporters continued their celebrations in the streets of West Bank.
    After decades of dominance, Fatah lost a 2006 parliamentary election to Hamas, the largest Palestinian militant Islamist group. A year later its forces were routed by Hamas in a civil war and ousted from the Gaza Strip. Fatah's power in the West Bank has been reduced by persistent internal struggles and its influence has waned with the rise of the technocrat prime minister, Salam Fayyad.
    In a rare sight in Gaza since 2006, Al-Aqsa Fatah brigades were happy that celebrations will be held in the enclave strip.

    "Since six years we were not able to hold it (anniversary celebration of the movement) and we were not that free so that was the worst period during the division. We thank the brothers in all of the movements to make it happen (the celebration)," Militant from Al-Aqsa Brigades, told Reuters Television.
    Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian nationalist movement was founded in 1965 by late leader Yasser Arafat. It is a secular party and the largest of the various factions that make up the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) The January 1 anniversary commemorates the first operation against Israel claimed by PLO's armed wing then known as Al-Assifa in 1965.
    Fatah originally backed armed struggle to create a Palestinian state but later led peacemaking efforts with Israel for a deal to create a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as capital -- lands Israel occupied in 1967.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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