Talk:Force 17

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Ztwillard.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 21:38, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

NPOV and cleanup
This is a terrorist organization which assasinated the son of Meir Kahane. There are several bizarre passages in this article. For example - "Arafat has nine lives." Republitarian 01:36, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
 * This is more POV that the current version that you claim is a POV. Get a life.

NPOV cleanup 2
I removed the line: "Their main job is to attack Israel and cause conflicts" This is clearly a biased point of view. --Pavithran 00:58, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Plan to dismantle Force 17
In 2007 there was a plan to dismantle Force 17. So I changed the previous sentence which implied that it took place- "In 2007, Force 17 was dismantled and incorporated into Presidential Guard of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas." It is not clear to me whether this plan had been carried out. New info is welcome, of course.
 * I think it was. However, I cannot find any info saying that it was, only there were plans to do so. Thanks--Eliscoming1234 (talk) 19:54, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

The link for Reference 8 on the "Dismantling Force 17" no longer works. Additionally, the reference listed is not finalised--please assist by finding the "Decision #" within the reference to complete it.

couldn't care less
i hope that's more readable. as for the content, seriously, leave your politics in the trash can. both sides are scum. 216.138.75.50 (talk) 18:48, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

And that would be your POV - --Degen Earthfast (talk) 16:50, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

New Article Design With Formatting
Contents 1	Force 17 (Arabic: القوة 17‎‎) 1.1	History 1.1.1	Leadership 1.1.2	Funding 1.1.3	Training 1.1.3.1	Size 1.1.3.2	Weapons 1.1.3.3	Clothing 1.2	Operations 1.2.1	Governmental Acts 1.2.2	Terrorist Acts 1.2.2.1	Confirmed Attacks 1.3	Timeline 1.3.1	1970-1998 1.3.2	1998-2000's 1.4	Downfall 1.5	External Links Force 17

Palestine Force 17 was an elite Palestinian group dedicated to protecting Yasser Arafat and other members of the Fatah movement involved with the PLO and was formed in 1969. Though used originally for protecting leaders, in the late 1980's operations turned into terrorist attacks against Israel and surrounding nations. While claiming responsibility for several mass casualty terrorist attacks, no known involvement with large scale terrorism is known. Most attacks took place in Gaza and the West Bank.[1]

History Force-17 was an important Palestinian armed group from the early 1970s through 1993. The force, commanded by Abu Tayyib for two decades, served not only as security guards for Fatah leaders including Arafat, but was also Arafat's personal intelligence and counter-terrorist service, mainly against internal rivals and other Palestinian commanders and factions. There are many myths about the origin of the group's name. One of the more famous theories has been the fact that during the 1970s its headquarters was located at 17 Faqahani Street in Beirut, where in those days the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had a major presence.[1] Force 17 was the main operative force after Palestine and Israel began to cut ties in the late 1970's.

Leadership Ali Hassan Salameh

1969-1972: Ali Hassan Salameh was the founder of Force 17. Married to the Lebanese beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe. Salameh was assassinated in 1979.[2]

1972-1994: Abu Tayyib

1994-2000: Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat 2000-2006: Faysal Abu-Sharkh[3]

2006-2007: Muhammad Islim[3]

Funding Force 17 received monetary aid from the United States of America. The PLO also provided secondary monetary support.[4] Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, a donor of the PLO and Arafat movement donated training bases and supplies along with specailized training.[4]

Training Claimed to be "the best trained of the dozen or so overlapping security organizations operating under the Palestinian Authority's control".[5]

Size At peak, Force 17 had an estimated 3,500 operatives. These operative were scattered in secret bases all through Palestine and surrounding countries.[4]

Weapons Force 17 was armed with light weaponry that included armored vehicles. Bombs were the most common form of attack and claimed the most lives during Force 17 attacks.[6] 86 of the 169 confirmed attacks used bombs or some means of explosions.[7]

Clothing Force 17 operatives wear military style uniforms customary to the middle east.[1]

Operations Force 17 was responsible for conducting patrolling activities on the streets of Palestinian cities and along the border with Israel during their state sponsored protection era.[6]

Governmental Acts Force 17 was used to protect Arafat and PLO leaders.[8] The PLO used Force 17 agents to conduct intelligence and counter terrorist services namely against internal rivals and other Palestinian commanders.

Terrorist Acts In late 1988 operations included terrorist attacks against Israeli targets.[8] Since 1984 the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) has logged 169 attacks to Force 17. Areas targeted heavily include the Middle East and South Asia.[7] 54 attacks targeted military employees and property followed by 46 attacks against private citizens.[7]

Confirmed Attacks Force 17 claimed responsibility for killing three Israelis in Cyprus on September 25, 1985.[8] In another attack on March 30, 1986, a bomb planted by Force 17 exploded on TWA Flight 840 killing 4 Americans and wounded ten others.[4] In an effort to stop Force 17, Israel fought back with bombings on a Force 17 base is Tunisia. Force 17 continued attacks the following year killing 17 Nagy El-Ali, a political cartoonist that had ties Yasser Arafat.[1]

Timeline 1970-1998 Used as a governmental entity, mainly intelligence and day to day protection on the Israel border. Force 17 was denoted as a state sponsored protection agency under Yasser Arafat.

1998-2000's Terrorist activity came to light in early 1998 when Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israelis on the sale of land in Jerusalem. In at least one case the land dealer Mahmoud Jumhour was interrogated and killed by officer of Force 17.[1] The main involvement in terrorism culminated with verified attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Noted in the Global Terrorism data base attacks have steadily increased through the early 19th century. Force 17 becomes known as a state sponsored terrorist organization in the early 2000's and is put on watch lists around the world.

Downfall In 2007, Force 17 was dismantled and incorporated into the Presidential Guard of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Several Force 17 operatives have since been appointed leadership roles within the Palestinian Authority (PA).The downfall is partially attributed to increasing violence between Hamas and Fatah. [9]

External Links Global Terrorism Data Base (https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?search=Force+17&sa.x=0&sa.y=0&sa=Search)

"Force-17:". www.washingtoninstitute.org. Retrieved 2017-04-18. Jump up ^ "BBC NEWS | Middle East | What is Force 17?". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-05-04. ^ Jump up to: a b "Palestinian president appoints new force 17 commander in gaza". BBC Monitoring Middle East. Jun 26, 2006. Retrieved May 5, 2017. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "CAMERA: Backgrounder on Force 17". www.camera.org. Retrieved 2017-04-19. Jump up ^ [news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5318128.stm "Who are Force 17?"] Check |url= value (help). Dec 4, 2001. Retrieved May 5, 2017. ^ Jump up to: a b "Force 17". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2017-04-18. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Global Terrorism Database". Retrieved May 5, 2017. ^ Jump up to: a b c Pike, John (Aug 8, 1998). "Force 17". Fas.Org. Jump up ^ "Force 17". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2017-04-18.

Ztwillard (talk) 19:39, 12 May 2017 (UTC)Ztwillard