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The Fatah hawks were an armed militia group active in the late 1980's to early 2000's who were primarily located in the west bank and Gaza strip. This group was described as "A youth militia loosely allied to Arafat's Fatah Party". The Hawks carried out attacks against Israeli military members and civilians in order to promote their ideology of Anti-Zionism and Palestinian Nationalism. The group consisted of 300 to 500 activists. In 1987 the group was involved in the First Intifada and took on a leading role by attacking soldiers and settlers and executing their collaborators.The Intifada allowed for the rise of multiple armed groups including the Fatah Hawks. The group was disbanded in the Oslo accords in 1995 but re-formed in the early 2000's at the beginning of the second intifada. The Fatah Hawks developed a strong presence in Tulkarm, Qalailya, and Nablus. The Hawks were subordinate to the Tunis but openly willing to defy leadership.

Fatah Movement Section:

The word Fatah means "Conquest by means of Jihad". The flag has a grenade with rifles that cross on the map of Israel. This is thought to represent the dedication to the armed struggle against Israel.

Fatah is a Palestinian Political party that was founded in 1965. The movement was named the Palestinian National Liberation Movement. The movement was founded by Yasser Arafat. The movement initially opposed the Palestine Liberation Organization that has in recent years become one of the largest terrorist groups in the world. Fatah, With support from Syria, they began attacking Israeli targets in January 1965. These attacks occurred in Jordan, the Gaza strip, and lelebanonFatah took over the PLO in 1968 and today is the most prominent faction.

Internal Crisis

On September 25, 1993, Yassir Arafat announced and encouraged Palestinians to reject violence and terrorism and to go back to their daily lives. His announcement was primarily aimed at military operations against Israeli soldiers. One major operational group was the Fatah Hawks. Many Palestinians who supported the DOP saw the agreement as the start of further negotiations. Arafat's declaration was now allowing uncontested Israeli rule in the territories. Of course, this pleased Israel, but not the Palestinian nationalist groups like the hawks. On September 26, 1993, the IDF destroyed homes and the army actions caused a crisis between the PLO and Tunis. The Fatah Hawks who were located in the Gaza Strip agreed to a ceasefire only on the conditions that the IDF wouldn't come after them. The army granted amnesty to all wanted people who were willing to give themselves up to the military .On November 28, 1993, an undercover Israeli shot Anmed Aby Rish in Gaza. He was one of the wanted Fatah Hawks who was supposed to be pardoned by the IDF. In response to the attack, the Hawks declared they were no longer going to abide by the truce.

The Oslo Accords

On September 13, 1993, the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the PLO negotiator Mahmoud Abbas agreed to a declaration of principles on interim called the Oslo Accords. Israel agreed to accept the PLO as the representatives of the Palestinians and the Palestinians agreed to renounce the use of terrorism and officially announced Israels right to exist peacefully. Both the PLO and Israel agreed that the Palestinian Authority would assume government responsibilities in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for five years. After the five-year period, they would meet again and discuss permanent decisions. The United States gave a lot of resources to the Palestinian Authority in order to keep these peaceful accords intact.

After The Fatah Hawks were disbanded a large portion of the group was recruited into the new preventative security faction of the Fatah movement. The two primary benefits of the incorporation of the Fatah Hawks into the security apparatus are 1. The disarmament of a potential source of resistance by giving the aggressive activists a stake in the movement. 2. They were the people chosen to carry out the will of Arafat. "We have stopped the armed struggle for the time being. I am now playing the part of a policeman and supervising the population".- Rafat' Abad in November 1993.