Terror Groups Growing, Fatah And Hamas Closer To Common Ground

Iran Funding More Terror Groups

Having acquired influence over Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and parts of Fatah, Iran is now trying to buy the support of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a major faction of the PLO.

Israeli intelligence sources report that Tehran has begun sending tens of thousands of dollars every month to this faction of the PLO which had been perceived as supporting Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.

At a meeting of the PFLP on Sunday in Gaza, one of the organization’s leaders, Jamil Majdelawi, said the Popular Front intends to maintain neutrality in the escalating rivalry between Fatah and Hamas, because of its financial dependence on Iran.

Majdelawi noted that, in recent months, Iranian support for the Popular Front had increased from $80,000 a month to $180,000. The money is being channeled to the Popular Front by Fatah Foreign Minister Farouk Kadoumi, who lives in Damascus, and is regarded as a bitter opponent of Abbas.

The attempts of elements in Hamas and of Iran to change the policy of the Popular Front demonstrate how shaky the situation of Fatah and Abbas is at this time.

Study: Ideological Differences Between Fatah And Hamas Diminish

While the war among the Palestinian factions is growing worse, the ideological differences among them appear to be diminishing. A study that was carried out at Haifa University found that more and more Fatah factions were turning their backs on their nationalist views and, instead, had come to adopt a religious, Islamic ideology.       

“Whereas, in the past, Fatah’s struggle against Israel was perceived in the context of a national struggle, today large parts of Fatah talk about jihad: a religious holy war,” said Ido Zalkovich from Haifa University Middle East History Department, who conducted the study. “While distinctions still remain between Fatah and Hamas, they are beginning to blur,” he added.

The study focuses on three central military factions that belong to Fatah and which are mainly active in the Gaza Strip and a faction that operates in northern Samaria. Zalkovich says that the turn to Islam was made as part of the effort to help recruit youngsters to Fatah instead of Hamas. Another reason for the growth of the religious ideology is the desire of the younger generation’s leadership to distinguish itself from the members of the old guard, who are perceived as being corrupt.

That ideological coalescence could result in the establishment of two political entities in the Palestinian Authority: an Islamic entity in Gaza and a national entity in the West Bank, said Zalkovich.

©The Bulletin 2007