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49th anniversary of El Fatah

An 85 year old man was killed by Israeli tear gas during disturbances yesterday at celebrations of the 49th anniversary of the foundation of El Fatah, the Palestinian liberation movement. So this conflict claims yet other victim.

The date is interesting, because this was 1965, ie two years before the 1967 war. The West Bank had been annexed by Jordan and the Gaza strip by Egypt. So what exactly was the aim and purpose of El Fatah? The annihilation of Israel, of course. What else?

The majority of Palestinians have supported this organisation ever since, thereby bringing on themselves all the miseries they have subsequently suffered. Had more wisdom prevailed in the Palestinian community, it would have kicked out Arafat & Co. In the immediate aftermath of the 1967 war, the Israeli leadership at that time would have been happy to come to an accommodation which would have been to the benefit of everyone who lives in the region. Unfortunately, Fatah, then headed by Yasser Arafat, chose terrorism instead of negotiation, with consequences that are all too familiar. Amongst the evils conjured up by Fatah must be reckoned a breed of tougher and more intransigent Israeli politicians, very different from those who ran the country for the first three decades of its existence.

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