As Bad As Hamas
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

In recent weeks, the Bush Administration and Israel have been discussing the problem of a terrorist group like Hamas participating in upcoming Palestinian legislative elections. While everyone is focusing on the Hamas terrorists, a vital point is being ignored. Fatah, co-founded by Yasser Arafat and Palestinian Authority chief, Mahmoud Abbas, is committing as much terrorism as Hamas.
Fatah, like Hamas, possesses a charter promoting violence and Israel’s destruction. In fact, this weekend, Fatah’s Al-Aqsa brigades publicly supported Iran’s call for Israel’s annihilation. Fatah will be running in these elections, with the likelihood of it winning the majority of the seats.
We must understand, therefore, that Hamas is not the whole problem. The Zionist Organization of America’s own figures, kept since the start of the Palestinian terrorist campaign in September 2000, indicate that Fatah has been responsible for almost half of the terrorist murders of Israelis. Further validation of Fatah’s terrorist actions come from a senior scholar on the Palestinian Arabs, Barry Rubin of the Interdisciplinary Center University in Herzliya, who indicates that nearly half (47%) of the 812 terrorist attacks from February till mid-July were claimed by Fatah (Jerusalem Post, July 18).
Fatah’s ongoing, massive involvement in terrorism, however, should not be surprising given that its existing charter calls for the elimination of Israel and advocates violence to this end. The Fatah Charter states that, “The Israeli existence in Palestine is a Zionist invasion with a colonial expansive base, and it is a natural ally to colonialism and international imperialism” (Article 8); calls for the “Complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence” (Article 12), and says that “Armed struggle [i.e., terrorism] is a strategy and not a tactic” (Article 19).
Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah has not changed its spots. Only the other week, terrorists belonging to Fatah carried out two drive-by shootings in Judea and Samaria on Sunday, killing three Israelis and wounding five more, two of them critically. Fatah did not disown the attacks or announce that it was tracking down or expelling the perpetrators – on the contrary, it took credit for the attacks.
Fatah is also working closely with other terrorist groups, like Islamic Jihad. With the October 26 suicide bombing in the Israeli city of Hadera, which killed five and wounded 30 Israelis, “credit” for the deed was claimed by masked gunmen belonging to both Fatah and Islamic Jihad at a joint press conference in Gaza City. It is also noteworthy that when the Israel Defense Forces succeeded some days before in targeting an Islamic Jihad terrorist leader, Luai Sa’di, they also killed Majed al-Ashkar, a senior leader of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
According to the Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh (October 27), sources in Tulkarm said the two men had formed a joint Fatah-Islamic Jihad cell responsible for a series of attacks on Israel over the past 18 months. Similar cells are also reported to be operating in Jenin and Nablus, where Fatah and Islamic Jihad members are often seen roaming the streets together.
Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said after the Hadera bombing, “You can’t have organizations involved in politics that are also carrying out attacks, or armed outside of that political process … And it’s up to the Palestinian Authority to make it clear to Hamas that as long as they continue to engage in such activities and are armed, there really is no role for them to play in the political process.” We strongly agree, but also note that Mr. McClellan’s words apply equally to Fatah.
Ignoring Fatah’s participation in the upcoming Palestinian elections will only imperil any real peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The 1995 Oslo II agreement also prohibits the “nomination of any candidates, parties or coalitions” that “commit or advocate racism” or “pursue the implementation of their aims by unlawful or non-democratic means” (Annex II, Article II). This would apply to Fatah and Hamas under present conditions.
Therefore, to have a legitimate Palestinian election and to have any hope for a true reconciliation, both Fatah and Hamas must be disarmed, must abrogate their terrorist charters, explicitly renounce terror, and publicly accept Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Anything short of this will only ensure that the Palestinian Arab terrorist war against Israel will continue.
Mr. Klein is president of the Zionist Organization of America.