Fatah Militant: U.S. Training Was Key to Intifada’s Success

BY AARON KLEIN – Special to the Sun

RAMALLAH — American-run programs that train Fatah militias were instrumental in the “success” of the Palestinian intifada that began in 2000, a senior Fatah militant told The New York Sun.

“I do not think that the operations of the Palestinian resistance would have been so successful and would have killed more than one thousand Israelis since 2000 and defeated the Israelis in Gaza without these [American] trainings,” a senior officer of President Abbas’s Force 17 Presidential Guard unit, Abu Yousuf, said.

America has longstanding training programs at a base in the West Bank city of Jericho for members of Force 17, which serves as de facto police units in the West Bank, and for another major Fatah security force, the Preventative Security Services.

This weekend diplomatic security officials announced that the State Department will begin training Force 17 again this year in an effort to bolster Mr. Abbas against Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip in June when the terror group easily defeated American-backed Fatah forces in the territory.
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August 21, 2007 | 2 Comments »

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2 Comments / 2 Comments

  1. The senior Fatah official could be a double agent who is working to undermine Fatah and help Hamas. There have been a number of indications that Hamas has infiltrated Fatah up to its highest levels.

    Please don’t misunderstand. I’m NOT a supporter of Fatah. Frankly I think these people should not get any money from us or anyone else. US and Western support for this terrorist organization is one of the worst things we have ever done.

    The reason I think he may be a Hamas agent in disguise is because Hamas has sought to undermine Fatah by labeling them as Israeli and Aemrican collaborators. The notion that Fatah would work closely enough with the Americans to receive training from them will likely undermine them further in the Arab world.

    Offering any type of training to Fatah is a bad idea on many levels. First of all I doubt that Fatah would receive any marginal utility from training by American military personnel. While American weapons are superior to what the terrorist currently have, the terrorists have shown that their tactics are generally superior to those of the Americans or other Western nations. Also, the terrorist can get weapons that are as good as what America and the West can offer from Russia or China.

    Also, US training of Fatah fighters is a bad idea because it may serve to reveal our tactics to our enemies. This could serve to put at a huge disadvantage.

    While I don’t doubt that American politicians are stupid enough and desparate enough to train Fatah officials in the vain hope that they might assist us against Hamas, I don’t see how there would be any marginal utility for Fatah in accepting training from the Americans. They have already shown their tactics to be superior to ours. In summary, I don’t see how the inferior tactics of the Americans could have helped Fatah in any way shape or form when fighting the Intifada.

    I hope we can find out who ordered this training to Fatah and who the trainers were. The person or persons who ordered this, even if it is the President himself should be arrested and convicted of treason. The trainers should likewise be arrested. When a politician gives a soldier an order that is incongruent with the survival of the country, the patriotic soldier is obligated to resist this order. By agreeding to train Fatah fighters, these soldiers became complicit in the treasonous act of the politicians.

    I at least hope the Americans got something in return for this, perhaps Fatah officials could train the Americans in better war fighting tactics, however, I doubt the Americans got anything in return for this.

    In summary, if this article is accurate, we have revealed our war fighting tactics to a mortal enemy. If the allegations are proven true, these acts should be called what they are. This is treason.

    The only benefit to Fatah in accepting training from the Americans would be because they want us to reveal our tactics. Other than this there would seem to be no real benefit to Fatah in accepting such training.

  2. LoL!

    If the article pushed the envelope and demonstrated that Fatah let Hamas win, and if the role of the US in sponsoring the first intifada was acknowledged, I would say that the NY Sun and Mr. Yousuf were being remarkably honest.

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