FATAH-INTIFADA (Abu Musa Group; Fatah—Temporary Command)

Palestinian movement that surfaced in Lebanon in June 1982. Fatah-Intifada emerged from a scission in al-Fatah after Yasir Arafat announced to his close collaborators his intention of withdrawing his troops from Lebanon. Headed by Colonel Saʿid Musa Muragha (called Abu Musa) and Khalid al-Amiah (Abu Khalid), Fatah-Intifada opposed any agreement with Israel and advocated the continuation of armed struggle to regain all of Palestine. On 6 November 1983 its secretary general was excluded from the military command of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and accused of conspiring against Yasir Arafat's authority. Twelve days later, General Khadra, commander-in-chief of the Palestine Liberation Army in Syria, decided to leave the PLO to join the Fatah-Intifada. In 1985 the Fatah-Intifada merged with the Palestinian National Salvation Front after failed efforts to ally itself with the Fatah Revolutionary Council of Abu Nidal. In May 1988 the movement participated in joint operations in Lebanon with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—General Command against Arafat partisans. Fatah-Intifada was backed by Syria and had its headquarters in Damascus. It also received financial support from Iran, and to a lesser extent from Libya. At the end of the 1980s, as the Israeli-Arab peace process evolved, the movement became less influential among Palestinians. Opposed to the Israeli-Palestinian accord signed in September 1993, Fatah-Intifada joined the ranks of the Alliance of Palestinian Forces. In October 2000, during violent confrontations between the Israeli army and Palestinians in the Palestinian territories, the movement claimed responsibility for several anti-Israel actions in the name of the Forces of Chief Martyr Umar al-Mukhtar, a Libyan nationalist who fought against Italian colonization of Libya.

SEE ALSO Alliance of Palestinian Forces (APF);Arafat, Yasir Muhammad;Fatah, al-;Fatah Revolutionary Council;Palestine Liberation Army;Palestine Liberation Organization;Palestinian National Salvation Front;Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—General Command.