Force 17 is an elite commando and special operations unit of the Palestinian Fatah movement and later of the Office of the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian people or Palestinians ( الشعب الفلسطيني, ash-sha`b al-filasTīni; الفلسطينيون, al-filasTīnīyyūn Fatah (فتح literally opening, is a reverse Acronym from the Arabic name Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini (حركة التحرير The President of the Palestinian National Authority ( رئيس السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية) is the highest-ranking political position (equivalent to
Force 17 was formed in the early 1970s by senior Fatah militant Ali Hassan Salameh (Abu Hassan)
Unlike various units formed within Fatah previously the premise of Force 17 was assassinating Israeli political figures. Ali Hassan Salameh (علي حسن سلامة) (עלי חסן סלאמה (died January 22 1979 was the chief of operations— Code name Abu Hassan — for The importance of such a unit was made clear by the heavy losses suffered by the PLO leadership in Operation Spring of Youth (1973). The 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon (code-named Operation Spring of Youth) took place on the night of April 9 and early morning of April 10, Force 17 was used by Fatah to protect PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, his top lieutenants, as well as diplomats of the organization. The Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO) (منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية or Munazzamat al-Tahrir al-Filastiniyyah) is a political and paramilitary Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini ( Arabic: محمد عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني (August 24 1929 – November 11 They accompanied Arafat during his 1974 address to the United Nations in New York City.
Two of the key setbacks of the group was the assassination of Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) in 1991 by a member of Sabri al-Banna's (Abu Nidal) group not far from there. Salah Mesbah Khalaf ( Arabic صلاح خلف also known as Abu Iyad ( Arabic أبو إياد (born 1933 &ndash January 14, 1991) Abu Nidal (أبو نضال (May 1937&ndashAugust 16 2002 born Sabri Khalil al-Banna, (Arabic صبري خليل البنا was a Palestinian political leader This came after a relatively successfully period when senior Fatah leaders emerged relatively unscathed from the Lebanese Civil War, despite being targeted by Syria, Israel, Christian militias, and Palestinian rivals within and outside of Fatah. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. They contributed greatly to the legend that Arafat had nine lives. In 1979 their founder Salameh was assassinated in Beirut, along with a group of his own bodyguards. Beirut (بيروت Bayrūt) is the Capital and Largest city of Lebanon with a population of over 2
In the 1990s the unit was evolved from an organ of Fatah to an official unit of the Palestinian Authority's national security apparatus. During the Second Intifadeh Force 17 or members of it were illegally tasked with responsibilities ranging from acquiring and securing arms shipments for Palestinian armed groups loyal to Arafat, to carrying out terror attacks or resisting incursions by Israeli military or police forces into PA territory (Area A). Proof of these actions were allegedly found during Operation Defensive Shield (June 2002) when IDF forces besieged Arafat and Force 17 in his Muqat'ah compound in Ramallah, and broke into the PA's own file records. Background March and April 2002 saw a dramatic increase of Suicide bomb attacks against Israelis by Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas, Ramallah ( Arabic:) (lit "Height of God" is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank adjacent to Al-Bireh with a population 118000
Since Arafat's death the unit's future has become increasingly clouded, given the rise in internal tensions within the PA security organs, the threat to the hegemony of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), and the victory of Hamas in 2005 parliamentary elections. Mahmoud Abbas (محمود عباس (born March 26, 1935) also known by the kunya Abu Mazen (ابو مازن was elected President The unit is staffed almost entirely by fanatical Fatah stalwarts who would have difficulty accepting a Hamas leader should Abu Mazen be replaced in the near future.
The unit is also considered a chess piece in Fatah's internal wars. Because of the warlord structure of PA security authorities, each one loyal to a local leader, and the similar situation within the Fatah sub-organizations Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and Tanzim that do as they please paying no heed to Fatah's official leader Abu Mazen, Force 17 is one of most stable organs within Fatah, and the man who controls their loyalty is supposed to be the one who controls the movement. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (كتائب شهداء الأقصى is a coalition of Palestinian militias in Tanzim (Arabic تنظيم Organization in Arabic) is a faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement Force 17 was crucial for decades in preventing PLO and Fatah chieftains from usurping Arafat's power, and today it plays the same role for Abu Mazen.
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