Strategic Assessment

The Fatah movement, the principal organizational element within the PLO for several decades and in the Palestinian Authority (PA) since its establishment in 1994, approached the January 2006 elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) while threatened from within and without. The cumulative erosion in the public’s faith in the Fatah leadership, together with internal divisions reflected in the movement’s failed preparations for the elections, helped its leading rival, the Hamas movement, make the most of its own corruption-free image and organizational skills and score a sweeping victory in the elections.