As the leading Palestinian national movement celebrates its 51st anniversary, two major challenges loom large in determining whether it survives or disintegrates.
Fatah, formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, was established in 1959 but declared itself publicly on Jan. 1, 1965. The first press release under the Fatah name announced a guerrilla operation by its military wing, al-Asefa, initiated from south Lebanon against the Israeli water system.