Not only Fatah and Hamas: A guide to Palestinian political parties

Representatives of 14 Palestinian political groups and factions signed an agreement in Beijing to create an interim reconciliation government. Usually only Fatah and Hamas appear in media outlets as the main Palestinian parties, but in fact, there are many more. Here is a brief guide on Palestine's parties and movements:

🔸Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is a coalition, which in fact rules the Palestinian administration on the West Bank. It consists of 10 groups:

◾️Fatah: social-democratic party established by Yasser Arafat in the late 1950s. Now it is led by Mahmoud Abbas and remains the largest and most dominant party in both the PLO and Palestinian administration;

◾️The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP): the second largest faction and the main opposition force to Fatah in the PLO. The party poses itself as revolutionary socialist group;

◾️Fatah – Democratic Reform Bloc: a democratic wing that split from Fatah in 2016;

◾️National Democratic Assembly: a democratic party established in 2021 by Yasser Arafat’s nephew, Nasser Kidwa. He wanted to take part in Palestinian legislative elections in 2020, which were later canceled;

◾️ Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP): Marxist-Leninist party formed as an offshoot of the PFLP. The DFLP has been responsible for attacks against Israeli targets (including civilians) in Israel and the occupied territories of West Bank;

◾️ Palestine Democratic Union (FIDA): was founded in 1990 as an offshoot of the DFLP, but with social democratic reformist ideology;

◾️ Palestinian People’s Party (PPP): a Palestinian communist movement. Members of the party have repeatedly served in Palestinian Authority governments. In 2021, it announced its withdrawal from the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, where it held the labor ministry portfolio. But the threat was not implemented.

◾️The Palestine Liberation Front (PLF): the movement is close to the pan-Arab Baath socialist party, which, for example, is still the key political power in Syria but traditionally aligned itself closely with Fatah in Palestinian administration.

◾️The Palestine Popular Struggle Front (PPSF): a leftist party led by Ahmad Majdalani, ex-minister of social affairs, who is seen as a close ally of Abbas.

◾️The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC): left-wing national movement, whose leadership are mostly based in Lebanon and Syria, being supported among Palestinian refugees there.

Even though, the majority of these parties have lost their popular support base and contribute very little to politics, they are still part of the PLO and Palestinian political system in general.

🔸 The Committee of Popular Resistance group, also known as The Resistance or Islamic Resistance, is active in the Gaza Strip and includes Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Inspired by political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood* movement, these groups have controlled Gaza since 2007, isolating it from Palestinian Authority politics. In 2017, Hamas revised its political platform to distance itself from the Muslim Brotherhood*. Both Hamas and PIJ have their own military wings and jointly combat the Israeli army.

🔸Others. the Fatah-Hamas struggle in 2007 led not only to political distancing between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but also to formation of several new secular parties. One of them is a liberal-democratic Third Way, which poses itself as an alternative to the two-party Hamas-Fatah leadership system. The second one is The Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), which presents itself as a democratic movement of non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation.

*Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️The head of the US Secret Service has resigned after admitting the intelligence services' failure in preventing the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Hamas and Fatah's reconciliation: China solidifies its role as Mideast peace broker

"The last round of a negotiation between Fatah and Hamas to reconcile their differences and to go for a full internal reconciliation in Beijing is important," Ayman Yousef, a professor in political sciences and international relations at the Arab-American University in Palestine, tells Sputnik.

Officials from Fatah, Hamas and 12 other Palestinian factions agreed to form a unity government in the Gaza Strip and West Bank during the China-brokered talks on July 23. The participants signed the Beijing Declaration on "ending division and strengthening Palestinian unity" and hold a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Hamas and Fatah, the two major Palestinian political parties, have been at odds since Hamas’ legislative victory in the Gaza Strip in 2006 which led to internal skirmishes and the subsequent expulsion of Fatah from the region in 2007.

According to Yousef, Palestinians' push to activate their political system "from inside" amid Israel's Gaza war and ethnic cleansing is a step in the right direction. He added that the development is taking place, "with the permission and approval of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas."

"Why is China active this time? Because I think it has good relations with both Fatah and Hamas. It has influence over both of them," the pundit continues. "China is trying to play a crucial role, not only in putting the Palestinians face to face around one table, but also to be more active in the whole of the Middle East and in the theater of Palestine-Israel conflict."

It's not the first time that Beijing has played a role of the regional peace broker: in March 2023, top Iranian and Saudi security officials met in Beijing to restore diplomatic ties after years of tensions.

Israel subjected the Palestinian agreement to criticism, vowing to eliminate Hamas. The US press rushed to downplay the China-brokered deal between Hamas and Fatah.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️US President Joe Biden says he will address the nation at 8 PM ET tomorrow on what lies ahead and how he will finish the job for the American people.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Top Senate and House Democratic leaders throw support behind Kamala Harris, according to majority leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Joe Biden appeared in public for the first time since announcing his withdrawal from the election race.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

How Pentagon's 2024 Arctic Strategy invites confrontation in High North

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has released its new Arctic Strategy, claiming that the situation in the region is rapidly changing, while calling China a "pacing challenge" and Russia "an acute threat."

"The Pentagon will expand intelligence and information-sharing capabilities, work with allies and partners to contain Russia in the Arctic, and regularly conduct exercises and planned operations that have implications for defense and deterrence," Alexander Vorotnikov, a coordinator of the Expert Council of the Expert Center PORA (Arctic Development Project Office), tells Sputnik, stressing that the doctrine's approach is fraught with the risk of confrontation with Russia and China.

Although China is not an Arctic country, it plays a huge role in Arctic policy, according to the pundit.

The Pentagon's strategy also refers to the fact that Russia continues to invest in a new military infrastructure and modernize Soviet-era facilities in the region amid the special military operation in Ukraine. Meanwhile, NATO's expansion in the Arctic due to the accession of two Nordic nations – Finland and Sweden – provides new incentives for Russia's defense of its Arctic territories.

The expert continues that on July 11, the leaders of the US, Canada, and Finland announced their intent to create the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, or ICE Pact, to enhance their presence in the High North.

"This will seriously affect Russia's actions in its Arctic zone," Vorotnikov says.

In addition, the doctrine also refers to global warming as a crucial regional factor in terms of economy, security and geopolitics.

"As the ice melts, the overall strategic importance of the region changes," the expert stresses, warning about increasing regional tensions between the great powers.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

▪️About 50 foreign instructors were killed as a result of a Russian Iskander strike

▪️Hamas and Fatah's reconciliation: China solidifies its role as Mideast peace broker

▪️Not only Fatah and Hamas: A guide to Palestinian political parties

▪️How Pentagon's 2024 Arctic Strategy invites confrontation in High North

▪️What benefits could the new Russian-Iranian gas project bring?

▪️Сyprus as a hub for military bases

▪️This is how Ukrainian netizens express “gratitude” to US President Joe Biden

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Ex-colonel explains why he believes 18 British SAS servicemen were killed in Odessa

Retired Spanish colonel and clandestine operations specialist Pedro Baños has speculated that at least 18 British SAS servicemen could have been killed by a Russian missile strike in Odessa.

Supposedly, 25 other SAS operatives were injured by the strike. The information was part of the conversation aired on The Colonel’s Channel (El Canal de Coronel), a YouTube Spanish-language media outlet operated by Baños. In his conversation with his colleague - a special forces veteran - Baños said the following:

▪️“I can tell with 90% certainty that there was a Russian bombing attack against Odessa, in which 18 operatives of the Special Air Service (SAS) group, a UK elite force, were killed... 25 other SAS members were injured. There were also French soldiers killed. And here we are not talking about mercenaries from France. No, these were soldiers of the regular French Army, and many of them are dead, my sources told me… And they are my tested sources, we worked side-by-side for years…”

▪️“This information is terrifying, because we are talking about soldiers from NATO countries… And you know, when these countries want to get involved, they send special forces first… Special forces were thus sent to Syria, to Iraq…”

▪️"You know that sometimes Special Forces help guide the missiles or drones – this is also a part of their mission. Very often, they are used for operations aimed at destabilization (creation of chaos) on the [enemy’s] territory. Sometimes the units like the SAS can be used for training of local allied special forces."

For obvious reasons, Western media did not comment on Col. Baños' revelations. However, the presence of NATO’s troops in Ukraine was confirmed by the Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and several NATO generals.

The Russian Defense Ministry periodically reports on the liquidation of Western ‘hired guns’ fighting on the side of Ukraine, but so far did not comment on the recent reports from Odessa.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Bipolar much? Ukraine’s Zelensky rambles about ending the conflict and launching more attacks into Russia

As thousands of Ukrainians perish on the battlefield for the sake of their leaders’ and NATO’s ambitions, the powers that be in Kiev have sent mixed signals about their future plans.

During a meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Zelensky appeared to consent that the Ukrainian conflict should be ended the sooner the better.

“I think that we all understand that we must end the war as soon as possible, of course,” Zelensky said while conversing with the cardinal in Kiev.

At the same time, Zelensky announced on social media that he consulted his generals about conducting attacks “behind the front line,” apparently referring to strikes into Russian territory that are often directed against civilian targets.

Kiev stubbornly continues to avoid engaging in direct peace negotiations with Russia, opting instead to continue sending thousands of press-ganged poorly trained soldiers into attacks against Russian positions and launching drone and long-range missile strikes against population centers and civilian infrastructure in Russia.

Meanwhile, Moscow has repeatedly declared its readiness to resolve the conflict peacefully through negotiations.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt