FATAH REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL (Fatah—RC; Black June; Abu Nidal Organization; Arab Revolutionary Brigades; Revolutionary Muslim Socialist Organization; Abu Nidal Group)

Radical Palestinian movement, Marxist in inspiration, created in January 1974. The Fatah—RC was born of a scission in al-Fatah, provoked by differences over policies toward Israel after the failure of the 1973 Arab-Israel War. Opposing all compromise with Israel, Fatah—RC advocated the pursuit of armed struggle until all of Palestine was restored. The founder of Fatah—RC, Sabri al-Banna (Abu Nidal), one of the leaders of the Iraqi branch of Fatah, was a fierce adversary of Yasir Arafat, the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). At first influenced by Iraq, the Fatah—RC became independent in 1983, when Iraqi authorities expelled its members who had settled in Baghdad. This was due not only to the intervention of the PLO, but also to Iraq's hope of gaining the support of Western powers and Saudi Arabia in its war with Iran. In 1985, backed by Libya, Abu Nidal proposed, vainly, an alliance with the Fatah-Intifada for the purpose of constituting the Nationalist Alliance and creating a strong opposition movement among Palestinians. In 1988 Abu Nidal returned to settle officially in Baghdad, although he kept his operational headquarters in Libya. During the summer of 1989 relations between the Fatah—RC and the PLO were definitively broken off, which led to a wave of bloody score-settling between members of the Fatah—RC and Arafat partisans. In October 1989 a dispute involving Atif Abu Bakr and Abdul Rahman Issa surfaced, leading to the formation of the Fatah Revolutionary Council—Emergency Command.

The Fatah—RC was responsible for numerous attacks on Israeli, Western, and Arab targets, including the assassination of Yusuf al-Sibaʿyi, editor of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, in Cyprus in February 1978; the attack of Rue des Rosiers in Paris in 1982; the attempted assassination of the Israeli ambassador in London on 12 April 1983; the attacks on the Vienna and Rome airports in December 1985; the attack on an Istanbul synagogue in September 1986; the attack on the ship City of Poros in July 1988; and the assassination of the first secretary of the Jordanian embassy in Lebanon in January 1994. The Fatah—RC was also responsible for the assassination of several Fatah leaders, including Issam Sartawi in Portugal in April 1983 and Salah Khalaf in Tunisia in January 1991. As the Israeli-Palestinian peace process evolved, countries supporting the Fatah—RC reduced their aid, which led to fewer actions. In January 1991, forced to leave Iraq, the Fatah—RC regrouped at Mar Elias, in Lebanon. In April 1992 a difference between Ayyash al-Jakiri and Abu Nidal led to the creation of a new faction, the Popular Liberation Force. In March 1993 a second scission, initiated by Abu Nidal's nephew, Abdul Karim al-Banna (Abu Issam), resulted in the formation of Fatah—RC—Dissidents, headquartered in Baghdad. In April 1995 Fatah—RC—Dissidents merged with Fatah— RC—Emergency Command. Abu Nidal, reportedly after several years of poor health, died in Baghdad in August 2002. The other principal leaders of Fatah—RC were Abdulaziz Muhammad Jawad, Muhammad Wasfi Hanoun, and Ali al-Farrah (Abu Kamal).

SEE ALSO Ahram, al-;Arab-Israel War (1973);Arafat, Yasir Muhammad;Banna, Sabri al-;Fatah-Intifada;Palestine Liberation Organization.