The revolution of Fatah exists! It exists here, there and everywhere. It is a storm, a storm in every house and village.
FAITHFUL and unfailing as the muezzin's call from the minaret, that heady cry goes out nightly from a radio station in Cairo to the Arab lands. It is the "Voice of El Fatah," speaking for the Arab commando organization whose bands of raiders cross each night into hated Israel, bent on bringing death, destruction and terror. To Arabs huddled in wind-chilling refugee tents outside
Amman, sipping thick coffee in the drawing rooms of Damascus, or lounging in the common rooms of the American University of Beirut, the Voice brings welcome—if often inaccurate—news.
The fight against Israel continues, it asserts, despite the Arabs' humiliating defeat in last year's war. Each night new Arab heroes are born, fresh revenge is meted out to Israel, a portion of Arab pride is restored. Amid the breathless bulletins and the florid rhetoric of propaganda, there are the underground's customary coded messages: "M.H.: the bird is back in the cage"; "Attention Green Lion: the gift has been received."
On Fatah's signal, a band of Arabs sets out across the Jordan River on rafts made from tractor tires, carrying their Russian-made Kalashnikov assault rifles in waterproof inner tubes. In the darkness they land, make their way inland, plant a mine, ambush an Israeli patrol or throw a grenade, then scramble as best they can for home. The odds are heavily against their making it back, for many are caught or killed by efficient Israeli security forces. But the rewards are high, as posthumous compensations go. They are martyrs to all Arabs, their photographs and tales of their exploits are displayed in Cairo and Amman. Under the rules of jihad, or holy war, proclaimed against Israel by Moslem leaders from 34 countries last October, those Arabs who fall in battle are accorded the reverence of prophets and go straight to paradise.
The Elements of Instability
The Fatah is one of several similar clandestine organizations. While no one can be sure of the exact numbers involved, Fatah is the most prominent and the largest of them. To the Israelis, the raiders are terrorists and thugs, inept and indiscriminate in their missions. To the Arabs, they are freedom fighters in the best guerrilla tradition, skilled in the arts of the commando and the saboteur. The world knows them best as the fedayeen, meaning "men of sacrifice," a disparate group of clandestine plotters often at odds with one another, who play a large part in keeping the Middle East on the edge of war.