Fatah: Mythific Ation of A Non-state: Critique of the Idea of State

Abstract

Founded in 1964, the PLO created a space for Palestinians on the world map of liberation struggles. This initially liminal project went through a period of institutionalization during which its vision became one of nation-statist liberation. The PLO thus engaged in a project with a prescribed outcome, entailing a Euro-centric-inspired vocabulary, employing required terminological elements of territoriality and private property, and instituting norms regarding the utility of violence. I argue that this, in turn, placed the Palestinians in a position of submission and weakness. My thesis is that the resulting trajectory of resistance prevented the PLO from carrying out its battle outside the rubric provided by the very hegemonic powers it initially sought to oppose. To these ends, I use the discursive spatial entity of the Gaza Strip as a case study through which to critique the idea of the nation-state. I assess the re-fashioning of the constructed geographic entity's political and social landscape under the governance of the Fatah -dominated Palestinian Authority. My argument is that the transformation of Fatah, from liberation struggle to governing body ostensibly deemed “legitimate,” has prevented the movement from thinking and acting in the framework of liberation. Instead, it led to the submission of the Palestinians to globally-sanctioned paradigms of nation-statism, which deeply undermine their struggle.