Fatah Security Council
FATAH SECURITY COUNCIL
Internal group within Fatah, responsible for coordinating the activity of the various security organizations of the Palestine Liberation Organization; also called Unified Security Management (al-Amn al-Muwahhad, or Jihaz al-Amn al-Qawmi al-Filastini, in Arabic). Presided over by Yasir Arafat, this institution was headed for a long time by Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad), flanked by Hakam Balʿawi (Abu Marwan) and Hayi1 Abdul Hamid (Abu el-Houl). The Western Department of Fatah, responsible for armed actions in the Palestinian territories, worked in close collaboration with the Fatah Security Council. For this reason, the leaders of two Fatah departments, Khalaf and Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), became priority targets of Israel's special services. After the assassination of Khalaf in January 1991, leadership of the Security Council passed to a group of four—Amin al-Hindi, Tariq Abu Rajab, Hakam Balʿawi, and Atef B'seisso—supervised by Arafat. In 1994, during the application of Palestinian autonomy guaranteed by the Oslo Accords, the components of the Fatah Security Council were merged into new security organizations under the control of Arafat and officially overseen by the Palestinian Authority.
SEE ALSO Arafat, Yasir Muhammad;Bʾseisso, Atef Faʾiq;Fatah, al-;Hindi, Amin al-;Khalaf, Salah;Oslo Accords;Wazir, Khalil Ibrahim al- (Abu Jihad).