Word: arabism
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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After last year's war, El Fatah found itself not only swimming in popular support but also possessed of a sudden bequest of weapons left by the retreating Arab armies. The battlefields were littered with arms, and for two weeks, El Fatah teams took camels into the Sinai desert to collect machine guns, rifles, grenades and bazookas before the Israeli salvage squads. Four heavy trucks were found in Golan, along with two tons of ammunition and weapons. A Bedouin offered to sell 150 Kalashnikov rifles for $140. El Fatah gave him twice as much. Another Bedouin found a Syrian...
...laying down a strict policy of staying out of Arab politics on the ground that, as Arafat says, "one enemy at a time is enough," El Fatah has so far been able to operate independently in the host Arab countries-chiefly Jordan. Disputes with rival fedayeen organizations are another matter, and on one occasion two groups of raiders almost shot it out, each thinking the other was Israeli. Last month, the fedayeen set up a council to coordinate raids between El Fatah and its two chief rivals, the Palestine Liberation Force and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine...
...bustle reflects the growth of the movement. Switchboard operators bellow into makeshift World War II British field telephones, trying to make contact with branch offices in Salt or Irbid. Most communication is still by handwritten letter, carried by couriers on bicycles, in Jeeps or on foot. When a dusty Arab arrives with a tightly wadded piece of paper, Arafat scribbles an answer in the margin, then sends the courier off again. Agents arriving in little black Volkswagens dash up for conferences. A white ambulance pulls up bearing the insignia of the Red Crescent, the Moslem equivalent of the Red Cross...
...copes with the avalanche of aid. Stacks of bandages, food and ammunition are piled everywhere. Sometimes the arriving shipments include beer. It is not drunk; the fedayeen sell it and use the money to purchase arms. Some of the fedayeen weapons are purchased directly, but some are contributed by Arab governments, particularly Egypt, Iraq and Syria, which help out in other ways as well. A Syrian raider captured by the Israelis revealed that he had been trained by Egyptian army officers...
There is no evidence of direct Russian aid to the fedayeen. Any aid they might want to offer can be funneled through the Arab governments. Direct Soviet aid might endanger the Kremlin's ties with those governments. Also, Moscow may well view the fedayeen as a dangerous and uncontrollable factor in the Middle East equation. While the Soviets may or may not want a genuine peace in the area, they clearly do not want a new war now-and another likely humiliating Arab defeat that could destroy their influence in the region...