Fatah–Hamas reconciliation process December 2012, in the aftermath of the UN status upgrade of the State of Palestine and the conflict in Gaza, calls for a unified Palestinian front have increased and the political leaders of Hamas and Fatah took several steps to reconcile their differences. In a televised address, PA President Mahmoud Abbas stressed that talks with Hamas would immediately follow the Palestinians' bid to upgrade their status at the UN General Assembly—an effort that succeeded. On 13 December, Fatah allowed Hamas to hold its first rally in the West bank since 2007, and on 4 January 2013, Hamas reciprocated by allowing
History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict militant groups to give up any remaining hope they had placed in pan-Arabism. In July 1968 armed, non-state actors such as Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine achieved the majority of the Palestinian National Council votes, and on February 3, 1969, at the Palestinian National Council in Cairo, the leader of the Fatah, Yasser Arafat was elected as the chairman of the PLO. From the start, the organization used armed violence against civilian and military targets in the conflict with Israel. The PLO tried to take over the population of the West Bank, but the Israel