Central Committee of Fatah Mahmoud Abbas is the "ex officio" Chairman. Central Committee of Fatah The Fatah Central Committee is the highest decision-making body of the Palestinian organization and political party, Fatah. The first Fatah Central Committee was formed in February 1963, consisting of ten members, including Yasser Arafat, Khalil al-Wazir, Salah Khalaf, and Khaled al-Hassan. Arafat and al-Wazir, who lobbied for increased personal responsibility, primarily faced opposition from al-Hassan who opposed premature military action against Israel which the former two advocated. The establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964 severely undermined Fatah, with 80% of its members joining the PLO's armed
Fatah itself with the communist and Nasserist Lebanese National Movement (LNM). Although originally aligned with Fatah, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad feared a loss of influence in Lebanon and switched sides. He sent his army, along with the Syrian-backed Palestinian factions of as-Sa'iqa and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) led by Ahmad Jibril to fight alongside the Christian forces against the PLO and the LNM. The primary component of the Christian militias was the Maronite Phalangists. Phalangist forces killed twenty-six Fatah trainees on a bus in April 1975, marking the official start of the 15-year-long