GAZA CITY: Palestinian rival factions are competing to mobilize supporters in rallies commemorating the anniversaries of their launch, most of which fall in November and December each year.
Fatah will be holding a rally commemorating its launch on Dec. 31 in Al-Katiba Square in Gaza City and will be making every effort to mobilize a larger number of supporters than its political opponent, Hamas, which organized its anniversary rally two weeks ago in the same place.
Other Palestinian factions, such as the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, organized their launch festivals in Al-Katiba Square as well.
Palestinian factions see the mobilization of supporters on these occasions as a clear expression of their popularity in the absence of general Palestinian elections.
The Palestinian territories witnessed the last elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006, in which Hamas won a large majority. Since then, no presidential or legislative elections have been held due to political divisions and Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid-2007.
With each rally, the name of Al-Katiba Square (which translates to “Battalion” in English) changes to represent that faction’s color, with members of Fatah calling it the “Yellow Battalion,” Hamas calling it the “Green Battalion,” and the Islamic Jihad and PFLP designating it “black” and “red,” respectively.
During the course of the Hamas rally on Dec. 14, spokesman Hazem Qassem said in several posts on social media platforms that “unprecedented crowds of hundreds of thousands (participated) in the 35th launch festival of Hamas.”
About a month before that, the official Palestinian News Agency, Wafa, estimated that hundreds of thousands participated in the festival commemorating the death of Yasser Arafat.
The owner of an engineering company, who spoke to Arab News on condition of anonymity, expressed his skepticism at the numbers based on the size of Al-Katiba Square, which does not allow for an excess of 60,000 participants.
The popularity of Palestinian factions, especially Hamas and Fatah, is witnessing a significant decline in light of the political division since 2007. However, the latest opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research last September showed Fatah’s lead over Hamas by a small percentage.
Al-Katiba Square, named after an Egyptian army battalion that was stationed in it during the era of Egyptian rule in the Gaza Strip before the 1967 war, once hosted tests for selecting fighters for the Palestine Liberation Army.
The PLA was established as a military wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization, whose mission was to fight Israel, according to the decisions of the Arab summit in Egypt in 1964. It recruited members among Palestinian refugees, headed by Ahmed Al-Shugairi, the first president of the PLO.
Salim Al-Mubayed, a Palestinian historian, told Arab News that Al-Katiba Square was the headquarters of the first battalion that joined Al-Shugairi’s army after its members underwent examinations under the supervision of doctors and officers from the Egyptian army in Gaza.
