Said al-Muragha
Encyclopedia
Col.  Sa'eed Musa al-Muragha (born 1927 in Silwan
Silwan
Silwan or Wadi Hilweh is a predominantly Palestinian village adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years a small Jewish minority of 40 families has settled in the area. The village is located in East Jerusalem, an area occupied by Jordan from 1948 until the 1967 Six-day War and by Israel...

) is a Palestinian militant better known as Abu Musa.

Early years

A Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugees or Palestine refugees are the people and their descendants, predominantly Palestinian Arabic-speakers, who fled or were expelled from their homes during and after the 1948 Palestine War, within that part of the British Mandate of Palestine, that after that war became the...

, Abu Musa joined the Jordanian Army in 1948 and rose to become commander of an artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 battalion in 1969. During this period he was sent to receive a military education at the prestigious British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Sandhurst Military Academy. In October 1970, after the Black September fighting
Black September in Jordan
September 1970 is known as the Black September in Arab history and sometimes is referred to as the "era of regrettable events." It was a month when Hashemite King Hussein of Jordan moved to quash the militancy of Palestinian organizations and restore his monarchy's rule over the country. The...

, Musa left the Jordanian army to join the PLO and relocated with most of the Palestinian Resistance to Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

. Here Musa rose to command an alliance between the PLO and Lebanese militias, which fought the Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

ns when Syria intervened in the Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...

 in 1976. In 1978 the Syrian government unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate him.

Split with Arafat

Musa became deputy chief of operations for the PLO and led the PLO's defense of Beirut
Siege of Beirut
The Siege of Beirut took place in the summer of 1982, as part of the 1982 Lebanon War, which resulted from the breakdown of the cease-fire effected by the United Nations...

 in 1982 from the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

is.
However Musa fell out with Yassir Arafat, head of Fatah and PLO, in May 1983. Musa publicly complained over corrupt practices within the PLO, especially the promotion of political appointees loyal to Arafat to important military posts. He was also known for hardline views on Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, and outspoken in his opposition to what he saw as Arafat's attempt to reach a negotiated solution to the conflict (see Rejectionist Front
Rejectionist Front
The Rejectionist Front or Front of the Palestinian Forces Rejecting Solutions of Surrender was a political coalition formed in 1974 by radical Palestinian factions who rejected the Ten Point Program adopted by the Palestine Liberation Organization in its 12th Palestinian National Congress ...

).

In November 1983 Musa was expelled from the PLO's military and he formed Fatah Uprising (or Fatah al-Intifada
Fatah al-Intifada
Fatah al-Intifada is a Palestinian militant faction founded by Col. Said al-Muragha, better known as 'Abu Musa'. The group is often referred to as the 'Abu Musa Faction'...

 in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

) in opposition to Arafat. With the backing of Syria, who opposed any negotiations with Israel, Musa led his followers to drive Arafat's PLO from northern Lebanon.

In 1984 Musa led Fatah Uprising to join the Palestinian National Alliance
Palestinian National Alliance
The Palestinian National Alliance was an alliance of Palestinian movements, founded in 1983. The Alliance consisted of the PFLP-GC, as-Saiqa, Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, Fatah al-Intifada, the Palestinian Liberation Front and the Palestinian Revolutionary Communist Party...

 in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

 in opposition to the PLO but failed to get a majority of Palestinian support. He would join the Palestinian National Salvation Front in 1985 and oppose the Oslo Accords
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...

in 1993. Abu Musa retreated from his leadership role in the 1990s and would no longer be active from then on.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK