The Palestinian Democratic Union ( ar, الاتحاد الديمقراطي الفلسطيني ''Al-Ittihad al-Dimuqrati al-Filastini''), generally known as FIDA ( ar, فدا) is a small Palestinian political party active in the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establ ...

(PLO) and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

History

FIDA emerged as a split from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)''Palestinian National Authority: The PA Ministerial Cabinet List: April 2003 – October 2003''
. Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. Archived on 27 September 2007. due to disputes in the early 1990s about the policies towards Jordan, the Oslo peace process and the

First Intifada The First Intifada, or First Palestinian Intifada (also known simply as the intifada or intifadah),The word ''intifada'' () is an Arabic word meaning "uprising". Its strict Arabic transliteration is '. was a sustained series of Palestinian ...

.''Abd Rabbo, Yasir''
pp. 6-7. Michael R. Fischbach, Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. Infobase Publishing, 2005 In September 1991, the party approved its political program. In April 1993, it adopted the name Palestinian Democratic Union – FIDA.
Palestinian Democratic Union. Archived on 31 July 2007

Organisation

The youth wing of FIDA is known as Independence Youth Union ( ar, اتحاد شباب الاستقلال ''Athad Shebab Alasetqelal''); there are also workers' and women's groups. FIDA has no armed wing, in contrast to the DFLP and several other Palestinian organizations.

Beliefs and ideology

The slogan of FIDA is "

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

, independence,

return Return may refer to: In business, economics, and finance * Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense. * Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment * Tax return, a blank document or t ...

, democracy and socialism". It presents itself as a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

, secular and democratic socialist party, and espouses the

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

vocabulary of " scientific socialism". FIDA took a more moderate stance than the main DFLP (led by

Nayef Hawatmeh Nayef Hawatmeh ( ar, نايف حواتمة, Nāyef Ḥawātmeh, Kunya: Abu an-Nuf) is a Jordanian politician who was active in the Palestinian political life. Hawatmeh hails from a Jordanian clan and is a practicing Greek Catholic. He is the ...

and based in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

) towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has tried to establish itself as a left-wing democratic alternative in Palestinian politics. It advocates a two-state solution based on the borders of 1967 and with

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...

as the capital of an independent Palestinian state. A prominent FIDA leader, Mamduh Nofal, in 2002 signed an appeal to stop

suicide bombings A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

. The party has held two National Conferences, the first in

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...

in 1995 and the second in 2000.

FIDA leadership

FIDA was founded by Yasser Abd Rabbo, a pro-peace moderate, who then represented the organization in the

's (PLO) Executive Committee, where he worked as an advisor to Yassir Arafat. In 2002, he resigned from the party after internal disputes. Women's rights activist Zahira Kamal had been chosen in an internal election to replace him as minister in the government of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), but Abd Rabbo refused to step down, and instead left the party. He was then able to remain in the cabinet as an independent, with the backing of Arafat, but was replaced in FIDA by Saleh Ra'fat, the current Secretary-General. Zahira Kamal remains in FIDA, but outside of government. Other important FIDA leaders include Azmi ash-Shu'aybi and Mamduh Nofal.

Electoral participation

FIDA has 21 members in the PLO's Palestine National Council (PNC). They were elected as DFLP delegates, or appointed to serve as delegates from various PLO branches, at the last PNC in 1988. No new elections have been held since. FIDA took part in the

1996 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1996. * 1995–1996 Azerbaijani parliamentary election * 1996 Beninese presidential election * 1996 Comorian presidential election * 1996 New Zealand general election * 1996 Nicaraguan general electio ...

to the

Palestinian Legislative Council The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the unicameral legislature of the Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It currently comprises 132 members, e ...

(PLC), and with Fatah backing managed to gain one seat, held by Azmi ash-Shu'aybi. Ash-Shu'aybi has been campaigning for greater parliamentary control of the executive authority and greater transparency in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). In the January 2006 PLC elections, FIDA was part of the al-Badeel (Alternative) joint list, with the

DFLP The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP; ar, الجبهة الديموقراطية لتحرير فلسطين, ''al-Jabha al-Dīmūqrāṭiyya li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn'') is a secular Palestinian people, Palestinian Marxism ...

and the Palestinian People's Party (PPP). The list received 2.8% of the popular vote and won two of the PLC's 132 seats. FIDA will participate in the

2021 Palestinian legislative election The next Palestinian legislative election was scheduled for 22 May 2021, according to a decree by President Mahmoud Abbas on 15 January 2021, but was indefinitely postponed on 29 April 2021. History Mahmoud Abbas was elected President of the ...

on a joint list with the PPP called "United Left". The list is led by Fadwa Khader, a member of the PPP's politburo.

References

External links

FIDA - Palestinian Democratic Union
official website
FIDA - Palestinian Democratic Union
official website {{Authority control 1990 establishments in the Palestinian territories Arab Nationalist Movement breakaway groups Democratic socialist parties in Asia Factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization Political parties established in 1990 Secularism in the State of Palestine Socialist parties in the Palestinian territories