Diaspora as a Political Sphere: Understanding the Emergence of Fatah in the Arab Gulf Countries

Abstract

This study examines the emergence of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) in the Arab Gulf countries, focusing on the dynamics that accompanied this development in the 1950 s and 1960 s. Fatah emerged in a Gulf context, through which it was able to establish recruitment networks and build an active Palestinian elite base, utilizing institutional margins, forming a type of negotiated legitimacy that allowed Fatah to expand within Gulf administrative structures and provide social and educational services to Palestinian communities. The study draws on a biographical and archival research to provide an analytical reading of the formation of the Palestinian political space in the Gulf as a foundational ground for the Palestinian liberation project.