Force 17
Force 17 ( force 17 ) is an armed elite and guards unit of the Palestinian Authority , which is immediately below the president. It was originally a Fatah organization .
Force 17 was created in the early 1970s on the initiative of Fatah functionary Ali Hassan Salameh (Abu Hassan). The most important task was the personal protection of the PLO spokesman Yasser Arafat , his deputy and other top PLO functionaries. In 1974, Force 17 members escorted Arafat during his appearance at the UN General Assembly in New York. The unit could not prevent the murder of its founder Salameh, who fell victim to an attack in Beirut in 1979 together with some bodyguards .
With the formation of the Palestinian Authority in 1993, Force 17 was transformed into a quasi-state security force.
See also
Web links
- Who are Force 17? (BBC, December 4, 2001)