n.a terrorist group organized by Yasser Arafat in 1995 as the armed wing of al-Fatah; serves a dual function of violent confrontation with Israel and serves as Arafat's unofficial militia to prevent rival Islamists from usurping leadership
The ceasefire, they say, was the Tanzim's contribution to a new PA program of "reform" based on Israel's gradual withdrawal from the Palestinian areas in return for the PA's gradual resumption of policing duties within them.
Throughout the seven years of the Oslo peace process, he would switch between being president of the Palestinian Authority, when he needed to get tough with his own dissidents, and being chief of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, when he wanted the Tanzim to raise the heat on Israel.