Palestine Liberation Organization
The creation of the state of Israel in the region called Palestine in 1948 angered neighboring Arab nations. They immediately went to war with the new state. Palestinians—the people who lived in the region prior to it becoming Israel—fled to other countries or lived in refugee camps in Israel. They formed a number of groups to try to do something about the situation, but their power was limited because the Palestinian population was so scattered. In 1964 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was established to bring these organizations together under central leadership.
In its charter, the PLO stated its basic principles and goals. The main ideas included the right to an independent state, the total liberation of Palestine, and the destruction of the state of Israel. Because people within the PLO have often disagreed on the best way to achieve these aims, the membership has varied. Some of the major subgroups within the PLO include Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The PLO is run by an executive committee and a legislative body called the Palestine National Council (PNC). The first chairman of the executive committee was Ahmad Shuqayri. Since 1969 Yasir Arafat has served as PLO chairman. Palestinian workers throughout the world pay annual taxes to the PLO. For decades the organization also depended heavily on the contributions of Arab countries.
At a meeting in 1974, the leaders of Arab nations recognized the PLO as the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.” The PLO was admitted to full membership in the Arab League in 1976.
The PLO fought against Israel at various times during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. It used Arab nations bordering Israel as bases from which to launch attacks. However, the PLO was driven out of Jordan in the early 1970s and out of Lebanon in 1982.
The activities of some of its subgroups led the PLO to be known worldwide as a terrorist organization. For example, the PLO subgroup called Black September was responsible for killing 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.
As time went on, some people within the PLO began to move away from the goal of getting rid of Israel. Instead they favored separate Israeli and Palestinian states, with Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The PNC declared a Palestinian state in 1988. Israel, however, refused to deal with the PLO and successfully put down violent demonstrations by PLO supporters.
By siding with Iraq during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the PLO lost the support of many Arab states. This lack of help and funds in the face of Israel's great military strength led the PLO to try negotiating with Israel in 1993.
Secret negotiations in Oslo, Norway, led to a series of Israel-PLO agreements. The first was signed by Arafat and the leaders of the Israeli government on September 13, 1993. The agreements called for the two sides to accept each other's right to exist. They also called for Israel to gradually give up control of the land it occupied in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinian National Authority was created to govern the Palestinian-controlled territory. Arafat was elected its president. This transfer of power was to have taken place over a five-year period in which Israel and the Palestinians were to have come up with a permanent settlement. However, negotiations kept stalling throughout the 1990s. In 2000 they fell apart completely amid an outbreak of violence between Israel and the Palestinians
