A brief history of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization)

Essay by wetoddUniversity, Bachelor'sA, March 2004

download word file, 8 pages 3.0 1 reviews

Downloaded 91 times

Palestinian Liberation Organization

1. Can the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) justifiably claim to be 'the sole, legitimate representative of the

Palestinian people.'?

The PLO was set up in 1964 by an Arab League decision in response to growing signs of Palestinian unrest. The

Palestinians desired to reclaim the lands occupied by Israel, which they felt belonged to them, as said in the Bible. In

1964 the Arab states created the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). While it was supposed to represent the

Palestinians, in reality it represented the views of President Nasser of Egypt, who guided the formation of the PLO. Its

first leader made wild and irresponsible threats to drive Israelis into the sea, and had little support among Palestinians for

he was seen as a puppet of the Egyptians. In the 1960s Palestinian students began to form their own organizations

independent of control by Arab governments (although the Syrians, Libyans, and Iraqis continued to fund and control

particular groups).

Yasser Arafat founded an independent Palestinian-run party called Fatah. He is said to have the

backing, for most of the recent past, of about 80% of the Palestinian people. The position of the Arab governments was

that a PLO under Arab League supervision would be the best way of satisfying the demands made by an emerging

Palestinian national consciousness. Also, it was felt that through such an organization Arab governments could control

Palestinian political activities.

Ten years after its founding, the PLO was raised to the status of government. And in 1988, the PLO's status was to be

raised again, this time to a state in exile. After several negotiations, Arafat became a Terrorist leader and administrator of

self-rule in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In the 1967 Six Day War, the Arab armies did very badly...