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...
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