The Palestinian Liberation Organization Joseph Benedick

Origins ► Founded in 1964 upon the Palestine National Council’s (PNC) election of a 15 member executive committee lead by Ahmad Shuqayri ► “Called for the elimination of Israel and the restoration of Palestine to the Palestinians” ► Al-Fatah “moved to fill the political vacuum” after the defeat of the Arabs in 1967

Factions ► al-Fatah  Established in Kuwait by Arafat among others  Largest group ► PFLP  Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine  Founded by George Habash  “Marxist group dedicated to the over throw of conservative Arab governments” ► DFLP  Further left offshoot of PFLP lead by Jordanian Nayif Hawatma ► PFLP-GC (General Command) ► PLF  Palestine Liberation Front headed by Abbu Abbas

Actions ► Karameh: March 1968  Guerilla attacks into Israel from Jordan called for by Arafat increases credibility/popularity  Israel mounts massive retaliatory campaign  Battle resulted in 21 Israeli deaths and over 100 Palestinian deaths  Declared victory by PLO ► War of Attrition:  Constant attacks on Israel which consequently resulted in expulsion from Jordan after Black September

Actions (cont.) ► Relocation to Lebnanon: October 1970  Establish a state with the state of Lebanon which disturbs Israel  Exacerbates the confessional nature of Lebanon by introducing Israeli support for the Maronites culminating in Civil War ( )  Israel drives PLO out of Lebanon in 1982 ► PLO in Tunis:  1991-Madrid Conference starts peace process

Actions (cont.) ► Intifadas: 1987 and 2000  Palestinian uprisings not sponsored or planned by PLO ► Oslo Accords: 1993  PLO headquartered in Ramallah, West Bank  PLO formally recognizes Israel and vice versa

Current Presence ► After his 2004 death, Arafat is succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas ► Hamas takes control of Gaza in 2007 elections while Fatah retains control of the West Bank

Sources ► Mattar, Philip. "Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Philip Mattar. Vol. 3. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Upper Arlington High School. 15 Sept ► Nassar, Jamal R. "Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)." World Book Advanced. World Book, Web. 15 Sept