PLO - Palestine Liberation Organization :: essays research papers fc

HistoryPalestinian Liberation Organization1. Can the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) justifiably claimto be the sole, legitimate vocalisation of the Palestinian people.?The PLO was set up in 1964 by an Arab League decision in responseto growing signs of Palestinian unrest. The Palestinians desired to reclaimthe lands occupied by Israel, which they felt belonged to them, as tell inthe Bible. In 1964 the Arab states created the Palestine LiberationOrganization (PLO). While it was supposed to represent the Palestinians,in reality it represented the views of chair Nasser of Egypt, whoguided the formation of the PLO. Its first leader made wild andirresponsible threats to drive Israelis into the sea, and had littlesupport among Palestinians for he was seen as a puppet of the Egyptians. Inthe 1960s Palestinian students began to form their own organizationsindependent of control by Arab governments (although the Syrians, Libyans,and Iraqis continued to fund and control particular groups). Yasser Arafatfounded an independent Palestinian-run party called Fatah. He is said tohave the backing, for most of the recent past, of about 80% of thePalestinian people. The position of the Arab governments was that a PLOunder Arab League supervision would be the best way of upstanding thedemands made by an emerging Palestinian national consciousness. Also, itwas felt that through such an organization Arab governments could controlPalestinian political activities.Ten years after(prenominal) its founding, the PLO was raised to the status ofgovernment. And in 1988, the PLOs status was to be raised again, thistime to a state in exile. After several negotiations, Arafat became aTerrorist leader and administrator of self-rule in the West Bank and theGaza Strip.In the 1967 Six Day War, the Arab armies did very badly againstIsrael, losing 67,000 square kilometres of land. Palestinians came tobelieve that if they were ever to have their land, they would have to do itthemselves . After the 1967 war, the situation changed drastically. Theresistance activities of dissimilar guerrilla organizations, in particular theAl-Fatah and the PFLP, gained the increasing support of the Palestinians.With Arafat at the helm from 1969 and a resistance-oriented leadership, thePLO was more telling and played a central role in mobilizing thePalestinians and in expanding its basis of support both at the local andinternational level. The PLO became an umbrella organization for thevarious guerrilla groups.This increase in support was made possible because of theAl-Fatahs ability to access to the growing numbers of volunteers fromrefugee camps which were freshly swollen due to the 1967 war.