Palestine Liberation Organization

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (Arabic: منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية‎; Munazzamat al-Tahrir al-Filastiniyyah) is a political and paramilitary organization regarded by the Arab League since October 1974 as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."[1]

Founded by a meeting of 422 Palestinian national figures in Jerusalem in May 1964 following an earlier decision of the Arab League, its goal was the liberation of Palestine through armed struggle.[2] The original PLO Charter (issued on 28 May 1964[3]) stated that "Palestine with its boundaries that existed at the time of the British mandate is an integral regional unit" and sought to "prohibit... the existence and activity" of Zionism.[4] These are often taken to mean the destruction of Israel. It also called for a right of return and self-determination for Palestinians. Palestinian statehood was not mentioned, although in 1974 the PLO called for an independent state in the territory of Mandate Palestine.[5] In 1988, the PLO officially adopted a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side contingent on specific terms such as making East Jerusalem capital of the Palestinian state and giving Palestinians right of return.[6]

In 1993, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat recognized the State of Israel in an official letter to its prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. In response to Arafat's letter, Israel recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Arafat was the Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee from 1969 until his death in 2004. He was succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen).

According to a 1993 National Criminal Intelligence Service report, the PLO was "the richest of all terrorist organizations", with $8-$10 billion in assets and an annual income of $1.5-$2 billion from "donations, extortion, payoffs, illegal arms dealing, drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, etc." The Daily Telegraph reported in 1999 that the PLO had $50 billion in secret investments around the world.[7]

The label of "terrorist organization" has been disputed, as the PLO is the only organization to recognize Israel, and has not attacked Israel so far. Related groups, such as Hamas and Fatah have, but this group has not acted in suicide bombings.[8]

Contents

Overview

The PLO has a nominal legislative body, the Palestinian National Council (PNC), but most actual political power and decisions are controlled by the PLO Executive Committee, made up of 15 people elected by the PNC. The PLO incorporates a range of generally secular ideologies of different Palestinian movements committed to the struggle for Palestinian independence and liberation, hence the name of the organization. The Palestine Liberation Organization is considered by the Arab League[1][9] and by the United Nations[10] to be the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and holds a permanent observer seat in the United Nations General Assembly.

Membership

The PLO has no central decision-making or mechanism that enables it to directly control its factions, but they are supposed to follow the PLO charter and Executive Committee decisions. Membership has fluctuated, and some organizations have left the PLO or suspended membership during times of political turbulence, but most often these groups eventually rejoined the organization. Note: Not all PLO-activists are members of one of the factions - for example, many PNC delegates are elected as independents.

Present members include:

Former member groups of the PLO include:

History

Creation

The Arab League on Cairo Summit 1964 initiated the creation of an organization representing the Palestinian people. The Palestinian National Council convened in Jerusalem on 29 May 1964. Concluding this meeting the PLO was founded on 2 June 1964. Its Statement of Proclamation of the Organization[11] declared "... the right of the Palestinian Arab people to its sacred homeland Palestine and affirming the inevitability of the battle to liberate the usurped part from it, and its determination to bring out its effective revolutionary entity and the mobilization of the capabilities and potentialities and its material, military and spiritual forces".

Due to the influence of the Egyptian President Nasser the PLO supported the nasseristic 'Pan-Arabism' - the ideology that the Arabs should live in one state. The first executive committee was formed on 9 August, with Ahmad Shuqeiri as its leader.

In spite of the 1949 Armistice Agreements, the Arab states remained unreconciled to Israel's creation as they had been to the proposed partition of Palestine in 1948. Therefore the Palestinian National Charter of 1964[12] stated: "The claims of historic and spiritual ties between Jews and Palestine are not in agreement with the facts of history or with the true basis of sound statehood... [T]he Jews are not one people with an independent personality because they are citizens to their states." (Article 18).

Although Egypt and Jordan favored the creation of a Palestinian state on land they considered to be occupied by Israel, they would not grant sovereignty to the Palestinian people in lands under Jordanian and Egyptian military occupation, amounting to 53% of the territory allocated to Arabs under the UN Partition Plan. Hence Article 24: "This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or in the Himmah Area."

Chairmen of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee

(in exile in Jordan to April 1971; Lebanon 1971 - December 1982; and Tunis December 1982 - May 1994)
(acting [for Arafat] to 11 November 2004)

Leadership by Yasser Arafat

The defeat of Syria, Jordan and Egypt in the Six Day War of 1967 destroyed the credibility of the states that sought to be patrons of the Palestinian people and weakened Nasser significantly. The way was opened for Yasser Arafat, who advocated guerrilla warfare and who successfully sought to make the PLO a fully independent organization under the control of the fedayeen organizations. At the Palestinian National Congress meeting of 1969, Fatah gained control of the executive bodies of the PLO. At the Palestinian National Congress in Cairo on February 3, 1969 Arafat was appointed PLO chairman. From then on, the Executive Committee was composed essentially of representatives of the various member organizations.

War of attrition

Between 1969 to September 1970 the PLO, with passive support from Jordan, fought a war of attrition with Israel. During this time, the PLO launched artillery attacks on the moshavim and kibbutzim of Bet Shean Valley Regional Council, while fedayeen launched numerous attacks on Israeli civilians. Israel raided the PLO camps in Jordan, withdrawing only under Jordanian military pressure.

This conflict culminated in Jordan's expulsion of the PLO in September 1970.

Black September in Jordan

Main article: Black September in Jordan

The PLO suffered a major reversal with the Jordanian assault on its armed groups in the events known as Black September in 1970. The Palestinian groups were expelled from Jordan, and during the 1970s the PLO was effectively an umbrella group of eight organizations headquartered in Damascus and Beirut, all devoted to armed resistance to either Zionism or Israeli occupation, using methods which included attacks on civilians and guerrilla warfare against Israel. After Black September, the Cairo Agreement led the PLO to establish itself in Lebanon.

Ten Point Program

In 1974, the PNC approved the Ten Point Program[13] formulated by Fatah's leaders which calls for the establishment of a national authority over any piece of liberated Palestinian land, and to actively pursue the establishment of a secular democratic binational state in Israel/Palestine under which all citizens will enjoy equal status and rights regardless of race, sex, or religion. The Ten Point Program was considered the first attempt by PLO at a peaceful resolution, though the ultimate goal was "completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory, and as a step along the road to comprehensive Arab unity."

This led to several radical PLO factions (such as the PFLP, PFLP-GC and others) breaking out to form the Rejectionist Front, which would act independently of PLO over the following years. Suspicion between the Arafat-led mainstream and more hardline factions, inside and outside of the PLO, have continued to dominate the inner workings of the organization ever since, often resulting in paralysis or conflicting courses of action. A temporary closing of ranks came in 1977, as Palestinian factions joined with hardline Arab governments in the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front to condemn Egyptian attempts to reach a separate peace with Israel (eventually resulting in the 1979 Camp David Accords).

Israel claimed to see the Ten Point Program as dangerous, because it allegedly allows the Palestinian leadership to enter negotiations with Israel on issues where Israel can compromise, but under the intention of exploiting the compromises in order to "improve positions" for attacking Israel. The Israeli term for this is the "Step/stage Program" (Tokhnit HaSHlavim or Torat HaSHlavim). During the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in the 90s some Israelis repeated this suspicion, claiming that the Palestinians' willingness to compromise was just a smoke-screen to implement the Ten Point Program. After the Oslo Accords were signed, Israeli right-wing politicians claimed (and still claim) that this was part of the ploy to implement the Stage Program. The Ten Point Program was never officially cancelled by the Palestinians and Israeli right-wing politicians claim that many Palestinians saw the Oslo Accords as a step in the Ten Point Program.[14]

The PLO in Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War

Main article: Lebanese Civil War

In the mid-1970s, Arafat and his Fatah movement found themselves in a tenuous position. The Rejectionist Front opposed Arafat's growing calls for diplomacy from the mid-1970s, perhaps best symbolized by his support for a UN Security Council resolution proposed in 1976 calling for a two-state settlement on the pre-1967 borders and his Ten Points Program, which was denounced by the Rejectionist Front (and vetoed by the United States). The population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip saw Arafat as their best hope for a resolution to the conflict, especially in the aftermath of the Camp David Accords, which Palestinians had seen as a blow to their aspirations to self-determination. Abu Nidal, a sworn enemy of the PLO since 1974, assassinated the PLO's diplomatic envoy to the European Economic Community, which in the Venice Declaration of 1980 had called for the Palestinian right of self-determination to be recognized by Israel.

During the Lebanese Civil War, the PLO first fought against Maronite militias, then against Israel, then, finally, against the Syrian-supported Amal militia. In the 1985-88 War of the Camps Amal and other pro-Syrian militias besieged Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon to drive out supporters of Arafat. Many thousands of Palestinians died of violence and starvation. After the Amal siege ended, there was a great deal of intra-Palestinian fighting in the camps.

The PLO as a partner for peace

Opposition to Arafat was fierce not only among radical Arab groups but among many on the Israeli right as well, including Menachem Begin, who had stated on more than one occasion that even if the PLO accepted UN Security Council resolution 242 and recognized Israel's right to exist, he would never negotiate with the organization (Smith, op. cit., p. 357). This contradicted the official United States position that it would negotiate with the PLO if the PLO accepted resolution 242 and recognized Israel, which the PLO had thus far been unwilling to do. Other Arab voices had recently called for a diplomatic resolution to the hostilities in accord with the international consensus, including Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat on his visit to Washington in August 1981 and Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia in his 7 August peace proposal; together with Arafat's diplomatic maneuver, these developments made Israel's argument that it had "no partner for peace" seem increasingly problematic. Thus, in the eyes of Israeli hard-liners, "the Palestinians posed a greater challenge to Israel as a peacemaking organization than as a military one" (Smith, op. cit., 376).

Tunis and Algeria

In 1982, the PLO relocated to Tunis after it was driven out of Lebanon by Israel during Israel's six-month invasion of Lebanon. It remained active in Lebanon, but not to the same extent as before 1982.

On October 1, 1985, in Operation Wooden Leg, Israeli Air Force F-15s bombed the PLO's Tunis headquarters, killing more than 60 people.

First Intifada

Main article: First Intifada

In 1987 the First Intifada broke out in the Occupied Territories. The Intifada caught the PLO by surprise,[15] and the leadership abroad could only indirectly influence the events while a new local leadership, the Unified Intifada Leadership comprising many leading Palestinian factions, emerged. After King Hussein of Jordan proclaimed the administrative and legal separation of the West Bank from Jordan in 1988,[16] the Palestine National Council adopted the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in Algiers proclaiming an independent State of Palestine. The declaration made reference to UN resolutions without explicitly mentioning Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. A month later, Arafat declared in Geneva that the PLO would support a solution of the conflict based on these Resolutions. Effectively the PLO recognized Israel's right to exist within pre-1967 borders, with the understanding that the Palestinians would be allowed to set up their own state in the West Bank and Gaza. The United States accepted this clarification by Arafat and began to allow diplomatic contacts with PLO officials. The Proclamation of Independence did not lead to a Palestinian State, although over 100 states recognized the "State of Palestine".

Gulf War

In 1990, the PLO under Yasser Arafat openly supported Saddam Hussein in his regime's invasion of Kuwait, leading to a later rupture in Palestinian-Kuwaiti ties and the expulsion of many Palestinians from Kuwait.

Oslo Accords

In 1993, the PLO secretly negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. The accords were signed on 20 August 1993. There was a subsequent public ceremony in Washington D.C. on September 13, 1993 with Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin. The Accords granted the Palestinians right to self-government on the Gaza Strip and the city of Jericho in the West Bank through the creation of the Palestinian Authority. Yasser Arafat was appointed head of the PA and a timetable for elections was laid out which saw Arafat elected president in January 1996, 18 months behind schedule. Although the PLO and the Palestinian Authority are not formally linked the PLO dominates the administration. The headquarters of the PLO were moved to Ramallah on the West Bank.

On 9 September, 1993, Arafat issued a press release stating that "the PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security".

Numerous leaders within the PLO and the PA, including Yasser Arafat himself, have declared that the State of Israel has a permanent right to exist, and that the peace treaty with Israel is genuine, though members of the PLO have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against Israelis since the Oslo Accords (all during the second Intifada.) Some Palestinian officials have stated that the peace treaty must be viewed as permanent. According to some opinion polls majority of Israelis believe Palestinians should have a state of their own—a major shift in attitude from the pre-Oslo years—even though both Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres were both against the creation of a Palestinian state both before and after the signing of Oslo. At the same time, a significant portion of the Israeli public and some political leaders (including the former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) express doubt over whether a peaceful, coherent state can be founded by the PLO and call for significant re-organization, including the elimination of all terrorism, before any talk about independence.

Second Intifada

Main article: Al-Aqsa Intifada

The Second or Al-Aqsa Intifada started concurrent with the breakdown of talks at Camp David with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The Intifada never ended officially, but violence hit relatively low levels during 2005. The death toll both military and civilians of the entire conflict in 2000-2004 is estimated to be 3,223 Palestinians and 950 Israelis, although this number is criticized for not differentiating between combatants and civilians.

Development and reactivation

In the Cairo Declaration and the Prisoners' Document, Palestinian factions agreed to rebuild the PLO. A meeting will be held in Damascus to discuss its future.

The PLO in the United Nations

The United Nations General Assembly granted the PLO observer status on November 22, 1974. On January 12, 1976 the UN Security Council voted 11-1 with 3 abstentions to allow the Palestinian Liberation Organization to participate in a Security Council debate without voting rights, a privilege usually restricted to UN member states.

After the Palestinian Declaration of Independence the PLO's representation was renamed Palestine. On July 7, 1998, this status was extended to allow participation in General Assembly debates, though not in voting.

In numerous Resolutions by the General Assembly the PLO was declared the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian People". This was recognised by Israel in the Oslo Accords from 1993.

The PLO's diplomatic relations with other Arab countries, particularly those against Israel, are fairly misunderstood. Most Islamic Arab countries generally dislike and show contempt for the PLO, due to the fact that most of its formidable members are leftists, communists, and seculars.

PLO National Charter

The Palestinian National Charter as amended in 1968 endorsed the use of "armed struggle" against "Zionist imperialism." Article 10 of the Palestinian National Charter states "Commando (Feday’ee) action constitutes the nucleus of the Palestinian popular liberation war. This requires its escalation, comprehensiveness, and the mobilization of all the Palestinian popular and educational efforts and their organization and involvement in the armed Palestinian revolution. It also requires the achieving of unity for the national (watani) struggle among the different groupings of the Palestinian people, and between the Palestinian people and the Arab masses, so as to secure the continuation of the revolution, its escalation, and victory."

The most controversial element of text of the Palestinian National Charter were many clauses declaring the creation of the state of Israel "null and void", since it was created by force on Palestinian soil. This is usually interpreted as calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.

In letters exchanged between Arafat and Rabin in conjunction with the 1993 Oslo Accords, Arafat agreed that those clauses would be removed. On 26 April 1996, the Palestine National Council held a meeting in camera, at whose end it was announced that the Council had voted to nullify or amend all such clauses, and called for a new text to be produced. At the time, Israeli political figures and academics expressed suspicions and doubts this that this is what had actually taken place, and continued to claim that controversial clauses were still in force.

A letter from Arafat to US President Bill Clinton in 1998 listed the clauses concerned, and a meeting of the Palestine Central Committee approved that list. To remove all doubt the vote this time was held in a public meeting of PLO, PNC and PCC members which was televised worldwide and in the presence of none other than the President of the United States Bill Clinton in person, who arrived in the Gaza Strip for that specific purpose. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted this as the promised nullification.

The fact that a new text of the Charter has never been produced the source of a continuing controversy, with critics of the Palestinian organizations claim that failure to produce a new text proves the insincerity of the clause nullifications. (Such criticism being, however, confined mainly to marginal groups on the far right side of the Israeli political spectrum). One of several Palestinian responses is that the proper replacement of the Charter will be the constitution of the forthcoming state of Palestine. The published draft constitution states that the territory of Palestine "is an indivisible unit based upon its borders on the 4th of June 1967" - which clearly implies an acceptance of Israel's existence in its 1967 borders.

Terrorism

The PLO was considered by the USA and Israel to be a terrorist organization until the Madrid Conference in 1991. Most of the rest of the world recognised the PLO as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people from 1974 onwards (after the PLO's admission to the UN.)

The most notable terrorist acts committed by member organizations of the PLO were:

The PLO was considered "the richest of all terrorist organizations" with US$8-$10 billion in assets and an annual income of $1.5-$2 billion from "donations, extortion, payoffs, illegal arms dealing, drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, etc.", according to a 1993 British National Criminal Intelligence Service report. England's Daily Telegraph reported in 1999 that the PLO had $50 billion in secret investments around the world.[17]

In 2004 the United States Congress declared the PLO to be a terrorist organisation under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1987, citing among others the Achille Lauro attack.[18][19]

Statements made by members of the PLO

On fighting against Israel:

"I come bearing an olive branch in one hand, and the freedom fighter's gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand." -- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO (November, 1974, while speaking at the United Nations)
"We plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion... We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem." -- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO (in front of an Arab audience in Stockholm in 1996)
"We know only one word: Jihad, Jihad, Jihad. When we stopped the intifada, we did not stop the jihad for the establishment of a Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem. And now we are entering the phase of the great jihad prior to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem...We are in a conflict with the Zionist movement and the Balfour Declaration and all imperialist activities." --Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO (During an October 21,1996 speech at the Dehaishe refugee camp)
"This is my homeland; no one can kick me out." -- Yasser Arafat's reply to Ariel Sharon's threat to expel him from the occupied territories. September 11, 2003.

On accepting Israel:

"Consequently, the PLO undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian covenant." --Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO (in the exchange of letters with Israel on 9 September 1993)
"Israel must not demand that the PLO alter its covenant, just as the PLO does not demand that the Jewish nation cancel the Bible." --Ziad Abu Ziad, senior PLO official (in a speech to the American Jewish Federation, 23 October 1993)
"Palestinians are no strangers to compromise. In the 1993 Oslo Accords, we agreed to recognize Israeli sovereignty over 78 percent of historic Palestine and to establish a Palestinian state on only 22 percent." -- Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiator, 5 August 2000
"If you are asking me, as a man who belongs to the Islamic faith, my answer is also "From the river to the sea," the entire land is an Islamic Waqf which cannot be bought or sold, and it is impossible to remain silent while someone is stealing it..." -- Faisal Husseini (1940-2001), Fatah leader and PA Minister for Jerusalem, 'Al-Arabi' (Egypt), 24 June 2001.[20] Similar statements were made in the newspaper 'As-Safir' on 3 March 2001.[21][22]
In his 22 April 2004 interview with the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab, the PLO minister still living in Tunisia Farouk Kaddoumi said that the PLO charter was never changed so as to recognize Israel's right to exist. "The Palestinian national charter has not been amended until now. It was said that some articles are no longer effective, but they were not changed. I'm one of those who didn't agree to any changes." He said also: "...the national struggle must continue. I mean the armed struggle... Fatah was established on the basis of the armed struggle and that this was the only way to leading to political negotiations that would force the enemy to accept our national aspirations. Therefore there is no struggle other than the armed military struggle... If Israel wants to leave the Gaza Strip, then it should do so. This means that the Palestinian resistance has forced it to leave. But the resistance will continue. Let the Gaza Strip be South Vietnam. We will use all available methods to liberate North Vietnam."

On whether the PLO police force will work with Israel against terrorism:

"The Joint Security Coordination and Cooperation Committee set up under Article II hereunder shall develop a plan to ensure full coordination between the Israeli military forces and the Palestinian police..." -- from the agreement signed by Israel and the PLO in Cairo on 4 May 1994 (paragraph 2a of Annex I to the agreement)
"Anyone who thinks the Palestinian police will try to prevent attacks outside the borders of the autonomous area is making a bitter mistake." --- Sufian Abu Zaida, a leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in Gaza (Maariv, 25 April 1994)
"If there are those who oppose the agreement with Israel, the gates are open to them to intensify the armed struggle." -- Jibril Rajoub, PLO security chief for the West Bank, during a lecture at Bethlehem University (Yediot Aharonot, 27 May 1994)

On the right of return of Palestinian refugees:

"I recently read an interview with an elderly Palestinian woman living in the Ein el Hilwa camp in Lebanon. Tightly gripping the rusted key to her family's farm near Jaffa, she asked her interviewer how she should explain to her grandchildren, who had known only the stench of the camp's open sewers, what it was like to wake up to the scent of fresh lemons." -- Elia Zureik, a Professor of Sociology at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, Advises the Palestine Liberation Organization on Refugee Issues
"800,000 Palestinians among those who left after 1967 will come back in the transitional period, which is five years. Those who left in 1948 will come back after the declaration of the Palestinian independent state." -- Nabil Sha'ath, head of the PLO delegation to the talks with Israel in Taba (Al-Hayat, 28 September 1993)
"In my opinion, the refugees problem is more important than a Palestinian state" -- Faruk Kadumi, general secretary of the Fatah council (Kul Al-Arab, 3 January 2003)

On why the PLO signed the Cairo agreement with Israel:

"The money is the carrot for signing the peace agreement with Israel. We have signed." -- Hassan Abu Libdah, deputy chairman of the PLO's Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (The New York Times, 10 June 1994)

On Palestinian statehood:

The Palestinian flag "will fly over the walls of Jerusalem, the churches of Jerusalem and the mosques of Jerusalem." -- Yasser Arafat, Former Chairman of the PLO (Jordanian TV, 13 September 1993)
"Gradually, stage by stage, we will reach an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital." -- Faisal Husseini, senior PLO representative in Israel (Beirut Times, 16 September 1993)
"Palestinians believe that Jerusalem should be a shared, open city; two capitals for two states." -- Faisal Husseini, senior PLO representative in Israel, 3 July 2000

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Madiha Rashid al Madfai, Jordan, the United States and the Middle East Peace Process, 1974-1991, Cambridge Middle East Library, Cambridge University Press (1993). ISBN 0521415233. p. 21:"On 28 October 1974, the seventh Arab summit conference held in Rabat designated the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and reaffirmed their right to establish an independent state."
  2. ↑ Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Palestinian National Covenant
  3. ↑ Helena Cobban,The Palestinian Liberation Organisation(Cambridge University Press, 1984) p.30
  4. ↑ Articles 2 and 23 of the Palestinian National Covenant
  5. ↑ The PNC Program of 1974, June 8, 1974. On the site of MidEastWeb for Coexistence R.A. - Middle East Resources. Page includes commentary. Accessed 5 December 2006.
  6. ↑ William L. Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, Westview Press (2004). ISBN 0813340489.
  7. ↑ Rachel Ehrenfeld, And a Thief, Too: Yasser Arafat takes what he likes, National Review, July 29, 2002. Accessed online 5 December 2006.
  8. ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE1DA1F3CF93BA25752C0A96E948260&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
  9. ↑ Esam Shashaa, 1974 - PLO representative of the Palestinian people, Zajel, An-Najah National University (Palestine), September 26, 2004. Accessed online 27 December 2006.
  10. ↑ United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/39, December 1, 2005. Accessed online on the Jewish Virtual Library, 27 December 2006.
  11. ↑ Statement of Proclamation of the Organization, Palestine Liberation Organization, Jerusalem, 28 May 1964. Online on the site of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations. Accessed 5 December 2006.
  12. ↑ The Palestinian National Charter, Adopted in 1964 by the 1st Palestinian Conference. Online on the site of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations. Accessed 5 December 2006.
  13. ↑ Political Program Adopted at the 12th Session of the Palestine National Council, Cairo, 8 June 1974. Online on the site of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations. Accessed 5 December 2006.
  14. ↑ (Hebrew) http://www.nfc.co.il/archive/003-D-6200-00.html?tag=23-15-32 nfc.co.il news site.
  15. ↑ Yasser Arafat obituary, socialistworld.net (Committee for a Worker’s International) 11 November 2004. Accessed 5 December 2006.
  16. ↑ King Hussein, Address to the Nation, Amman, Jordan, July 31, 1988. On the Royal Hashemit Court's official site in tribute to King Hussein. Accessed 5 December 2006.
  17. ↑ Rachel Ehrenfeld, And a Thief, Too: Yasser Arafat takes what he likes, National Review, July 29, 2002. Accessed online 5 December 2006.
  18. ↑ U.S. Code TITLE 22 > CHAPTER 61 > § 5201. Findings; determinations, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Accessed 5 December 2006.
  19. ↑ 22 USC CHAPTER 61 - ANTI-TERRORISM - PLO, Office of the Law Revision Counsel (United States). Accessed 5 December 2006.
  20. ↑ The Oslo Accords: A Trojan Horse, Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Dispatch Series - No. 236, July 2, 2001. Accessed 5 December 2006.
  21. ↑ Yitzhak Santis, The Middle East: A Century of Conflict. A Critique of National Public Radio's Seven-Part Series on the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Jewish Community Relations Council (San Francisco), January 1, 2003. p. 23. Accessed 5 December 2006.
  22. ↑ Joel S. Fishman, Ten Years Since Oslo: The PLO's "People's War" Strategy and Israel's Inadequate Response, Jerusalem Viewpoints (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs), No. 503 1-15 September 2003. Archived 6 December 2003 onthe Internet Archive. Accessed 5 December 2006.

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