Palestinian+Liberation+Organization

Founded by a meeting of Palestinian national figures in the West Bank, in 1964, its goal was the liberation of Palestine through armed struggle. The original PLO Charter (issued on 28 May 1964) stated that "Palestine with its boundaries that existed at the time of the is an integral regional unit" and sought to "prohibit... the existence and activity" of Zionism (Khalidi). It also called for self-determination for Palestinians. Palestinian statehood was not mentioned, although in 1974 the PLO called for an independent state in the territory of the Palestine Mandate (Cleveland).

The PLO was considered a terrorist organization by the US Government until the Madrid Conference in 1991, two years before the signing of the Oslo Accords.

· The group used multi-layered guerilla and terrorist tactics to attack Israel from their bases in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria as well as from within the West Bank/Gaza Strip. o The 1970 Avivium school bus killings by the DFLP, killed nine children, three adults and crippled 19. o In 1972 the Black Sept. Organization carried out the Munich killings of Israeli Olympic athletes. o In 1974 members of the DFLP seized a school in Israel and killed a total of 26 students and adults. o The 1975 Savoy hostage situation killing 8 civilians and 3 soldiers, carried out by Fatah (Cobban).

The UN General Assembly has described the PLO as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian People."

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 (Cobban). Membership grows and shrinks, and some organizations have left the PLO or suspended membership during times of political turbulence, but most often these groups rejoined the organization (Khalidi).


 * Present members include: Fatah, PFLP, DFLP, PPP, PLF, ALF, As-Sa'iqa, Fida, PPSF, PAF.**

Cobban, Helena. //The Palestinian Liberation Organisation//(Cambridge University Press, 1984) Cleveland, William L. //A History of the Modern// // Middle East //, Westview Press (2004). Khalidi, Rashid. The Iron Cage, The Story of the Struffle for Palestinian Statehood