The Plo Essay Research Paper Introduction

The Plo Essay, Research Paper

Introduction

—-This paper will provide an overview of the

Palestinian Liberation Organization, including its

early history and its rise to prominence during the

Intifada that began in 1987. It will also include a

description of Yasser Arafat’s ascendency to the

leadership of the PLO, a position that earned him

the right to speak for all Palestinians by virtue

of the peace framework signed by him and the former

Israeli Prime Minister Yitsak Rabin in 1993.

Early History

—-Growing Palestinian activism in the early part

of the 1960’s provided the impetus for the convening

of the first summit conference of Arab leaders in

1964 — to plan a unified response to Israeli plans

to divert some of the waters of the Jordan River.

This activism influenced the decision, made at that

conference, to create the PLO. It also precipitated

the slide of the Arab states into the June 1967 war

with Israel. In the mid-1960’s the Arab regimes

were again haunted by a force they had not had to

deal with since 1948: a Palestinian nationalist

movement that, in spite of being divided into

several underground groups, could exert great

pressure on them by playing on public opinion and

inter-Arab pressures.

—-During the early and middle 1960’s

dissatisfaction with the Arab status quo fueled the

growth of Palestinian nationalist groups. Most

successful was Fatah, headed by Yasser Arafat

(discussed below) which began military operations

against Israel on Jan. 1, 1965, with an attack on

the Israeli national water carrier project to

transfer water from the Jordan River to the south

of Israel. Although little more than pinpricks to

the Israelis, these attacks were effective armed

propaganda in the Palestinians’ political offensive

to force the Arab regimes, partiuclarly Egypt under

Gamal Abd al-Nasser, to practice what they preached

regarding Palestine. The first target chosen by

Fatah was especially symbolic, since none of the

Arab summit meetings called to deal with Israel’s

Jordan River water diversion had resulted in any

concrete action. This pattern of armed propaganda

continued to characterize Palestinian armed

attacks. It was aimed at winning Palestinian

opinion over to Fatah and at convincing Arab public

opinion of the feasibility of direct action against

Israel.

—-The June 1967 war, in which several Arab nations

were soundly defeated by Israel, was nonetheless a

watershed that led to the rebirth of a Palestinian

national movement with a strong separate identity.

The rebirth occurred in several stages. The first

was winning a crucial victory in the battle of

Karameh in the Jordan river valley in March 1968,

where outnumbered Palestinian guerrillas, backed by

Jordanian artillery, stood up to Israeli armored

forces. The importance of this battle was not in

the relatively limited Israeli losses, but in the

fact that the Israelis appeared to have been driven

back by Palestinian irregulars only nine months

after the rout of three Arab regular armies in

1967. During the next stage, also in 1968, the

Palestinian guerrilla groups, who called themselves

fida’iyeen (fedayeen), or self-sacrificers, seized

control of the PLO from the leadership that had

been installed by Egyptian President Gamal Abd

al-Nasser in 1964.

Arafat’s Rise

—-Arafat was born in Jerusalem in 1929 and brought

up in Gaza. He studied civil engineering at Cairo

University, where he headed the League of Palestine

Students (1952-1956), and fought in the Suez war of

1956. In the late 1950’s he lived in Kuwait and

helped to establish Fatah, which began terrorist

operations against Israel in the early 1960’s. From

about 1965, and particularly after Israel’s victory

in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, a power struggle

develooped within the Palestinian resistance

movement, mainly between advocates of Arab state

sponsorship and those, like Arafat, supporting an

independent movement. In 1969 Arafat, as leader of

the most powerful group in the PLO, was elected

chairman.

—-Under Arafat’s leadership, the PLO developed a

variety of political, socioeconomic, and

educational institutions in Lebanon and elsewhere

in the Palestinian diaspora. Arafat’s greatest

efforts, however, were seen in the diplomatic

arena, where he doggedly pursued the goal of

international recognition of the rights of

Palestinians to self- determination and of the PLO

as their legitimate political representative.

Because of his desire to press for a diplomatic

solution he undertook initiatives that at times

were unacceptable to the Pale

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать