Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization, English Palestine Liberation Organization [ pæləsta ɪ n l ɪ bə re ɪ ʃ n ɔ ː gəna ɪ ze ɪ ʃ n], abbreviation PLO, 28 5./1. 6. Political and military umbrella organization founded in Cairo in 1964 for the Arab liberation movements fighting for an independent Arab state of Palestine, 1969–2004 by J. Arafat(Headquarters since 1994 in Gaza, official seat in Ramallah [Muqata]). Includes most Palestinian refugee and guerrilla organizations; Al Fatah has formed the core since 1968 (joining the PLO). One of the radical sub-groups is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, English abbreviation PFLP, founded in 1967, led by G. Habasch from 1967 to April 2000, later branched further. Since the summit conference of the Arab League in Rabat (October 26-30, 1974) recognized by all Arab states as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, admitted to the UN General Assembly (observer status) since November 1974, the PLO became a full member of the 1976 Arab League. The highest parliamentary body of the PLO is the Palestinian National Council (PNC). The “government” is the executive committee, which Arafat took over as chairman in 1969 and held until his death on November 11, 2004. Immediately thereafter, the Executive Committee appointed M. Abbas to the chairman. The preamble to the PLO charter of 1964 codified (since 1968) the abolition of the state of Israel and the claim of the Palestinians to all of former Palestine; after the declaration of renunciation as part of the Oslo peace process (September 1993), these passages were deleted on April 25, 1996 (finally in 1998 after the Wye II Agreement).
History: From 1948/49 onwards, Palestinian-Arab underground fighters (“Fedayeen”) carried out military operations against Israel from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Under the leadership of Ahmed Schukeiri (* 1908, † 1980), the PLO was constituted in 1964, funded by v. a. by Egyptian President G. Abd el-Nasser. After the Six-Day War of June 1967, in which Israel had occupied the remaining parts of Palestine on the one hand, and in which it also became clear that the liberation of Palestine as a task for the whole of Arabia had failed, the PLO shifted its political and military focus to Jordan, where it developed into a state in the state and won from 1968 under the leadership of the chairman of its member organization Al-Fatah,J. Arafat, greater political weight in the Middle East conflict. Controversies within the PLO repeatedly called the cohesion into question. After the expulsion from Jordan (“Black September” 1970), the PLO shifted its organizational focus to Beirut; Using terrorist means, it intensified its activities beyond the Arab region (Black September). Until 1974, the PLO saw the armed struggle for its own state as a primarily Palestinian task. Arafats marks a turning point in this policy first speech to the UN General Assembly on November 13, 1974, in which he presented a new dual strategy. At that time the Palestinian National Council had considered the possibility of a partial state regulation. After the PLO was expelled from Beirut by Israel in the Lebanon campaign (June 1982), the PLO moved its bases to eight Arab countries and its headquarters to Tunis (until 1993/94). In the Intifada that began on December 8, 1987it had to compete for leadership role with the Islamist organizations Hamas and Jihad Islami, which are more popular in the occupied territories. The Palestinian National Council proclaimed the State of Palestine in Algiers on November 15, 1988 and indirectly recognized Israel’s right to exist. This intensified the conflict with the Islamist groups in the occupied territories, but Arafat also found international support for the PLO’s change of attitude. Even the US subsequently recommended that Israel involve the PLO in peace talks, which Israel continued to reject. Arafat’s support for S. Husain the 2nd Gulf War in 1991 led to its international political isolation. Since the vital financial contributions v. a. In the absence of Saudi Arabia, the PLO was on the verge of ruin. In order to avoid this and to ensure that the PLO was the legitimate representative of the interests of the Palestinians, the leadership group around Arafat in 1993 agreed to the not undisputed compromise with Israel, both inside and outside the PLO.
After secret negotiations in Oslo, from August / September 1993 Israel and the PLO came to mutual recognition and on September 13, 1993 in Washington a framework plan for the long-term realization of the right of self-determination of the Palestinians (“Gaza-Jericho Agreement”) was adopted. On October 12, 1993, the PLO Central Council approved the agreement and appointed Arafat Chairman of the Palestinian (National) Authority, also known as the National Authority, in Gaza and Jericho. As part of the Taba Agreement of 1995, the PLO / Al-Fatah won the first elections to the Palestinian (autonomous or legislative) council in the autonomous areas on January 20, 1996 (50 of the 88 seats in the autonomous council) ; at the same time Arafat became elected President (“Rais”) of the Palestinian Authority (Autonomous or Legislative), in accordance with the Constitution of the Autonomous Areas of February 1994 for the transitional period up to the state proclamation planned for May 4, 1999. Since this was not possible until Arafat’s death in November 2004, he remained in office until then. The final status negotiations originally scheduled for 1996, which were supposed to lead to the state proclamation, had been refused by the Israeli government under B. Netanyahu. After the change of government to E. Barakon May 17, 1999, Israel again showed its readiness to negotiate with the PLO about the final status. On February 15, 2000 the PLO reached an agreement with the Vatican on an internationally guaranteed statute for Jerusalem. At the beginning of July 2000, the Central Council of the PLO authorized Arafat to proclaim a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank on September 13, 2000 unilaterally, if necessary after an agreement in principle with Israel had been reached. This unilateral state proclamation was then omitted to resolve the one at the Middle East Summit in Camp David (July 11-25, 2000; Barak and Arafat, mediator: B. Clinton) not to let an agreement on a final status contract that has not been reached finally fail. A new unilateral deadline until November 2000 was dropped for the same reason and because of the second or “Al-Aksa Intifada” that broke out at the end of September (sponsors in the early days mainly young people of Al-Fatah: Tanzim militias). After the renewed escalation in spring 2001, Israel declared the PLO and the Palestinian Authority to be jointly responsible for the terror in early December 2001. On December 13, 2001, the Israeli Prime Minister A. Sharon Arafat, from now on regarded as “no longer relevant”, under house arrest, where he remained almost uninterrupted until his death. In the spring of 2002, the Israeli government accused the EU of having helped finance the PLO’s violent resistance against the Israeli occupation with a substantial part of its funds going to the Palestinian Authority.
The question of Arafat’s successor at the head of the PLO was initially open. The rivals included v. a. Former comrades-in- arms of Arafat from exile who held important ministerial posts (above all Arafat’s former PLO general secretary M. Abbas, known as “Abu Mazen”, brief Palestinian prime minister from spring to autumn 2003), as well as younger leaders of the Tanzim militias involved in the Intifada have acquired social prestige. Abbas soon got into an internal power struggle with Arafat and resigned as Prime Minister in September 2003 because Arafat withheld control of the security services from him. According to Arafats Abbas died in November 2004 and took over the political leadership of both the PLO and the Palestinians (January 2005 election as President of the Autonomous Areas). In the second elections to the Autonomous Council on January 25, 2006, Al-Fatah only won a third of the seats, while Hamas received an absolute majority. This victory by the Islamists was also seen as a reaction of the middle class to the high level of corruption under Fatah rule. After consultation between Abbas and the Hamas leadership, the latter was able to determine the future prime minister (I. Hanija, in office from March 2006). Abbas then endeavored to form a unity government, which, however, could only be reached after a few setbacks at the beginning of February 2007 (confirmed by parliament on March 17, 2007 in separate sessions in Gaza and Ramallah and sworn in by Abbas) broke up after a civil war-like power struggle between Fatah and Hamas from May 2007 and the complete takeover of power in the Gaza Strip by Hamas in mid-June 2007. Abbas then appointed Salam Fayyad (* 1952) Prime Minister, but his de facto authority was limited to the West Bank. At the beginning of August 2009, a Fatah general congress took place for the first time in 20 years. He confirmed in an open vote Abbas headed it by an overwhelming majority and elected 18 members of the Central Committee and 80 members of the Revolutionary Council. In a policy paper, the delegates called for negotiations with the aim of a “just peace”, but also emphasized the “right to resist by all means” against Israel. In the period that followed, efforts to achieve a reconciliation with Hamas were in the foreground, but initially without resounding success. Salam Fayyad resigned in 2013 after tensions with Abbas. He was succeeded by Rami Hamdallah (* 1958). In 2014, Hamas and Al-Fatah were able to agree again on the formation of a Palestinian unity government and the holding of elections.
