Introduction

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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

ascendancy 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, particularly

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 nation

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