The PLO claimed that the Jewish State had no right to exist and must be destroyed. The PLO believed in the use of force against Israel. The PLO’s views were stated in the Palestinian National Charter. It included that Arabs should have a homeland, Palestine could not be divided, and it called for all Arabs to work towards the Liberation of Palestine.
Within the Fatah organisation there were many other organisations belonging to the PLO (the popular front for the liberation of Palestine) led by George Habash, the PFLP-GC (the popular front for the liberation of Palestine – General Command) led by Ahmed Jibril, The DFLP (the democratic front for the liberation of Palestine) led by Naif Hawatmeh.
In 1970 two hijacked planes were forced to land Dawson’s field in Jordan by the PFLP, one such organisation under the PLO. Soon later the PFLP then detained another plane and forced it to land again in Dawson’s Field. The PFLP then demanded for seven terrorists held in prison in Switzerland, Germany and Britain to be released. The governments amazingly agreed but Israel did not. With the whole world watching on Television the aircrafts were blown up by the terrorists. This gained them massive promotion, as it shocked the whole world. King Hussein of Jordan, however, immediately ordered for the PLO members to be shifted out of Jordan as the aircrafts were blown up in his country. Fights broke out between the PLO and Jordanian soldiers. The Palestinians called this period Black September due to the amount of heavy casualties they suffered. The PLO members were eventually forced to leave Jordan.
Another key event was at Munich, at the Olympic Games in 1972 where eleven Israeli athletes were killed.
After the expulsion from Jordan, most of the PLO moved to Lebanon and from there launched regular attacks on Israel. After several attacks Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982 in order to destroy the PLO. This meant that as well as the PLO members normal citizens were also being killed. The world watched on Television everyday and sympathy for the Israelis soon diminished. The PLO were forced out of Lebanon and moved to Tunisia.
After leaving Lebanon Arafat was forced to re-think his methods. He wanted a compromise with Israel. However, he had to be extremely cautious to avoid appearing as a traitor to the rest of the Arab world.
The powerful USA refused to deal with the PLO until it agreed to: - publicly rejecting the use of terrorism, recognising Israel, which meant to accept it’s right to live, and also to accept the ideas behind Resolution 242 which stated that there could be an exchange of land for peace. In return to agreeing to these concessions the PLO would be allowed to negotiate which might lead to Palestinian control of the West Bank and Gaza. Jordan acted as a mediator in talks between the PLO and USA, however this came to nothing due to divisions amongst the PLO itself.
In 1987 Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza began an uprising against the Israelis known as the ‘Intifada’. The Intifada convinced Arafat that the time was right for the PLO to take control of the West Bank and Gaza as a Palestinian mini – state. To achieve this Arafat decided to publicly accept the American demands. The American government welcomed the agreements and invited the PLO for talks.
Source ‘A’ says that, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” This source suggests that political power can only be gained through violent methods, including that which a bullet is fired through meaning a gun.
Take for example, if someone was told to do something in a pleasant manner, it would be refused. However, if someone was told to do something whilst holding a gun up to them, it would be agreed to, there would be no choice but force to do so. This was the tactic used by the PLO. The PLO thought they could inflict power by terrorist attacks. These terrorist attacks only took place as they wanted the attention of the politicians in creating them a homeland. Their view was that Palestine should not be divided, nor did Israel have the right to exist.
However, it was really the Fatah group who made the terrorist attacks but though had control of the PLO. Fatah was seen as the force behind the PLO.
This source is correct up to a certain point only, as after the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon, Arafat was forced to re-think his methods. He agreed to the agreements which were set by the USA, which were to, publicly reject the use of terrorism and also recognising the right of Israel to live. The terrorist attacks of the PLO were now almost demolished.
The PLO also used terrorist methods which they thought would force the Israelis to give up the conquered lands. They hijacked, kidnapped, bombed and raided Israeli settlements; however this did not persuade Israel to have a peace negotiation. In return the Israelis also bombed e.t.c. in retaliation.
Source ‘B’ is quite biased, as this extract is from a school textbook. Bombing, hijacking and all the rest is not mentioned, this may be due to the fact that the children reading from this textbook may get scared.
However, this source mentions from after Arafat re-thought his methods. He was no longer a freedom fighter, terrorist nor guerrilla, instead he turned into a moderate statesman. He agreed to the agreements set by the USA and recognised Israel’s right to exist and rejected the use of terrorism. Due to this agreement, Palestinians were given control to of the West Bank and Gaza Strip again. However groups such as the Hamas e.t.c. were working towards a full independence of Palestine. They never recognised Israel’s right to live and wanted them driven-out. Due to this Arafat faced extreme criticism from such groups.
Source ‘C’ suggests that in the eyes of the PLO hijacking a plane would give them more attention. The activities of the PLO included the hijacking of five aircraft and three of them were taken to an old RAF airstrip at Dawson’s Field in Jordan. The PLO then blew up these aircraft which shocked the whole world. The actions of the PLO concerned the King of Jordan, King Hussein, very much as the three aircrafts were blew up in his country. He decided that the PLO should be cleaned from Jordan. After many days of fighting Arafat and the PLO were pushed out of Lebanon where they set up their new headquarters.
For decades the world had not said if they were right or wrong in their doings. After the hijacking it has gained them huge publicity. The PLO mainly did these activities to gain the attention of and get noticed by. The PLO wanted to be noticed by the politics, again this refers to source ‘A’.
In conclusion, the PLO were terrorists in the early years, exactly in accordance with source ‘A’. However soon later Arafat agreed to reject the use of terrorism and accepting Israel’s right to exist and the terrorist attacks were soon given up. On the other hand groups such as the Hamas still exist who do not recognise Israel’s right to exist.