|
| |
The PLO timeline
1964 : Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) founded.
1969 : Organization of the Islamic Conference admits Palestine, represented by
the PLO.
22 November 1974 : The United Nations General Assembly grants the PLO observer
status.
9 September 1976 : Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) admitted as a member
of Arab League.
13 August 1978 : PLO headquarters in Beirut bombed, 150 are killed.
1982: The vast majority of the PLO relocated to Tunis after being driven out of
Beirut during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon
16 April 1988 : Khalil al-Wazir "Abu Jihad", PLO 2nd in command, is killed by
Israel, in Tunis.
15 November 1988 : Palestine National Congress meeting in Algiers declared a
Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza Strip (to no effect).
14 January 1991 : Salah Khalaf "Abu Iyad", PLO 3rd in command, is assassinated
in Tunis by an Abu Nidal operative.
4 May 1994 : Palestinian Authority created to administer most of Gaza Strip and
parts of West Bank
The PLO as a partner for peace
Opposition to Arafat was fierce not only among radical Arab groups but among
many on the Israeli right as well, including Menachem Begin, who had stated on
more than one occasion that even if the PLO accepted UN Security Council
resolution 242 and recognized Israel's right to exist, he would never negotiate
with the organization (Smith, op. cit., p. 357). This contradicted the official
United States position that it would negotiate with the PLO if the PLO accepted
resolution 242 and recognized Israel, which the PLO had thus far been unwilling
to do. Other Arab voices had recently called for a diplomatic resolution to the
hostilities in accord with the international consensus, including Egyptian
leader Anwar Sadat on his visit to Washington in August 1981 and Crown Prince
Fahd of Saudi Arabia in his 7 August peace proposal; together with Arafat's
diplomatic maneuver, these developments made Israel's argument that it had "no
partner for peace" seem increasingly problematic. Thus, in the eyes of Israeli
hard-liners, "the Palestinians posed a greater challenge to Israel as a
peacemaking organization than as a military one" (Smith, op. cit., 376).
| |
|
