Israel - Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

The PLO began in 1964 as a Palestinian nationalist umbrella organization dedicated to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, control of the PLO went to the most dominant of the various fedayeen militia groups, Yasir Arafat's al-Fatah. In 1969, Arafat became chairman of the PLO's executive committee, a position he still holds. In the early 1980s, the PLO became fragmented into several contending groups but remains the preeminent Palestinian organization. The United States considers the Palestine Liberation Organization to be an umbrella organization that includes several constituent groups and individuals holding differing views on terrorism. At the same time, U.S. policy accepts that elements of the PLO have advocated, carried out, or accepted responsibility for acts of terrorism. PLO chairman Arafat publicly renounced terrorism in December 1988 on behalf of the PLO. The United States considers that all PLO groups, including al-Fatah, Force 17, the Hawari Group, the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) and the PFLP, are bound by Arafat's renunciation of terrorism. The U.S.-PLO dialogue was suspended after the PLO failed to condemn the May 30, 1990, PLF attack on Israeli beaches. PLF head Abu Abbas left the PLO executive committee in September 1991; his seat was filled by another PLF member.

In the early 1970s, several groups affiliated with the PLO carried out numerous international terrorist attacks. By the mid-1970s, under international pressure, the PLO claimed it would restrict attacks to Israel and the Occupied Territories. Several terrorist attacks were later performed by groups affiliated with the PLO/al-Fatah-including the Hawari Group, the PLF and Force 17-against targets inside and outside of Israel.

Formerly the No. 1 bad boy of terrorism, Yasir Arafat and his fashion-conscious wife have gone mainstream. It remains to be seen whether he can be as powerful in peace as he was in war. Arafat's administrative skills are primitive at best, his health is failing and his handling of economic issues in the autonomous zones of Jericho and the Gaza Strip have come under fire-the protests fueled by Arafat's own assertions that the peace accords would bring greater prosperity to Palestinians. Skeptical investors are staying away from the Gaza Strip, at least until the former terrorist charts an economic course for the newly liberated Palestine.

http://www.pna.net/plo/