PLO is a political group with a legislative wing formed in May 1964. The organization today has worldwide recognition as the representative of the Palestinian people. PLO was founded in Cairo by the Arab league. PLO has a charter that unites it and sets out its objectives. One of the major objectives was the establishment of the Palestine state, which was to be a fundamental entity without Israel’s influence and called for the return of Palestinian people to the original land. It was formed by a group of renowned Palestinian persons from the west bank.
PLO was formed as an umbrella organization comprising of other groups within Palestine. These organizations vary in their activities but have a common objective of having an independent Palestinian state. These groups are: Fatal, which is the largest it’s a nationalist and left-wing group, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is the second largest group which is a militia, and a communist group, Palestine liberation front is a left-wing group, others are Arab liberation front, Palestine democratic front, Palestine Popular Struggle front among others. Most of these groups are left-wing, communist no-militia, and militia groups. The group has no formal organizational structure. Therefore, decision-making processes are derived from the PLO charter and the executive committee. The membership of PLO has constantly been changing, where some members leave at certain times. PLO has members not allied to these founding groups but is elected independently. These members are usually connected to PLO.
PLO has three governing bodies: the executive committee with the key control powers, the counsel and the Palestine national council, which is the legislative wing. PLO executive committee is made up of 18 members elected by Palestinian National Council (PNC). PLO has worldwide recognition. The United Nations recognizes it as the representative of Palestine. It has held a permanent observer seat at the United Nations general assembly with no voting rights since 1974. The US had for a long time tried to close PLO’s position but was forced to accept the legitimacy of PLO following a case ruling by the international community. In 1993, PLO’s chairman Yasser Arafat made it possible for Israel to make recognition of PLO through a reply to a letter sent to the Israel Prime Minister.
Israel engaged in the war against Syria, Jordan, and Egypt in 1967. This was a major setback to PLO as it had been receiving much support from these countries. Influence from the Egyptian president declined significantly as a result of this defeat. Following the defeat of the Arab league, PLO had to reorganize itself. It started out by establishing itself as an independent organization following fierce fighting in 1968, where Yasser Arafat gained popularity by advocating for guerrilla warfare. Yasser Arafat was elected the chairman of the Palestinian National Congress in 1969 in Cairo. Around 1970, PLO collaborated with Jordan in fighting against Israel by targeting its civilians. Israel fought back by ambushing PLO bases, and Jordan forces turned against PLO, thereby driving them out of Jordan. PLO later established itself in Lebanon.
In 1974, Palestine National Council agreed on the formation of a body that would have the authority of Palestine liberated land by the establishment of a state. The state was proposed to be formed by both Israel and PLO, where its people would enjoy international human rights. The resolution was heavily resisted, with Israel viewing it as an attempt by PLO to strategize attacks. Some factions of PLO pulled out and decided to become independent. This clearly demonstrates how PLO transformed terrorism.
Around 1980, PLO fought against Israel and Arabic militias who were against it. In 1982, Israel launched to drive out PLO out of Lebanon and succeeded after six months. PLO was defeated and went to exile in Tunisia until 1990. In 1985, Israel attached PLO’s headquarters in Tunis, killing about 60. From 1982 to 1991 was the hardest part for PLO since it was in exile. During this period, there was the formation of a Palestinian Authority, which comprised some of the original factions of PLO. In 1988 Jordan pulled out of the west bank. This was the turning point in the formation of the Palestinian state. PLO supported a conflict resolution by declaring the legitimacy of Israel’s occupation in the pre-1967 territories. The condition for adopting a peace resolution was for Palestinians to be allowed to form an independent state in Gaza Strip and the west bank.
In 1993, PLO entered into a treaty with Israel, allowing it to set up a government in West Bank and Gaza Strip. The change of stand from PLO on Israel put a lot of weight on the transformation of terrorism. The government would be under Palestinian Authority. In 1995 the famous Oslo agreement was concluded. Yasser Arafat was appointed to be the leader. He later assumed the presidency after elections in 1996. PLO had been successful in its mission. In the same year, PLO chatter was ratified with the majority of the Palestinian National Council in agreement to the change. There was fierce fighting between 2000 and 2004 after the negotiation collapsed between Israel and Palestinians.
Objectives of terrorist application of violence are: morale-building within the terrorist group, advertising the presence of a terrorist group in a region, triggering a response from the targeted group, instilling fear, and refraining their targets from doing certain things.