Summary
The Palestinian guerrilla organization led by Yasir Arafat, organized by the early 1960s on a theory of armed struggle to liberate Palestine and political self-reliance, which within four years of the PLO’s creation had taken over its leadership and transformed it into an umbrella organization for several Palestinian groups (Perceptions of Palestine, lines 1222-1226, 1228-1300).
Details
- As a university student in Cairo in the early 1950s, Arafat had begun with fellow students to shape the Palestinian Students’ Union into a political organization based on the philosophy that Palestinians should rely on their own resources and focus exclusively on Palestine; this group eventually became Fatah’s leadership (Perceptions of Palestine, lines 1228-1246).
- Fatah remained the largest fedayeen group after 1967, conducting cross-border operations against Israel from bases in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan (Perceptions of Palestine, lines 1344-1358).
- Its fighters’ strong resistance to an Israeli attack on a guerrilla base at Karameh in March 1968 instilled pride in the Palestinians, and thousands of new recruits signed up to join Palestinian guerrilla organizations after the battle (Perceptions of Palestine, lines 1248-1300).
- In November 1973 Arafat agreed, through his emissary to General Vernon Walters, to halt terrorist attacks by Fatah on U.S. and other Western targets (Perceptions of Palestine, lines 1468-1484).
Related pages
Perceptions of Palestine, Yasir Arafat, Palestine Liberation Organization, Karameh