This Day in History: 28 May 2020
28 May 1964
56 years ago, today, the Palestine Liberation Organisation was founded during a summit in Cairo, Egypt. This was a broad national front that comprised of organisations of the Palestine resistance movement, political parties, and independent personalities. Since their legitimacy was recognised, the PLO has represented Palestine at the United Nations, and many other conferences. The organisation has also dealt with many other tasks striving to aid the Palestinians, through the establishment of institutions of health, education and social services. Ultimately, the PLO's main goal was to achieve the national goals of all Palestinians, including the independence of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.
In February 1969, Yasir Arafat was elected as the PLO's leader. Before addressing the UN, he had already made significant advances for the organisation's reputation. However, gaining this legitimacy depended on easing terrorism, which Arafat found increasingly difficult, due to the moderate and extremist groups of Palestinian politics. In 1974, the Arab Summit and the United Nations officially recognised the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinians. Despite this, they were viewed by the United States and Israel to be a terrorist organisation until the Madrid Conference in 1991. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process was furthered in 1993, when the PLO recognised Israel's right to exist in peace, and Israel subsequently recognised them back as the representative of the Palestinians. Nevertheless, in 2018, the Palestinian Central Council suspended this recognition of Israel, and halted security and economic aid.
Want to find out more about the history of the PLO? Click here for more information, or here for more on why the PLO suspended their recognition of Israel.
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