--By entering the
PLO, Hamas secured a political cover to enable it to re-position itself politically and geographically.
The statement also clarified that the decision to suspend participation in the executive committee "does not mean engagement in parallel or alternative bodies to the
PLO." The head of the PFLP abroad, Maher al-Taher, said that the decision came after a vote by members in Palestine, abroad and in "Zionist prisons".
Eoe1/4EoThe president has decided to stay in his post,Eoe1/4A[yen] Tawfiq Al Tirawi, a
PLO Central Council member, said.
"The president has decided to stay in his post," Tawfiq al-Tirawi, a
PLO Central Council member, told Reuters.
However, the political gains of the
PLO of those years were made irrelevant, and were later used exclusively for personal gains, starting in 1974, passing through Oslo, the subsequent aepeace processAE, and finally reaching todayAEs dead-end.
But he added: "We are in favour of preserving the structure of the
PLO, but not its programme.
Holding on to the
PLO constitutes a priority as much as the rebuilding of the Strip, the provision of homes, schools, hospitals, and other living conditions.
Some of us present at that meeting were quite upset when we learned that Carter had just finished a press conference at which he said that the
PLO had excluded itself from the peace process because it had not accepted UNSC Resolution 242.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (
PLO) was formally established in 1964, and Fatah joined it in 1968, immediately becoming its dominant organization.
He helped found Al Fatah, an underground guerrilla network, which eventually became the largest group in the
PLO. Year after year, the
PLO launched bloody attacks against Israel, and Arafat gained a reputation as a ruthless terrorist.
The peace process between Israel and the
PLO, formalised in 1993, represented a climax of many years of confrontation and hostility.
This even though the current Israeli administration has promised it will do everything to try to reach a deal with both Syria and the
PLO by this summer.
For almost two decades, the
PLO has made known its willingness to negotiate with Israel for peace.
Barry Rubin defines his goal as providing "an analytical political history of the
PLO, investigating and interpreting its political circumstances, strategies, and doctrines" (xiii).
