Page 2 Portland Observer, June 17,1982
PLO: A Jewish point of point of view
Editor's note: This article wss
provided as a response to the ar
ticle on the PLO that appeared in
the June 10, 1982 Observer.
Submitted by Laurie Rogoway
Portland Director,
American Jewish Committee
Any discussion o f the Palestinian
L ib eratio n O rg an izatio n must in
clude a discussion o f the history
which u ltim ately led to its fo rm a
tion. International power struggles
have dom inated the region known
as Palestine since Biblical times. The
contem porary c o n flict in the area
has its origin in the break-up o f the
Ottoman Empire during World War
I and the d ivision o f the area be
tween Britain and France.
The o b jective o f the m andate
awarded to Britain by the League o f
Nations was made clear in the 1917
Balfour Declaration:
His M ajesty’s Government views
with favour the establishment in
Palestine o f a national home for
the Jewish people and w ill use
their best endeavours to facilitate
the achievement o f this object. . .
M iddle East; its desires can only be
achieved with the destruction o f the
Jewish homeland. The P L O is a ter-
orist organization created in M ay o f
1964 by the A ra b League w ith a
single a im — the elim ination o f the
State o f Israel through the use o f vi
olence and force.
It is most im p o rta n t to un d er
stand that the P L O was bro u g ht
into being before there were any so-
called “ occupied territo ries ,” and
was constituted as an umbrella o r
g an iza tio n fo r existing terro rist
groups which had been active fo r
ten years prior to its form al estab
lishment. The question must, there
fore, be asked: what territory was
the P L O attempting to “ liberate” in
the years before Israel came to ad
minister the territories presently un
der its control?
A t its creation in M a y 1964, the
P L O adopted the “ Palestine N a
tional Covenant,” which is its basic
charter and accepted by all its fac
tions. Its main theme is that only the
Arabs are entitled to self-determina
tion, and that the State o f Israel has
no right whatever to exist, as clearly
expressed in the following excerpts:
In the preamble to the Mandatory
A rticle IS: The liberation o f Pal
A greem ent o f July 24, 1922, the
estine. . .aims at the elim ination
League o f N atio n s C o un cil en
o f Zionism ___
dorsed the Balfour Declaration and
A rticle 21: The Arab Palestinian
noted that recognition had been giv
p e o p le .. .re je c t a ll solutions
en thereby “ to the historical con
which are substitutes for the total
nection o f the Jewish people w ith
liberation o f Palestine___
Palestine and to the grounds for re
Despite the repeated expectations
constituting their national home in
that the P L O w ould m o d ify its
that country.” The M andatory A d
“ C o v e n a n t,” this has never been
m inistration was called upon to fa
done. On the contrary, it has been
cilitate Jewish immigration and land
reaffirm ed at every meeting o f the
settlem ent, and to w ork w ith the
Palestine N ational Council, as well
Z io n is t O rg a n iza tio n to e lic it the
as by the spokesmen for the indivi
support o f Jews around the world
dual factions.
for the Jewish national home.
A t its m eeting in Damascus in
The B ritish g ra d u a lly w h ittled
M a y , 1980, Yassir A r a fa t’s A1 Fa
down their commitment to Jews un
tah, the largest and most influential
der the Balfour Declaration. Thus,
constituent
faction o f the P L O , re
when the ‘ ‘ Palestinian question”
a
ffirm
e
d
the
“ C o v e n a n t” and its
was placed by B ritain on the U .N .
"aim
to
liberate
Palestine complete
agenda in M ay, 1947, the discussion
ly
and
to
liquidate
the Zionist entity
was limited to the disposition o f the
politically, economically, militarily,
te rrito ry on the West Bank o f the
culturally and ideologically.”
Jordan River. A U .N . Special Com
M ore recently, Farouk Kadoumi,
m ittee on Palestine (U N S C O P ),
head
o f the “ Political Department”
composed o f neutral states with no
o
f
the
P L O , stated unambiguously
vested interest in the region, even
(R
eu
ters,
B e iru t, A p r il 9 , 1981)
tually recommended the termination
th a t, “ W e C an never a llo w any
o f the British Mandate and the par
party to interfere in our affairs, es
tition o f Palestine into two indepen
pecially in two m ajo r matters: our
dent states, linked by an economic
non-recognition
o f Israel and our
union and with free access by both
refusal
to
amend
our
National Cov
to an international enclave contain
enant
in
any
w
a
y
___
W e have said
ing Jerusalem and Bethlehem. On
over and over again that we refuse
N o vem b er 29, 1947, a tw o -th ird s
to recognize Israel. This is an un
m a jo rity o f the U .N . G eneral A s
changeable, permanent policy.”
sembly approved the p a rtitio n
George Habash, leader o f another
proposal.
constituent
faction o f the P L O , has
This broad international consen
also
warned
grim ly that his organi
sus included the United States and
zation "w ill not abandon its strateg
the democracies o f the W estern
ic goal— the destruction o f Israel.”
European c o n tin en t, the Soviet
Habash is all in favor o f a national
U n io n and the Eastern European
authority
in Judea and Samaria (the
bloc, Latin America, Australia and
West
B
ank)
and G a z a , provided
New Zealand.
that
this
is
not
"seen as an alterna
H o w ev er, even such a lim ited
tive
to
the
strategic
g o a l.” ( A l H a -
plan failed to gain acceptance by the
da
f
,
Beirut,
A
pril
20,
1980).
Arab states. Instead, at the moment
The P L O is the "um brella organiza
o f Israel’s birth on M a y 15, 1948,
tio n ” fo r a num ber o f terro rist
they launched a war against the new
groups
created by A ra b govern
state, a war which they expected to
ments
and
individuals and financed
win with ease. In spite o f this, in a
mainly
by
the
Arab states, primarily
battle against overwhelm ing odds,
Saudi
A
ra
b
ia
. A ll the constituent
Israel emerged victorious. Conse
factions are united on two basic is
quently, the Palestinian state envi
sues: they share a com mon goal—
sioned under the U .N . P a rtitio n
the
destruction o f the State o f Is
Plan was stillborn.
rael,
and employ the same methods
The Palestinian A ra b refugees
— the use o f indiscriminate violence
emerged as a tragic consequence o f
against defenseless civilians.
that war. The problem intensified as
The list o f terrorist attacks perpe
a result o f the wars o f 1955, 1967,
tuated against Israel and against Is
and 1973, a ll started by A ra b na
raeli citizens in other countries is
tions determ ined to e lim in a te the
long.
It includes grenades thrown at
State o f Is rael. Since 1948 the
Israeli
embassies in H o lla n d , G e r
United Nations and responsible in
many,
and
Guatemala; letter bombs
d ivid u al countries like the U n ited
sent
to
Israeli
government represen
States have struggled to find a solu
tatives in London, P aris, N igeria,
tion to the refugee problem. Numer
C h ile and B o liv ia (to name ju st a
ous proposals have been rejected by
few ). It includes attacks w ith in Is
the A ra b states, which have been
rael
on school children, on bus loads
u n w illin g to accept any solution
o
f
civilians,
on synagogues, in pub
which takes in to account Is ra e l’ s
lic
squares
and
private homes. In re
right to exist.
cent
years,
those
attacks have often
The situation o f the Palestinian
originated from Lebanon, a country
Arab refugees became unique in the
which has been overrun by the P L O
annals o f p o s t-W o rld W a r I I
and its Syrian a llie s. P L O camps
refugee m ig ra tio n . M o re than 40
and training bases w ith in Lebanon
m illio n persons w o rld w id e were
have provided a base which has a l
made homeless a fter 1945, but as
lowed the P L O to launch a reign o f
pointed out by the United Nations,
terror
against Israeli kibbutzim , vil
most o f them "uprooted themselves
lages and cities using m obile
and broke w ith th e ir past to seek
Katyusha rockets and long range ar
a new life in new surroundings and
tillery.
in a new country.” O nly the Pales
On July 24, 1981, Special Ambas
tinian refugees persisted in seeking a
sador
Philip H abib negotiated a ces
solution which, according to their
sation
o f hostilities agreement be
definition, would necessitate the de
tween Israel and the P L O . H o w
struction o f another people.
ever, the P LO has used the interven
The creation o f the Palestinian
ing period o f tim e to b u ild up its
Liberation Organization has intensi
military
arsenal and to intensify the
fied the Palestinians’ nationalistic
m
ilita
ry
tra in in g p ro vid ed by the
aspirations and complicated the res
Soviet
U
n
io n . Recent m ilita ry ac-
toration o f peace and stability to the
quisitions by the P L O include mod
ern weapons o f types not previously
supplied to the P L O , such as S A M -9
anti-aircraft missiles. The P L O has
also acquired large numbers o f
heavy m ilita ry cannon and rocket
launchers, 130mm cannon w ith a
range o f over 17 miles, and BM-21
rocket launchers capable o f firin g
rapid salvos o f up to 40 Katyusha
rockets at targets o f over 13 miles
distant as well as sophisticated elec
tronic accessories. These new acqui
sitions have g reatly enhanced the
P L O ’s a b ility to strike at c ivilian
concentrations w ithin the territory
o f Is rae l— fro m more distant and
"safer” locations within Lebanon.
M a jo r training installations a t
tended by P L O terrorists in the So
viet U n io n are located in the M os
cow suburbs and Baku, Tashkent,
Odessa and Sim feropol in the C r i
mea. Similar camps exist in Czecho-
slovakia, B ulgaria, H ungary, East
Germany and Yugoslavia.
The training includes command
and staff courses, as well as a variety
o f professional courses— .«uch as
communications, electronics, engin
eering, artillery, maintenance and,
even pilot training. Since 1974, at
least 1,000 terrorists have received
training in m ilita ry camps and se
cu rity service in stallation s in the
USSR and other Eastern-bloc coun
tries, including Cuba.
Thus, the P L O has succeeded at
one and the same time in being a ter
rorist organization in the classical
sense and in developing an expertly
trained military arm with tanks and
artillery in another. Rather than the
underdog too often depicted, it is a
well-trained and extremely w e ll-fi
nanced organization with one p ur
pose: it is dedicated entirely to the
destruction o f the State o f Israel.
Monachini Begin
FATHER'S DAY JUNE 20
W in your dad a trip to th e
1 9 8 3 S u p e r Bowl!
Includes Portland/L.A.
roundtrip airfare, 3 nights
at the L.A. Hilton,
chance to meet pro football
celebrities, more. Register in
Men’s Sportswear, all stores
through June 20.
that's my dad.,.
in Members Only
a
outgoing jacket with a lot of continental style
—in every newsmaking color of the season
Europecraft jacket for the man who appreciates such
touches as epaulet shoulders, zippered pockets, a
throat-latched collar. Black, grey, burgundy, teal, tan,
white, peach, 50.00, not all colors in all stores. 38 to 46,
Men’s Outerwear, all stores
£
meierirfrank men's store
\
I