The growing political and military strength of the Palestinians was seen as a threat by King Hussein of Jordan, who had acted as their representative and spokesman. Tension mounted between the King and the Palestinians eventually reaching explosive proportions. In September 1970, after much bloody fighting, the PLO was expelled from Jordan to set up its headquarters in Beirut.
This new exile reduced the possibility of armed attacks on targets inside Israel, and new radical groups such as �Black September� directed their efforts towards Israeli institutions and businesses in Europe and other parts of the world. Palestinians, until then regarded by world opinion purely as refugees, quickly came to be identified by some as terrorists.
PLO leaders promptly realized the need to change their tactics and, without abandoning armed struggle, launched a large-scale diplomatic offensive, starting to devote much of their energy to consolidating Palestinian unity and identity. The Algiers Conference of Non-Aligned Countries (1973) identified the Palestine problem, and not Arab-Israeli rivalry, as the key to the conflict in the Middle East for the first time.
In 1974, an Arab League summit conference recognized the PLO as �the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people�. In October of the same year the PLO was granted observer status in the UN General Assembly, which recognized the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and independence, and condemned Zionism as �a form of racism�.
The PLO program aimed to set up �a secular and independent state in the whole of the Palestinian territory, where Muslims, Christians and Jews can live in peace, enjoying the same rights and duties�. This necessarily implied the end of the present state of Israel. Without giving up this ultimate goal, the PLO has gradually come to accept the �temporary solution� of setting up an independent Palestinian state �in any part of the territory that might be liberated by force of arms, or from which Israel may withdraw�.
In 1980, the Likud prime minister, Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat signed a peace accord at Camp David, with US mediation. Shortly afterwards, Begin began officially to annex the Arab part of Jerusalem, proclaiming it the �sole and indivisible capital� of Israel. Jewish settlements on the West Bank multiplied, using Palestinian lands and increasing tension in the occupied territories. Successive United Nations votes against these measures, or for any action against Israel, were stripped of any practical value by the US using its veto in the Security Council.
In July 1982, in an attempted �final settlement� of the Palestine issue, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon. The intention, as it later became clear, was to destroy the PLO�s military structure, capture the greatest possible number of its leaders and combatants, annex the southern part of Lebanon and set up a puppet government in Beirut. Surrounded in Beirut, the Palestinian forces only agreed to withdraw after receiving guarantees of protection for civilians under a French-Italian-North American international peace-keeping force.
The massacres that took place at the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila showed the ineffectiveness of international protection, but the PLO managed to transform what seemed a final defeat into a political and diplomatic victory. The headquarters of the organization were moved to Tunis and Yasser Arafat toured Europe receiving the honors due a head of state in various countries, most notably in the Vatican.
The PLO quietly initiated talks with Israeli leaders receptive to a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians. With the invasion of Lebanon, small but active peace groups emerged in Israel, demanding the initiation of a dialogue with the PLO. Palestinian radicals questioned these overtures, breaking with Yasser Arafat�s policies. This division of the PLO put its factions at odds with each other, sometimes causing violent confrontations.
In 1987, after several years of internal difficulties, the Palestine National Council met in Algiers with representatives from all Palestinian organizations, except those groups that favored direct action, and the internal structure of the PLO was rebuilt.
The official answer to the Arab protests was to increase the repression. But unlike what had happened on other occasions, this time the military intervention only managed to increase the number of women, elderly people and children taking part in the demonstrations. The more civilian casualties there were, the greater the hatred grew and the more demonstrations, strikes, and closures occurred. Funerals transformed into acts of open political defiance. This marked the beginning of the intifada or rebellion.
During the first few months of 1988 many Palestinians with Israeli citizenship participated in the strikes called by the so-called �United Leadership of the Popular Uprising in the Occupied Territories�. This was the first instance of their joint political expression with Palestinians of the occupied territories.
In July 1988, King Hussein of Jordan announced that all economic and political links were being broken with the inhabitants of the West Bank. From that moment on, the PLO assumed sole responsibility for the territory�s people.
At a meeting in Algeria on November 15 1988, the Palestine National Council proclaimed an independent Palestinian state in the occupied territories, citing Jerusalem as its capital. It also approved UN resolutions 181 and 242, which in effect meant accepting Israel�s right to exist. Within the next 10 days, 54 countries around the world recognized the new state.
Arafat, elected president, was received in Geneva by the UN General Assembly, which had called a special session in order to hear him. The Palestinian leader repudiated terrorism, accepted the existence of Israel and asked that international forces be sent to the occupied territories. As a result of his speech, US president Ronald Reagan decided to initiate talks with the PLO.
When tensions began between Iraq and Kuwait in the second half of 1990, Arafat tried unsuccessfully to start negotiations between the countries. After the invasion, the Palestinian position seemed to strengthen when a parallel could be drawn between Kuwait and Palestine: if Iraq could be forced to submit to UN resolutions, then so could Israel.
