Lecture 12Outline -- The PLO and Palestinian Resistance to 1977I. The Big PictureII. The Movement to 1967III. Fatah Remakes the PLOIV. Ideological ShiftsV. PLO Success: West Bank and GazaVI. PLO Success: Jordan and LebanonVII. PLO Success: InternationalVIII. ConclusionI. The Big PictureLabor’s government offered to return land but no one took him up on that offer. By mid-1970’s two new developments destroyed Labor’s hopes.PLO displaced conservation elites and Jordanian monarchy; they promised to destroy Israel.Right-wing party replaced Labor. Likud Party planned to keep Gaza, West Bank, and Golan.Lukid and PLO fought one another. But after long, they finally convinced each other that they need to scale down and work with peace negotiations.-We will sketch the rise and fall of maximalist approach.II. Overview: Palestinian Nationalism RevivesUntil Arab revolt, conflict was between Yishuv and Arabs both in Palestine. Palestinian economy collapsed with this and other defeats. Also, the weak-Palestinian identity looked like it was going to disappear completely. With the 6-Day war, a new wave came in and strong organizations were able to be established. Fatah movement- Yasser Arafat (leader) were able to create a powerful movement that operated separate from the Palestinian states themselves. They redefined the struggle; Palestinians were not charity, they were a nation that deserved basic rights. PLO was able to take the center stage. They also destroyed the possibility of land compromise.III. Fatah Remakes the PLO1964-Arab league created PLO to be the spokesman for the Palestinian people. Nasser wouldn’t let the PLO do much, they were passive and ineffective. Some guerilla groups began to attack on their own, Fatah was one of them. At first they didn’t get many notable victories. Nasser said, pan-Arab unity must precede the Liberation of Palestine and that Egypt must take the lead. But after 6-Day war in 1967, things changed. This opened the opportunity for new initiative. The PLO said liberation of Palestine must precede Arab unity, and depended on Palestinians not the Arab states.Fatah built a financial base. Fatah used funds to develop network between refugee camps, schools, unions, health care, etc. It stepped up armed attacks against Israel. Karameh—Fatah had a heroic victory here. Many people flocked to join Fatah. Fatah took control of the PLO, and put Arafat as chairman.Became the most powerful organization in Palestinian history. He made the PLO a confederation of several autonomous parties. PFLP & PDFLP—Marxist group apart of PLO.IV. Ideological ShiftsPalestinian problem: political. Palestinians had to regain their own national territory. Palestine needed to revolutionize itself before it took care of Israel.Secularism promised to create more confident men/women, promise to emphasize science.Promised to bridge the divide between Christian and Muslim Palestinians, promote unity.Palestinians believed that Secularism would give them an ideological advantage over Zionism.Palestinians thought Zionism was a racist movement. The PLO wanted to emphasize equality. Israeli Jews were one of the most racially diverse populations in the world, so they thought the claim from the PLO that Zionism was racist was absurd. The PLO promises to treat them with respect but this contradicts the one of their rules; the only Jews that can stay in Palestine are ones that lived there from before 1917.The new PLO outlook inspired a new identity and outlook. This was symbolized by the fedayeen ("self-sacrificers"), who gave their lives for the liberation of Palestinians.V. PLO Success: West Bank and GazaNotables began to yield to leaders in PLO. They were younger, better educated, more militant, and more committed to a Palestinian identity (rather than Jordanian).After 1967 people felt that something NEW needed to be done.PLO created network of new organizations, now had a social base which it had lacked previously.New job opportunities in Israel. Could become more economically independent.VI. PLO Success: Jordan and LebanonWanted to develop military bases beyond Israeli control. After 6 day war, Jordan became the chief base for attack on Israel. Geographically, Jordan had greater access to Israel. Jordan appealed to PLO because most of their population was of Palestinian origin. The Hashemite regime were not sympathetic to many Arabs so many guerilla groups and Fatah appealed to the PLO. They wanted to displace the Hashemites and make Jordan a Palestinian state.1970 Black September – 10 months of fighting in Jordan. King Hussein killed more Palestinians than Jews did in 100 years, released veteran army to attack Palestinians. By 1971, they had been ejected from Jordan and their military was crushed. Once they were evicted from Jordan, they moved to Lebanon. By mid-1970’s PLO was stronger than ever before. Why did they choose Lebanon:Lebanese government was too weak to destroy the PLOLebanon was the only country adjacent to Israel that was open to Palestinians, given that Jordan was now closed.Large population of PalestiniansFatahland: in southern Lebanon, semi-independent zone. The PLO attacked Israel almost once a day, these were terrorist attacks against civilians.Israelis induced Lebanese Christians (least sympathetic to Palestinians) to crack down on the PLO, but they had little success—other Arabs governments, PLO, and Lebanese Muslims all wanted PLO to succeed.PLO became a state within a state: own courts, police, foreign policy, etc. PLO helped push (unemotionally) Lebanon to a civil war, 1975.Jordan: government destroyed PLO. Lebanon: PLO destroyed government. When the civil war broke out, the PLO allied itself with anti-Christians and expanded its authorities, especially in Fatahland.All in all, the mid-1970’s say a large increase in PLO control.VII. PLO Success: InternationalPLO campaign began in Arab circles and spread to international arenas. In 1973: an Arab summit, they were recognized as the spokesperson for Arab peoples.1974: Another conference did the same and encouraged Asian and African states to cut ties with Israel.1975: general assemble of UN passed the 3379 resolution: condemned Zionism as a form of racism.1977: voted out Labor party. Israel was shocked at resolution 3379, especially since UN originally supported Israel. On top of this, they couldn't understand how Israel was being condemned but Arab states that did they same thing weren’t being called