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PALESTINIAN REFUGEES,
displaced from traditional homes, live in camps (such as the one at left) in the /sraeli-occupied
territories and in neighboring Arab countries. At right: a Palestinian youth practices assembling a rifle ata PLO training camp in
Syria. PLO officia/s work with refugees, distributing food and medicine and giving military training to youths.
skyjackings and other acts of interna–
tional ter ror , the PLO has become a
bit more "respectable" in recent
years. lnternational recognition has
reduced the need for headline-grab–
bing violence. Most Pal'estinians, of
course, have never participated in
acts of terrorism.
Even the Palestinian guerrillas
themselves- in Arabic , the
fe–
dayeen-resent
their characteriza–
tion as "terrorists," viewing them–
selves instead as "patriots" and
"freedom figh.ters" in their "mass
struggle for liberation." They point
to Israelí Prime Minister Begin's ca–
reer as leader of the underground
guerrilla .organization
Jrgun
in the
anti-British days-an organization
which committed acts of terrorism
and assassination against the British,
whom it regarded as illegal occu–
piers. Palestinians often cite the
April 1948 lrgun attack on Deir Yas–
sin, near Jerusalem, in which 254
defenseless Arabs- including many
women and children- were mur–
dered. Criticism of the PLO, Pa les–
tinians assert, is hypocritical in the
absence of equal censure of Begin
The
PLAIN TRUTH October
1
November 1979
and of current Israelí actions, such as
Israel's raids on civilian targets in
southern Lebanon.
Headquartered in Bei rut, the PLO
is an "umbrella" organization en–
compassing many diverse Palestinian
groups. The largest, best armed and
best organized of the guerrilla groups
is
Al Fatah
(Conquest), a force of
sorne 20,000 headed by Arafat. An–
other major fact ion, to the left of
Fatah, is the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a
Marxist group headed by Dr. George
Habash which has been responsible
for sorne of the most notorious Pales–
tinian terror acts.
The PLO is plagued by serious in–
terna! divisions. The infighting-of–
ten violent-among radical guerrilla
hardliners, moderates and "doves" is
the result of differences in approach
to the question of how to deal with
lsrael-from coexistence to the total
annihilation of the Jewish state.
The PLO receives major financia!
support from Saudi Arabia and other
oil states. Other strong allies include
Syria, lraq and Algeria. Palestinian
groups ha ve a lso been dra w-
ing closer to Libya of late. Libya is
said to have pledged to eventually
supply ground-to-air missiles and
other sophisticated weapons to the
Palestinians at the recent Palestin–
ian-Libyan conference in Trípoli.
A de facto truce currently exists
between the PLO and King Hussein
of Jordan, whose Bedouin troops
killed sorne 5,000 Palestinian guerril–
las during the 1970-71 Jordanian civ–
il war and expelled thousands more.
Hussein now recognizes the PLO's
leadership role, but still envisions the
possibility of sorne sort of eventual
federal union between Jordan and a
Palestinian state.
Striking a Bargain
In theory, the stated long-range goal
of the PLO is to reconstitute Pales–
tine as an "independent, secular,
democratic nation " of Moslems,
Jews and Christians coexisting to–
gether-a nation which would re–
place the present State of Israel.
On a practica! leve!, however, the
PLO "mainstream" has shelved its
hard-line talk of "total liberation of
(Continued on page 38)
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