At the invitation of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, during the first Arab Summit in 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization was established to express the will of the people of Palestine and to have a body that demands their rights and self-determination. Since its establishment, it has undertaken the task of speaking on behalf of the Palestinian people in international forums, and includes a large group of Palestinian movements and parties under its banner.
Arab Summit Conference
During its session in 1964, the Arab Summit Conference commissioned the representative of Palestine, Ahmed Al-Shugairi, to contact the Palestinians and write a report on the possibility of establishing the organization, and to submit a report thereon to the Arab Summit Conference. Al-Shugairi organized a tour during which he visited Arab countries and contacted the Palestinians there. During his tour, drafts of the National Charter and the statute of the Palestine Liberation Organization were drawn up, and it was decided to hold a general Palestinian conference.
Lists of names
The preparatory committees for the conference were chosen, which in turn developed lists of names of candidates for membership in the First Palestinian Conference, which was held in Jerusalem between March 28 and June 2, 1964 and was opened by King Hussein bin Talal. The conference was known as the First Palestinian National Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization. This conference elected Ahmed Al-Shugairi as its president, announced the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization, ratified the National Charter and the statute of the organization, and elected Al-Shugairi as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the organization. The conference assigned Al-Shugairi to choose the fifteen members of the Permanent Committee. The conference also decided to prepare the Palestinian people militarily and establish the Palestinian National Fund.
Text of the committee’s establishment
The conference came out with the following text: “In belief in the right of the Palestinian Arab people to their sacred homeland, Palestine, and in confirmation of the inevitability of the battle to liberate the usurped part of it, and its determination and insistence on highlighting its effective revolutionary entity and mobilizing its energies, capabilities, and material, military, and spiritual forces, and in fulfillment of an authentic wish of the Arab nation represented in the decisions of the League of Arab States and the First Arab Summit Conference. We announce, after relying on God, in the name of the First Palestinian Arab Conference held in the city of Jerusalem in May 28, 1964. The establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization as a mobilizing leadership for the forces of the Palestinian Arab people to fight the battle of liberation, a shield for the rights and aspirations of the people of Palestine, and a path to victory. Approval of the National Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization, numbering 29 articles. Approval of the Statute, numbering 31 articles, and the internal regulations of the National Council and the Palestinian National Fund. Electing Mr. Ahmed Al-Shugairi as Chairman of the Executive Committee and assigning him to select the members of the Executive Committee, numbering 15 Member. The conference, with all its 397 members, becomes the “First National Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization.”
Organization departments
Immediately upon its announcement, the organization included 12 sub-departments, each within its own jurisdiction, and included (the Political Department, the Military Department, the Palestinian National Fund Department, the Department of Affairs of the Occupied Homeland, the Department of Education and Higher Education, the Department of National Relations, the Department of Information and Culture, the Department of Popular Organization, the Department of Social Affairs, the Department of Administrative Affairs, the Department of Negotiations Affairs, and the Department of Refugee Affairs). The PLO also includes many organized factions, namely (the Palestine Liberation Movement – Fatah, the Palestinian Arab Front, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Thunderbolt Organization, the Palestinian Communist Party – Revolutionary, the Arab Liberation Front, the Palestine Liberation Front, the Popular Struggle Front, the Palestinian Democratic Union Party – Fida, the Palestinian People’s Party – formerly the Palestinian Communist Party). It should be noted that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Islamic Jihad Movement are not factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command withdrew its membership.
