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1976

1976

1976 (MCMLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-February


- January 12 - UN Security Council votes 11-1 to admit the Palestinian Liberation Organization
- January 15 - Would-be Gerald Ford presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life in prison
- January 16 - Trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction begins in Stuttgart, West Germany
- January 18 - The Scottish Labour Party is formed
- January 21 - The first commercial Concorde flight takes off.
- January 25 - 12 PIRA bombs explode in London's East End
- January 27 - The trial of SLA member Patty Hearst begins. She is found guilty of robbery on March 20
- February 4 - In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
- February 4 - 1976 Winter Olympics open in Innsbruck, Austria
- February 11 - Clifford Alexander Jr is confirmed as 1st African-American Secretary of US Army.
- February 20 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands
- February 24 - Cuba's current constitution enacted.
- February 27 - Western Sahara declares independence
- February 28 - Spain gives up territories in Sahara but retains its enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta

March


- March 1 - Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland
- March 3 - Fleetwood Mac records Rumours, which will be a blockbuster album in 1977
- March 9-March 11 - Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine, Letcher County, Ky
- March 17 - Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is retried
- March 18 - Harold Wilson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- March 19 - Actor Nicholas Downs born in Des Moines, Iowa at 6:45am
- March 20 - Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank
- March 24 - Argentina military forces depose president Isabel Peron
- March 27 - The first 4.6 miles of the Washington, DC subway system opens
- March 29 - Military junta of general Jorge Videla comes to power in Argentina
- March 31 - New Jersey Supreme Court rules that coma patient Karen Ann Quinlan could be disconnected from her respirator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985

April-May


- April 1 - Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
- April 4 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest
- April 5 - Jim Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- April 5 - Large crowds lay wreaths at Beijing's Monument of the Martyrs in commemoration of the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. Poems against the Gang of Four are also displayed. This was followed by a police crackdown and became known as the Tiananmen Incident.
- April 13 - An explosion in an ammunition factory in Lapua, Finland kills 40
- April 16 - In India the minimum age for marriage is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women; it is to curb population growth
- April 21 - Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne. Bandits steal A$1.4 Million in bookmakers settlements in Queen Street, Melbourne
- April 23 - Powerful punk rock group The Ramones release their first album which starts a new form of music
- April 25 - Portugal's new constitution enacted
- May 4 - Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 revolutionizes world of wine.
- May 9 - Ulrike Meinhof of RAF is found hanging in an apparent suicide in her cell in Stuttgart-Stannheim prison
- May 11 - President Gerald Ford signs Federal Election Campaign Act.
- May 24 - Washington, DC Concorde service begins

June


- June 1 - UK and Iceland end the Cod War
- June 5 - Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the U.S., killing 11 people.
- June 14 - the trial begins at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther.
- June 16 - Soweto riots in South Africa mark the beginning of the end of apartheid
- June 20 - Hundreds of Western tourists are moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the US military, following the murder of the US ambassador.
- June 20 - Czechoslovakia beat West Germany 5-3 on penalties to win Euro 76, after the game had ended 2-2 after extra time.
- June 27 - Palestinian extremists hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda, where Israeli commandos storms it on July 4
- Sismik incident starts when the Turkish survey ship Sismik entered Greek waters.

July


- July 2 - North Vietnam and South Vietnam united to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a Communist country
- July 3 - Supreme Court of the United States rules on Gregg v. Georgia and decides that death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment
- July 3 - The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.
- July 4 - United States Bicentennial
- July 4 - Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; one Israeli and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in raid.
- July 7 - German left-wing terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from Lehrterstrasse maximum security prison in West Berlin
- July 10 - Explosion in Seveso, Italy, kills a large number of people
- July 16-July 20 - Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Societe Generale Bank in Nice, France
- July 17 - The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Canada.
- July 17 - East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia
- July 19 - Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
- July 20 - Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars
- July 21 - A bomb kills Christopher Ewart, British ambassador to the Irish Republic
- July 27 - United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda
- July 28 - Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan,China, killing 242,769 people, and 164,851 people are heavily injured
- July 29 - In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag killing one and seriously wounding another in the first of a series of attacks that terrorized the city for the next year.
- July 30 - In Santiago, capital of Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil wins River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions.
- July 31 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1

August


- August 1 - the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic, replacing Queen Elizabeth II with an elected president as their Head of State.
- August 2 - A gunman murders Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr, and injures Priscilla Davis and Gus Gavrel in an incident at Priscilla's Mansion at Mockingbird Lane in Fort Worth, Texas. T. Cullen Davis, Priscilla's husband and one of the richest men in Texas, was tried and found innocent for Andrea's murder. He was later found innocent of a plot to kill several people, including Priscilla and a judge, and a wrongful death lawsuit. Cullen went broke afterwards
- August 4 - First outbreak of Legionnaire's disease kills 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia
- August 5 - Racing Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand prix; the Great Clock of Westminster (or Big Ben) suffers internal damage and stops running for over nine months
- August 6 - Former UK Postmaster General John Stonehouse is sentenced for seven years for fraud
- August 7 - Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars
- August 14 - 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland
- August 14 - The Senegalese political party PAI-Rénovation is legally recognized. PAI-Rénovation thus becomes the third legal party in the country.
- August 18 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Demilitarized Zone which had obscured their view
- August 24 - Uruguayan army captures Marcelo Gelman and his pregnant wife. Marcelo is later killed and his wife and child disappears

September-October


- September 3 - Viking program: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars takes the first close-up, color photos of the planet's surface
- September 6 - Cold War: Soviet air force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido in Japan and requests political asylum from the United States
- Military Junta in power in Argentina.
- September 17 - Space Shuttle Enterprise rolled out.
- September 21 - Seychelles joins the United Nations.
- September 21 - Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
- October - The Damned release New Rose - the first ever single released / marketed as "punk rock".
- October 6 - Cubana Flight 455 crashes due to a bomb placed by anti-Castrist militants, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4535661.stm]
- October 6 - Students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom are massacred by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.
- October 12 - The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to the late Mao Tse-tung as chairman of Communist Party of China
- October 19 - Copyright Act of 1976 extends copyright duration for an additional 20 years in the United States
- October 22 - Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, fifth President of Ireland, resigns after being publicly insulted by the Minister for Defence.
- October 25 - Full pardon given to Clarence Norris, last known survivor of the Scottsboro Boys.

November-December


- November 2 - U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbent Gerald Rudolph Ford to become first candidate from deep south to win since the Civil War.
- November 15 - First Megamouth Shark is discovered off Oahu in Hawaii
- November 26 - Little known company Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.
- December 1 - Angola joins the United Nations
- December 3 - Patrick Hillery is elected unopposed as the sixth President of Ireland.
- December 15 - Samoa joins the United Nations
- December 23 - New volcano, Murara, began erupting in eastern Zaire.

Unknown dates


- Christopher Maier, American murder victim born, died 1997
- First laser printer introduced by IBM - the IBM 3800
- Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, invented by Seymour Cray
- California's sodomy law repealed.
- The term memetics first proposed by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene.
- Toronto Blue Jays created
- CN Tower built in Toronto - The tallest free standing land structure.
- Diffie-Hellman cryptography proposed
- Plans to move the Nigerian capital from Lagos to Abuja are approved.
- Ebola is first discovered in Zaire
- Women For Sobriety established.

Births

January-March


- January 2 - Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- January 7 - Éric Gagné, Canadian Major League Baseball player
- January 7 - Alfonso Soriano, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- January 11 - Amanda Peet, American actress (born really 1972?)
- January 20 - Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
- January 21 - Emma Bunton, English musician (Spice Girls)
- January 28 - Mark Madsen, American basketball player
- January 31 - Buddy Rice, American race car driver
- February 2 - James Hickman, British swimmer
- February 4 - Cam'ron, Harlem, New York rapper
- February 9 - Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- February 10 - Lance Berkman, baseball player
- February 12 - Silvia Saint, Czech actress
- February 15 - Brandon Boyd, American musician (Incubus)
- February 20 - Ed Graham, British drummer (The Darkness)
- February 28 - Ja Rule, American rapper
- March 5 - Sarunas Jasikevicius, Lithuanian basketball player
- March 8 - Freddie Prinze Jr., American actor
- March 20 - Chester Bennington, American musician (Linkin Park)
- March 22 - Teun de Nooijer, Dutch field hockey player
- March 22 - Reese Witherspoon, American actress
- March 23 - Keri Russell, American actress
- March 24 - Aaron Brooks, American football player
- March 24 - Peyton Manning, American football player
- March 25 - Juvenile, American rapper
- March 26 - Amy Smart, American actress

April-June


- April 6 - Candace Cameron, American actress
- April 13 - Jonathan Brandis, American actor (d. 2003)
- April 18 - Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
- April 25 - Tim Duncan, West Indian basketball player
- April 25 - Rainer Schuettler, German tennis player
- May 3 - Beto, Portuguese footballer
- May 4 - Jason Michaels, baseball player
- May 15 - Tyler Walker, baseball player
- May 19 - Kevin Garnett, American basketball player
- May 20 - Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- May 25 - Miguel Tejada, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- May 31 - Colin Farrell, Irish actor
- June 8 - Lindsay Davenport, American tennis player
- June 10 - Freddy Garcia, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- June 13 - Jason 'J' Brown, English musician (5ive)
- June 23 - Brandon Stokley, American football player

July-September


- July 1 - Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer
- July 1 - Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer
- July 3 - Andrea Barber, American actress
- July 2 - Gabriel Mughadam, Bodybuilder
- July 4 - Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer
- July 8 - Ellen MacArthur, English yachtswoman
- July 9 - Shelton Benjamin, American professional wrestler
- July 9 - Fred Savage, American actor
- July 11 - Eduardo Najera, Mexican basketball player
- July 20 - Alex Yoong, Malaysian race car driver
- July 23 - Judit Polgar, Hungarian chess player
- July 31 - Annie Parisse, American actress
- August 6 - Melissa George, Australian actress
- August 9 - Jessica Capshaw, American actress
- August 9 - Rhona Mitra, English actress
- August 8 - JC Chasez, American singer
- August 12 - Antoine Walker, American basketball player
- August 14 - Alex Albrecht, American television personality
- August 15 - Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch football player
- August 27 - Carlos Moyà, Spanish tennis player
- August 27 - Mark Webber, Australian race car driver
- September 7 - Stevie Case (Killcreek), American video game celebrity
- September 7 - Shannon Elizabeth, American actress
- September 8 - Abi Titmuss, British TV presenter and model
- September 8 - Sjeng Schalken, Dutch tennis player
- September 10 - Gustavo Kuerten, Brazilian tennis player
- September 16 - Tina Barrett, English singer (S Club 7)
- September 22 - Ronaldo, Brazilian footballer
- September 25 - Chauncey Billups, American basketball player
- September 26 - Michael Ballack, German footballer
- September 29 - Andriy Shevchenko, Ukrainian footballer

October-December


- October 1 - Blu Cantrell, American rapper
- October 4 - Alicia Silverstone, American actress
- October 10 - Bob Burnquist, Brazilian skateboarder
- October 19 - Michael Young, baseball player
- October 23 - Ryan Reynolds, Canadian actor
- November 6 - Pat Tillman, American football player (d. 2004)
- November 7 - Mark Philippoussis, Australian tennis player
- November 19 - Jun Shibata, Japanese singer and songwriter
- November 24 - Chen Lu, Chinese figure skater
- November 29 - Anna Faris, American actress
- December 1 - Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (d. 1998)
- December 12 - Dan Hawkins, British guitarist (The Darkness)
- December 13 - Tom Delonge, American musician (Blink-182)
- December 15 - Baichung Bhutia, Indian footballer
- December 17 - Takeo Spikes, American football player
- December 18 - Koyuki, Japanese actress and model

Deaths

January-March


- January 8 - Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1898)
- January 10 - Howlin' Wolf, American musician (b. 1910)
- January 12 - Agatha Christie, English writer (b. 1890)
- January 23 - Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, writer, and activist (b. 1898)
- January 30 - Mance Lipscomb, American singer (b. 1895)
- February 1 - Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- February 1 - George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1878)
- February 2 - Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Bulgarian painter (b. 1903)
- February 6 - Vince Guaraldi, American musician (b. 1928)
- February 9 - Percy Faith, Canadian-born musician and composer (b. 1908)
- February 11 - Lee J Cobb, American actor (b. 1911)
- February 11 - Alexander Lippisch, German aerodynamicist (b. 1894)
- February 11 - Charlie Naughton, Scottish actor (b. 1886)
- February 12 - Sal Mineo, American actor (b. 1939)
- February 13 - Lily Pons, American soprano (b. 1898)
- February 20 - René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1887)
- February 22 - Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (b. 1943)
- March 6 - Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom, American boxer and actor (b. 1903)
- March 7 - Wright Patman, American politician (b. 1893)
- March 14 - Busby Berkeley, American choreographer and director (b. 1895)
- March 17 - Luchino Visconti, Italian theatre and film director (b. 1906)
- March 19 - Paul Kossoff, British guitarist (Free) (b. 1950)
- March 24 - Bernard Montgomery, British field marshal (b. 1897)

April-June


- April 1 - Max Ernst, German artist (b. 1891)
- April 5 - Howard Hughes, American aviation pioneer, film director, and eccentric (b. 1905)
- April 9 - Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer, pianist, one of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1903)
- April 18 - Henrik Dam, Dutch biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
- April 26 - Sid James, South African actor (b. 1913)
- May 9 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
- May 9 - Ulrike Meinhof, German terrorist (b. 1934)
- May 11 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (b. 1898)
- May 14 - Keith Relf, British musician (The Yardbirds) (b. 1943)
- May 26 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (b. 1889)
- May 27 - Hilde Hildebrand, German actress, (b. 1897)
- May 31 - Jacques Monod, French biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1910)
- June 10 - Adolph Zukor, Hungarian-born film producer (b. 1893)
- June 15 - Jimmy Dykes, baseball player and manager (b. 1896)
- June 25 - Johnny Mercer, American songwriter (b. 1909)
- June 30 - Firpo Marberry, baseball player (b. 1898)

July-September


- July 1 - Zhang Mintian, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1900)
- July 4 - Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and writer (b. 1895)
- July 13 - Joachim Peiper, German military leader (b. 1915)
- August 6 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (b. 1903)
- August 22 - Juscelino Kubitschek, President of Brazil (b. 1902)
- August 25 - Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
- August 26 - Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
- August 27 - Mukesh, Indian singer (b. 1923)
- September 2 - Stanisław Grochowiak, Polish writer (b. 1934)
- September 9 - Mao Zedong, Chinese leader (b. 1893)
- September 26 - Lavoslav Ružička, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)

October-December


- October 5 - Lars Onsager, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- October 11 - Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author (b. 1897)
- November 12 - Walter Piston, American composer (b. 1894)
- December 2 - Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
- December 4 - Benjamin Britten, English composer (b. 1913)
- December 6 - João Goulart, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
- December 28 - Katharine Byron, U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1903)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Burton Richter, Samuel Chao Chung Ting
- Chemistry - William Nunn Lipscomb, Jr
- Physiology or Medicine - Baruch S. Blumberg, D Carleton Gajdusek
- Literature - Saul Bellow
- Peace - Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan
- Economics - Milton Friedman

Templeton Prize


- Cardinal Suenens Category:1976 ko:1976년 ja:1976年 simple:1976 th:พ.ศ. 2519

Leap year starting on Thursday

This is the calendar for any leap year starting on Thursday (dominical letter DC), e.g. 2004. Previous year | Next year This kind of year has 53 weeks in the ISO 8601 week - day format. Furthermore, ISO week 10 (which begins March 1) and all subsequent ISO weeks occur earlier than in any other kind of year. Category:ThursdayCategory:Weeksko:목요일로 시작하는 윤년th:ปีอธิกสุรทินที่วันแรกเป็นวันพฤหัสบดี

Un security council

The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. It is charged with maintaining peace and security between nations. While other organs of the UN only make recommendations to member governments, the Security Council has the power to make decisions which member governments must carry out under the United Nations Charter. The decisions of the Council are known as UN Security Council Resolutions. UN Security Council Resolution

History

The Security Council held its first session on January 171946, at Church House, London.

Members

A Council member must always be present at UN headquarters so that the Council can meet at any time. This requirement of the United Nations Charter was adopted to address a weakness of the League of Nations since that organization was often unable to respond quickly to crises. The presidency of the security council is rotated and lasts for one month. The role involves setting the agenda, presiding at its meetings and overseeing any crises. It alternates in alphabetical order of the members' names in English. There are two categories of membership in the UN Security Council: Permanent Members and Elected Members.

Permanent members

The Council has five permanent members:
- People's Republic of China
- French Republic
- Russian Federation
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- United States of America The permanent members were originally drawn from the victorious powers after World War II: the Republic of China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1971, the People's Republic of China was awarded the Republic of China's seat in the UN by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758. In 1991, the Russian Federation acquired the seat originally held by the Soviet Union, including the Soviet Union's former representation in the Security Council. Currently the five members are the only nations permitted to possess nuclear weapons under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which lacks universal validity, as not all nuclear nations have signed the treaty. This nuclear status is not the result of their Security Council membership, though it is sometimes used as a modern-day justification for their continued presence on the body. North Korea, Pakistan, India, Israel (Israel has never admitted to nuclear weapons possession), and some other countries that are not permanent members of the UN Security Council do possess nuclear weapons outside of the anti-proliferation framework established by the Treaty. Each permanent member state has veto powers, which can be used to void any resolution. A single blocking vote outweighs any majority.

Elected members

Ten other members are elected by the General Assembly for 2-year terms starting on January 1, with five replaced each year. The members are chosen by regional groups and confirmed by the United Nations General Assembly. The African group chooses two members; the North/South American, Asian, and Western European blocs choose two members each; and the Eastern European bloc chooses one member. The last seat rotates every two years between Asia and Africa, currently Africa. The current (2005–2006) elected members are: #Algeria (Africa) #Argentina (Latin America) #Benin (Africa) #Brazil (Latin America) #Denmark (W. Europe) #Greece (W. Europe) #Japan (Asia) #Philippines (Asia) #Romania (E. Europe) #Tanzania (Africa) See Elected members of the UN Security Council for other years.

Membership reform

:Main article: Reform of the United Nations Security Council There has been discussion of an increase in the number of permanent members. The countries who have made the strongest demands for permanent seats are Japan, Germany and India. Indeed, Japan and Germany are the UN's second and third largest funders, respectively, while Germany and India are among some of the largest contributors of troops to UN-mandated peace-keeping missions. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked a team of advisors to come up with recommendations for revamping the United Nations by the end of 2004. A proposed solution is to increase the number of permanent members by five, which, in most proposals, would include Japan, Germany, India, Brazil (G4 nations), one seat from Africa (most likely between Nigeria and South Africa), and/or one seat from the Arab League. On September 212004, those four countries issued a joint statement mutually backing each other's claim to permanent status, together with an African country. France and the United Kingdom declared that they support this claim. Currently the proposal has to be accepted by two-thirds of the UN General Assembly which translates to 128 votes. However, questions still remain. How did such traditional UN stalwarts as Canada and the Nordic countries get left out of a plan that would leave them on the sidelines but elevate larger developing countries, some of which represent threats to international peace and security? Also these liberal democracies have wholeheartedly adopted Universal Human Rights while many of the proposed new members have a history of abuses towards their own populations.

Japan

Japan is the second largest contributor to the U.N. regular budgets. Its payment even surpasses the sum of those of the United Kingdom, France, the People's Republic of China and Russia. Japan has been one of the largest ODA donor countries. Thus Japan is considered the most likely candidate for one of the new permanent seats. Japan's eagerness to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council meets with strong opposition from East Asian countries, especially the People's Republic of China, South Korea and North Korea. There are frequent large anti-Japanese protests in both mainland China and South Korea. Although they associate their movements with Japan's past, others speculate that these countries, especially the PRC, are motivated by more current problems such as territorial disputes. In late April 2005, large anti-Japan protests broke out in mainland China. The reasons for the protests are varied, but include tensions between Japan and China over the future of the Security Council. While the protests were not officially sanctioned by the PRC, some analysts suggested that the PRC government allowed the protests to proceed in order to upset Japan's bid to be added to the Security Council. Others still argued that the Chinese government did not want the protestor's anger to be focused on them, as preventing these demonstrations would be construed as supporting Japan. However, the PRC government then forbade further protests when it became concerned that such protests might become more about domestic issues. Many other Asian nations have expressed strong support for Japan's application. Japan's backers in the region include Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam. Other countries such as Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom also back Japan's bid. On August 3, 2005, the US and PRC reached an agreement and decided to block Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council.

Germany

Germany is the third largest contributor to the U.N. regular budgets. France has explicitly called for a permanent seat in the UN for Germany: "Germany's engagement, its ranking as a great power, its international influence—France would like to see them recognised with a permanent seat on the Security Council", French president Jacques Chirac said in a speech in Berlin in 2000. The German Chancellor also identified Russia, among other countries, as a country that backed Germany's bid. Italy and Netherlands on the contrary suggest a common EU seat in the Council instead of Germany becoming the third European member next to France and the UK. The former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Germany would also accept a common European seat, but as long as there is little sign that France and the UK will give up their own seats, Germany, a much larger country, should also have a seat. Thus, the German campaign for a permanent seat was intensified in 2004. Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder made himself perfectly clear in August, 2004: "Germany has the right to a seat". Its bid is supported by Japan, India, Brazil, France, the United Kingdom and Russia, among other countries. Angela Merkel has given no comment yet.

India

India, a nuclear power, represents approximately a sixth of the world's population and is therefore the world's largest democracy. It is also the world's fourth largest economy in terms of Purchasing Power Parity. Its bid is unequivocally backed by permanent members France, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Though initially opposed by the People's Republic of China due to geo-political reasons (China being an ally of India's arch-rival Pakistan and the country also having fought a brief war with India in 1962), recent history has turned China's official support for India's candidature from negative to neutral to positive. On April 11, 2005 China announced it would support India's bid for a permanent seat. Although the US officially does not back India's bid - for various reasons, some of which remain decidedly unclear - it has privately been eager to work with India and to support the nation (which translates to not using a veto). Taking into account its huge population and growing economic and political clout, India is a strong contender to clinch a permanent seat. Another factor which bolsters India's candidature is the fact that it was one of the founding members of the UNSC and has participated in several UNSC's activities, including UN operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cyprus, Cambodia, Yemen, Somalia, Rwanda and Namibia, among others.

Brazil

Prospects for a permanent Brazilian seat are looking up. Brazil recently received strong indications that the United States was willing to support its membership, but without a veto. Another prospect that possibly looms is the sharing of the permanent seat with Argentina. The case for Brazil receiving a security council seat is strong. It is the largest country in Latin America in population, and land area. But what it is lacking is a Spanish speaking population, which links the rest of South America together (bar the Guyanas). Brazil also recently received backing for a permanent seat from Russia.

The Islamic member

Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire the predominantly Islamic Middle East has been an area of persistent international conflict, and the periodic flare-ups in the region have been the subject of many UN security council debates and resolutions. Therefore, the prospect of introducing a permanent Islamic member to the security council is highly sensitive, especially if such a member were to be granted the power of veto. Outside the Muslim world, commentators from mainly the United States, have raised concerns that an empowered Islamic member could wield its veto to restrict the UN's ability to act forcefully in the Middle East or on the boundaries of the Islamic world (e.g. Kashmir and Chechnya), rendering the UN impotent in those regions. The lack of democracy in Middle Eastern states that are predominantly Muslim is another reason cited by some Western commentators who argue against the idea of including these countries in the club of permanent, veto-wielding states. At the same time, the draft G-4 reform proposals may leave over 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide without any permanent representation on the UN security council. This is a highly controversial issue within the Islamic world and would adversely impact the UN's credibility in the hotspots of the Middle East and in the Islamic world. In June 2005, the foreign ministers of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) called for a permanent Muslim seat on the UN Security Council. Recent resistance to the reform draft proposals emanating from the G-4 states can be attributed in part to this highly sensitive issue. The US and several Western states have objected to any proposal that gives new members any veto powers, and within the African Union, Egypt has led resistance to a proposal by Nigeria to adopt a version of the G-4 proposals that removes the right of veto for new members, and may enable the creation of a reformed council that does not have any permanent members with a predominantly Muslim identity.

Role of members and non-members

Decisions in the 15-member Security Council on all substantive matters—for example, a decision calling for direct measures related to the settlement of a dispute—require the affirmative votes of nine members. A negative vote—a veto—by a permanent member prevents adoption of a proposal, even if it has received the required number of affirmative votes. Abstention is not regarded as a veto. Since the Security Council's inception, China (ROC/PRC) has used 5 vetoes; France, 18; Russia/USSR, 122; the United Kingdom, 32; and the United States, 79. The majority of the USSR vetoes were in the first ten years of the Council's existence, and the numbers since 1984 have been: China, 2; France, 3; Russia, 4; the United Kingdom, 10; and the United States, 42. A state that is a member of the UN, but not of the Security Council, may participate in Security Council discussions in which the Council agrees that the country's interests are particularly affected. In recent years, the Council has interpreted this loosely, enabling many countries to take part in its discussions. Non-members routinely are invited to take part when they are parties to disputes being considered by the Council.

Role of the Security Council

Under Chapter Six of the Charter, "Pacific Settlement of Disputes", the Security Council "may investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute". The Council may "recommend appropriate procedures or methods of adjustment" if it determines that the situation might endanger international peace and security. These recommendations are not binding on UN members. Under Chapter Seven, the Council has broader power to decide what measures are to be taken in situations involving "threats to the peace, breaches of the peace, or acts of aggression". In such situations, the Council is not limited to recommendations but may take action, including the use of armed force "to maintain or restore international peace and security". This was the basis for UN armed action in Korea in 1950 during the Korean War and the use of coalition forces in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991. Decisions taken under Chapter Seven, such as economic sanctions, are binding on UN members. The UN's role in international collective security is defined by the UN Charter, which gives the Security Council the power to:
- Investigate any situation threatening international peace;
- Recommend procedures for peaceful resolution of a dispute;
- Call upon other member nations to completely or partially interrupt economic relations as well as sea, air, postal, and radio communications, or to sever diplomatic relations; and
- Enforce its decisions militarily, if necessary. The United Nations has helped prevent many outbreaks of international violence from growing into wider conflicts. It has opened the way to negotiated settlements through its service as a center of debate and negotiation, as well as through UN-sponsored fact-finding missions, mediators, and truce observers. UN peacekeeping forces, comprised of troops and equipment supplied by member nations, have usually been able to limit or prevent conflict. Some conflicts, however, have proven to be beyond the capacity of the UN to influence. Key to the success of UN peacekeeping efforts is the willingness of the parties to a conflict to come to terms peacefully through a viable political process.

Resolutions

The legally binding nature of Security Council Resolutions has been the subject of some controversy. It is generally agreed that resolutions are legally binding if they are made under Chapter VII (Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression) of the Charter. The Council is also empowered to make resolutions under Chapter VI (Pacific Settlement of Disputes); most authorities do not consider these to be legally binding. The International Court of Justice suggested in the Namibia case that resolutions other than those made under Chapter VI can also be binding, a view that some Member States have questioned. It is beyond doubt however that those resolutions made outside these two Chapters dealing with the internal governance of the organisation (such as the admission of new Member States) are legally binding, where the Charter gives the Security Council power to make them.

See also


- List of UN Security Council Resolutions
- Reform of the United Nations
- United Nations
- United Nations Member States
- United Nations System
- UN General Assembly
- UN Economic and Social Council
- UN Trusteeship Council
- UN Secretariat
- International Court of Justice

References

External links


- [http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/ United Nations Security Council]
- [http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/data/vetotab.htm Veto patterns of the Security Council] Category:United Nationszh-min-nan:An-chôan Lí-sū-hōeja:国連安全保障理事会ko:UN 안전보장이사회ms:Majlis Keselamatan PBBsimple:Security Council

Palestinian Liberation Organization

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (Arabic: منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية or Munazzamat al-Tahrir al-Falastiniyyah) is a political and paramilitary organization of Palestinians dedicated to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the region historically known as Palestine. From the organization's establishment in 1964 until the end of the 1980s the main targets of the organization were political representation of the Palestinian people and armed struggle in the state of Israel until the destruction of Israel. In 1993 the leader of the PLO recognized the state of Israel in an official letter to the prime minister of Israel. In response Israel recognized PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In 1969, Yasser Arafat became the Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and remained so until his death in 2004. He was succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen.) Abu Mazen above a map of the land of Palestine (roughly, present-day Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip)]]

Overview

Founded in 1964, the PLO has a nominal legislative body, the Palestinian National Council (PNC), but most actual political power and decisions are controlled by the PLO Executive Committee, made up of 15 people elected by the PNC. The PLO incorporates a range of generally secular ideologies of different Palestinian movements committed to the struggle for Palestinian independence and "liberation", hence the name of the organization. The Palestine Liberation Organization is considered the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and holds a permanent observer seat in the UN General Assembly. It was led by Yasser Arafat since 1969 until his death in 2004. Since then the PLO is chaired by Mahmoud Abbas. The PLO includes Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Palestinian People's Party, the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), the Arab Liberation Front (ALF), the Popular Struggle Front (PSF) and As-Sa'iqa as well as other minor groups.

History

Creation

The Arab League on Cairo Summit 1964 initiated the creation of an organisation representing the Palestinian people. The Palestinian National Council convened in Jerusalem on 29 May1964. Concluding this meeting the PLO was founded on 2 June 1964. Its Statement of Proclamation of the Organization [http://www.palestine-un.org/plo/doc_three.html] declared "... the right of the Palestinian Arab people to its sacred homeland Palestine and affirming the inevitability of the battle to liberate the usurped part from it, and its determination to bring out its effective revolutionary entity and the mobilization of the capabilities and potentialities and its material, military and spiritual forces". Due to the influence of the Egyptian President Nasser the PLO supported the nasseristic 'Pan-Arabism' - the ideology that the Arabs should live in one state. The first executive committee was formed on 9 August, with Ahmad Shuqeiri as its leader. In spite of the 1949 Armistice Agreements, the Arab states remained unreconciled with Israel's creation and the proposed partition of Palestine in 1948. Therefore the Palestinian National Charter of 1964 [http://www.palestine-un.org/plo/pna_two.html] stated: "The claims of historic and spiritual ties between Jews and Palestine are not in agreement with the facts of history or with the true basis of sound statehood. ... [T]he Jews are not one people with an independent personality because they are citizens to their states." (Article 18), and "This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or in the Himmah Area." (Article 24)

Leadership by Yasser Arafat

The defeat of Syria, Jordan and Egypt in the Six Day War of 1967 destroyed the credibility of the states that sought to be patrons of the Palestinian people and weakened Nasser significantly. The way was opened for Yasser Arafat, who advocated guerilla warfare and who successfully sought to make the PLO a fully independent organisation under the control of the fedayeen organisations. At the Palestinian National Congress meeting of 1969, the Fatah gained control of the executive bodies of the PLO. At the Palestinian National Congress in Cairo on February 3, 1969 Arafat was appointed PLO chairman. From then on, the Executive Committee was composed essentially of representatives of the various member organisations.

Black September in Jordan

The PLO suffered a major reversal with the Jordanian assault on its armed groups in the events known as Black September in 1970. The Palestinian groups were expelled from Jordan, and during the 1970s the PLO was effectively an umbrella group of eight organizations headquartered in Damascus and Beirut, all devoted to what they called armed resistance to either Zionism or Israeli occupation, using methods which included attacks on civilians and guerrilla warfare against Israel. After Black September, the Cairo Agreement led the PLO to establish itself in Lebanon.

Ten Point Program

In 1974, the PNC approved the Ten Point Program formulated by Fatah's leaders which calls for the establishment of a national authority over any piece of liberated Palestinian land, and to actively pursue the establishment of a secular democratic binational state in Israel/Palestine under which all citizens will enjoy equal status and rights regardless of race, sex, or religion. The Ten Point Program was considered the first attempt by PLO at a peaceful resolution, though the ultimate goal was "completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory, and as a step along the road to comprehensive Arab unity".[http://www.palestine-un.org/plo/doc_one.html] At times, the PLO contained other groups which have since left the organization for various reasons, such as the radical group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) splinter group within the PFLP, left in 1974 in protest of the Ten Point Program.

The PLO in Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War

In the mid-1970s, Arafat and his Fatah movement found themselves in a tenuous position politically. The PLO's Rejection Front opposed Arafat's growing calls for diplomacy from the mid-1970s, perhaps best symbolized by his support for a UN Security Council resolution proposed in 1976 calling for a two-state settlement on the pre-1967 borders and his Ten Points Program, which was denounced by the Rejection Front (and vetoed by the United States). The population in the Occupied Territories, for their part, saw Arafat as their only hope for a favourable resolution to the conflict, especially in the aftermath of the Camp David Accords, which Palestinians had seen as a blow to their aspirations to self-determination; on the other hand, Israeli leaders, who had their own designs for the Occupied Territories, resented Arafat's popularity and increasing diplomatic credibility. Meanwhile, Abu Nidal, a sworn enemy of the PLO since 1974, assassinated the PLO's diplomatic envoy to the European Economic Community, which in the Venice Declaration of 1980 had called for the Palestinian right of self-determination to be recognized by Israel. The sponsors of the assassination were never conclusively identified, but it was at any rate clear that Arafat's diplomatic machinations were not universally welcomed. In the Lebanese Civil War the PLO first fought against the Maronites, then against Israel, then, finally, against the Syrian supported Amal militia. From 1985 to 1988 Amal besieged Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon to drive out supporters of Arafat. Many thousands of Palestinians died of fire and starvation. After the Amal siege ended there was a great deal of intra-Palestinian fighting in the camps. (see War of the Camps) Opposition to Arafat was notably fierce not only among radical Arab groups but among many on the Israeli right as well, including Menachem Begin, who had stated on more than one occasion that even if the PLO accepted UN Security Council resolution 242 and recognized Israel's right to exist, he would never negotiate with the organization (Smith, op. cit., p. 357). This contradicted the official United States position that it would negotiate with the PLO if the PLO accepted resolution 242 and recognized Israel, which the PLO had thus far been unwilling to do. Other Arab voices had recently called for a diplomatic resolution to the hostilities in accord with the international consensus, including Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat on his visit to Washington in August 1981 and Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia in his 7 August peace proposal; together with Arafat's diplomatic manoeuvres, these developments made Israel's argument that it had "no partner for peace" seem increasingly problematic. Thus, in the eyes of Israeli hard-liners, "the Palestinians posed a greater challenge to Israel as a peacemaking organization than as a military one" (Smith, op. cit., 376).

Tunis & Algeria

In 1982, the PLO relocated to Tunis after it was driven out of Lebanon by Israel during Israel's six-month invasion of Lebanon. On October 1, 1985, in Operation Wooden Leg, Israeli Air ForceF-15s bombed the PLO's Tunis headquarters, killing more than 60 people.

First Intifada

In 1987 the First Intifada broke out in the occupied territories. The Intifada caught the PLO by surprise [http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2004/11/11arafat.html], and the leadership abroad could only indirectly influence the events while a new local leadership, the Unified Intifada Leadership comprised of many leading Palestinian factions, emerged. When King Hussein of Jordan proclaimed the administrative and legal separation of the West Bank from Jordan in 1988, the Palestine National Council adopted the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in Algiers proclaiming an independent State of Palestine. The declaration made reverence to UN resolutions without explicitly mentioning Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. A month later Arafat declared in Geneva that the PLO would support a solution of the conflict based on these Resolutions. Effectively the PLO recognized Israel's right to exist within pre-1967 borders, with the understanding that the Palestinians would be allowed to set up their own state in the West Bank and Gaza. The United States accepted this clarification by Arafat and began to allow diplomatic contacts with PLO officials. The Proclamation of Independence did not lead to a Palestinian State, although over 100 states recognized the "State of Palestine".

Oslo Accords

In 1993, the PLO secretly negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. The accords were signed on 20 August1993. There was a subsequent public ceremony in Washington D.C. on September 13, 1993 with Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin. The Accords granted the Palestinians right to self-government on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank through the creation of the Palestinian Authority. Yasser Arafat was appointed head of the PA. Although the PLO and the Palestinian Authority are not formally linked the PLO dominates the administration. The headquarters of the PLO were moved to Ramallah on the West Bank. On 9 September, 1993, Arafat issued a press release stating that "the PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security". Some factions within the PLO and the PA, who used to seek peaceful coexistence with Israel while creating a Palestinian state within the West Bank and Gaza, have lost popular support due to the reoccupation of PA controlled areas in the West Bank. Numerous leaders within the PLO and the PA, including Yasser Arafat himself, have declared that the State of Israel has a permanent right to exist, and that the peace treaty with Israel is genuine, though members of the PLO have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against Israelis since the Oslo Accords. Some Palestinian officials have stated that the peace treaty must be viewed as permanent. A majority of Israelis believe Palestinians should have a state of their own. At the same time, a significant portion of the Israeli public and some political leaders (including the former Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu) express doubt over whether a peaceful, coherent state can be founded by the PLO and call for significant re-organization, including the elimination of all terrorism, before any talk about independence.

Second Intifada

The PLO in the United Nations

The United Nations General Assembly granted the PLO observer status on November 22, 1974. On January 12, 1976 the UN Security Council voted 11-1 with 3 abstentions to allow the Palestinian Liberation Organization to participate in a Security Council debate without voting rights, a privilege usually restricted to UN member states. After the Palestinian Declaration of Independence the PLO's representation was renamed Palestine. On July 7, 1998, this status was extended to allow participation in General Assembly debates, though not in voting. In numerous Resolutions by the General Assembly the PLO was declared the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian People. This was recognised by Israel in the Oslo Accords from 1993.

PLO National Charter

The text of the Palestinian National Charter as amended in 1968 contains many clauses calling for the destruction of the state of Israel. In letters exchanged between Arafat and Rabin in conjunction with the 1993 Oslo Accords, Arafat agreed that those clauses would be removed. On 26 April1996, the Palestine National Council voted to nullify or amend all such clauses, and called for a new text to be produced. A letter from Arafat to US President Clinton in 1998 listed the clauses concerned, and a meeting of the Palestine Central Committee approved that list. A public meeting of PLO, PNC and PCC members also confirmed the letter in Clinton's presence, and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted this as the promised nullification. Nevertheless, a new text of the Charter has never been produced, and this is the source of a continuing controversy. Critics of the Palestinian organizations claim that failure to produce a new text proves the insincerity of the clause nullifications. One of several Palestinian responses is that the proper replacement of the Charter will be the constitution of the forthcoming state of Palestine. The published draft constitution states that the territory of Palestine "is an indivisible unit based upon its borders on the 4th of June 1967". The 1968 PLO Charter endorses the use of violence, specifically "armed struggle" against what they call "Zionist imperialism." Article 10 of the Palestinian National Charter states "Commando (Feday’ee) action constitutes the nucleus of the Palestinian popular liberation war. This requires its escalation, comprehensiveness, and the mobilization of all the Palestinian popular and educational efforts and their organization and involvement in the armed Palestinian revolution. It also requires the achieving of unity for the national (watani) struggle among the different groupings of the Palestinian people, and between the Palestinian people and the Arab masses, so as to secure the continuation of the revolution, its escalation, and victory."

Important members of the PLO

In addition to Arafat, the PLO has many other well known leaders. One of them is the Palestinian Christian Hanan Ashrawi. She is a Professor of Literature at a West Bank university who has contributed to the understanding of English literature among the Palestinians and developed and compiled that people's own literature. By doing so, Palestinian identity and development has been furthered, consistent with the basic principles of the PLO.

Allegations of terrorism

Successive Israeli governments have considered the PLO to be a terrorist organization both because of its conflict with Israeli military forces and because the PLO has targetted and killed Israeli civilians within its territory and abroad. Israel cites multiple examples of terrorist actions carried out by or controlled by the PLO:
- The 1970 Avivim school bus massacre by PLO members, killed nine children, three adults and crippled 19.
- In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the second-largest PLO faction after al-Fatah, carried out a number of attacks and plane hijackings mostly directed at Israel, most infamously the Dawson's Field hijackings, which precipitated the Black September in Jordan crisis.
- The Munich massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics was carried out by the Black September group, which was allegedly affiliated with the PLO. This group also hijacked a plane flying from Belgium to Tel Aviv.
- In 1974 members of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine carried out the Kiryat Shmona massacre at an apartment building in Israel, killing 18 people, 9 of whom were children.
- In 1974 members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), another faction affiliated with the PLO, seized a school in Israel and killed a total of 26 students and adults and wounded over 70 in the Ma'alot massacre. In order to settle a wrongful death lawsuit, the PLO has paid an undisclosed sum to the daughters of Leon Klinghoffer, who in 1985 was murdered aboard the cruise ship Achille Lauro during a hijacking by the Palestine Liberation Front. Until the 1993 signing of the Declaration of Principles between the PLO and Israel in Washington, the US government listed the PLO as a terrorist organization . Palestinian supporters and some international jurists consider some attacks on the Israeli military legitimate resistance to Israeli occupation [http://www.merip.org/mer/mer217/217_falk.html]. Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (1949), which has not been universally accepted in whole as international law, particularly not by Israel and the United States offers support for this view. However, almost all international opinion considers targeted attacks on civilians to be terrorist acts.

Statements made by PLO

The PLO has a wide diversity of opinions within it, some more peaceful than others. The opinions expressed by some PLO members do not necessarily reflect the organization as a whole. On fighting against Israel: : "We plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. . . . We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem." --Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO (in front of an Arab audience in Stockholm in 1996) : "Whoever thinks of stopping the uprising before it achieves its goals, I will give him ten bullets in the chest." --Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO : "I come bearing an olive branch in one hand, and the freedom fighter's gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand." --Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO (November, 1974, while speaking at the United Nations) : "We know only one word: jihad,jihad, jihad.When we stopped the intifada, we did not stop the jihad for the establishment of a Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem. And now we are entering the phase of the great jihad prior to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem...We are in a conflict with the Zionist movement and the Balfour Declaration and all imperialist activities." --Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO (During an October 21,1996 speech at the Dehaishe refugee camp) On accepting Israel: : "Consequently, the PLO undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian covenant." --Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO (in the exchange of letters with Israel on 9 September1993) :"Israel must not demand that the PLO alter its covenant, just as the PLO does not demand that the Jewish nation cancel the Bible." --Ziad Abu Ziad, senior PLO official (in a speech to the American Jewish Federation, 23 October1993) : "Palestinians are no strangers to compromise. In the 1993 Oslo Accords, we agreed to recognize Israeli sovereignty over 78 percent of historic Palestine and to establish a Palestinian state on only 22 percent." -- Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiator, 5 August2000 : In his 22 April2004 interview with the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab, the PLO minister still living in TunisiaFarouk Kaddoumi said that the PLO charter was never changed so as to recognize Israel's right to exist. "The Palestinian national charter has not been amended until now. It was said that some articles are no longer effective, but they were not changed. I'm one of those who didn't agree to any changes." He said also: "...the national struggle must continue. I mean the armed struggle... Fatah was established on the basis of the armed struggle and that this was the only way to leading to political negotiations that would force the enemy to accept our national aspirations. Therefore there is no struggle other than the armed military struggle... If Israel wants to leave the Gaza Strip, then it should do so. This means that the Palestinian resistance has forced it to leave. But the resistance will continue. Let the Gaza Strip be South Vietnam. We will use all available methods to liberate North Vietnam." (Source: [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1082606041893&p=1078027574121]) :"If you are asking me, as a man who belongs to the Islamic faith, my answer is also "From the river to the sea," the entire land is an Islamic Waqf which can not be bought or sold, and it is impossible to remain silent while someone is stealing it ..." -- Faisal Husseini (1940-2001), Fatah leader and PA Minister for Jerusalem, 'Al-Arabi' (Egypt), 24 June2001. [http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP23601]. Similar statements made in the newspaper 'As-Safir' on 3 March2001 [http://www.jcrc.org/israel/npr/NPR%20Report%20FINAL%201-19-03.pdf page 23 of the report] [http://web.archive.org/web/20031206092138/www.isranet.org/issues_of_the_day.htm] On whether the PLO police force will work with Israel against terrorism: :"The Joint Security Coordination and Cooperation Committee set up under Article II hereunder shall develop a plan to ensure full coordination between the Israeli military forces and the Palestinian police..." -- from the agreement signed by Israel and the PLO in Cairo on 4 May1994 (paragraph 2a of Annex I to the agreement) :"Anyone who thinks the Palestinian police will try to prevent attacks outside the borders of the autonomous area is making a bitter mistake." --- Sufian Abu Zaida, a leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in Gaza (Maariv, 25 April1994) :"If there are those who oppose the agreement with Israel, the gates are open to them to intensify the armed struggle." -- Jibril Rajoub, PLO security chief for the West Bank, during a lecture at Bethlehem University (Yediot Aharonot, 27 May1994) On the right of return of Palestinian refugees: :"I recently read an interview with an elderly Palestinian woman living in the Ein el Hilwa camp in Lebanon. Tightly gripping the rusted key to her family's farm near Jaffa, she asked her interviewer how she should explain to her grandchildren, who had known only the stench of the camp's open sewers, what it was like to wake up to the scent of fresh lemons." -- Elia Zureik, a Professor of Sociology at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, Advises the Palestine Liberation Organization on Refugee Issues :"800,000 Palestinians among those who left after 1967 will come back in the transitional period, which is five years. Those who left in 1948 will come back after the declaration of the Palestinian independent state." -- Nabil Sha'ath, head of the PLO delegation to the talks with Israel in Taba (Al-Hayat, 28 September1993) :"In my opinion, the refugees problem is more important than a Palestinian state" -- Faruk Kadumi, general secretary of the Fatah council (Kul Al-Arab, 3 Jannuar 2003) On why the PLO signed the Cairo agreement with Israel: :"The money is the carrot for signing the peace agreement with Israel. We have signed." -- Hassan Abu Libdah, deputy chairman of the PLO's Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (The New York Times, 10 June1994) On Palestinian statehood: :"Palestinians believe that Jerusalem should be a shared, open city; two capitals for two states." -- Faisal Husseini, senior PLO representative in Israel, 3 July2000 :"Gradually, stage by stage, we will reach an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital." -- Faisal Husseini, senior PLO representative in Israel (Beirut Times, 16 September1993) :The Palestinian flag "will fly over the walls of Jerusalem, the churches of Jerusalem and the mosques of Jerusalem." -- Yasser Arafat, Former Chairman of the PLO (Jordanian TV, 13 September1993)

Leaders of the PLO


- Ahmad Shukeiri (1964-1969)
- Yasser Arafat (March 2, 1969 - November 11, 2004)
- Mahmoud Abb
Century Year
19th century: 1824 1852 1880
20th century: 1920 1948 1976
21st century: 2004 2032 2060 2088
22nd century: 2128 2156 2184