Facts Every Westerner Should Possess

· The Fatah organization, the mainstream body of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), was launched in 1964 by the Arab League.

· It was formed for only one purpose: To foment rebellion of Palestinian Arabs against the state of Israel.

· In June of 1967 Israel was attacked by multiple Arab countries-the war was over in 6 days-Israel was the victor

· Arabs living in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza came under Israeli rule after the 1967 war. PLO incitement of Palestinian Arabs against Israel began.

· In 1980, the PLO was officially declared by Israel to be an illegal terrorist organization.

· In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres signed the Declaration of Principles (DOP) between Israel and the PLO together with Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas of the PLO.

· The DOP stipulated mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO and required the PLO to cease and desist from terrorism and for the PLO to nullify its call for Israel's destruction. The Israeli Knesset ratified the DOP a week later.

· However, the PLO did not ratify the DOP due to lack of a quorum.

· With one exception, the Israeli media did not report that the PLO never did ratify the accord, while the Israeli government acted as if they had done so.

· Since the PLO did not ratify the DOP, it and Fatah were not stricken from the Israeli law as a terrorist entity.

· The other concrete commitment made by the PLO was that it would officially cancel the PLO Covenant, which called for Israel's destruction. On two occasions, the Palestinian National Council (PNC) gathered to discuss the PLO Covenant; on neither occasion did it cancel the covenant.

· However, the government of Israel has consistently acted as if the PLO ratified the DOP and cancelled the covenant.

· As of August 2007, the PLO spokespeople, however, made it clear that the PLO is not being asked by Israel to ratify the DOP or cancel the PLO covenant.

· The PLO therefore remains a terrorist entity.

· This means that the decision of the government of Israel to arm Fatah technically makes the Israeli government an official sponsor of a terrorist entity.

· Meanwhile in March 2002 U.S. designation defined the Fatah al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade as a terrorist organization.

· Under U.S. law, any government that aids and abets an organization defined as a terrorist entity will forfeit aid and assistance.

· Thus, the Israeli government, in a move to placate the U.S. administration, may undermine its own support base with lawmakers of the U.S. Congress.

Thanks to David Bedein, The Bulletin

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