Palestine Liberation Organization

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) (Arabic: منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية; Munazzamat al-Tahrir al-Filastiniyyah  or Munazzamat al-Tahrir al-Filastiniyyah) is a multi-party confederation and is the organization regarded since 1974 as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."

Founded by the Arab League in June 26, 1964,citation needed], it was initially controlled for the most part by the Egyptian government. The original PLO Charter outlined goals that included the destruction of the State of Israel via armed struggle and a right of return and self-determination for Palestinian Arabs, during Jordan's and Egypt's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, respectively two areas of three under foreign occupation of the Arab State of Palestine, as established by UNGA 181 Partition of the, now, UN Trust Territory of Palestine,(former League of Nations Mandate of Palestine, Same Trust Territory) equally partitioned the soveriegnty into two states as defined of territory in UNGA 181,Part II Boundaries. The third area being those areas occupied by the State of Israel.

Palestinian statehood was not mentioned, although in 1974 the PLO adopted the idea of an independent state between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea. More recently, the PLO officially adopted a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side contingent on specific terms such as making East Jerusalem capital of the Palestinian state and giving Palestinians right of return. although many Palestinian leaders, including Yasser Arafat and Faisal Husseini have declared their goal is still "liberation" of all of Palestine.

In 1993, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat recognized the State of Israel in an official letter to its prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. In response to Arafat's letter, Israel recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Arafat was the Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee from 1969 until his death in 2004. He was succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen).

The PLO was considered "the richest of all terrorist organizations" with $8-$10 billion in assets and an annual income of $1.5-$2 billion from "donations, extortion, payoffs, illegal arms dealing, drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, etc.", according to a 1993 National Criminal Intelligence Service report. The Daily Telegraph reported in 1999 that the PLO had $50 billion in secret investments around the world including Zimbabwe and Somalia.