A Brief Guide for the Perplexed 13
Where was the Arab sympathy for the Palestinian population from 1948 to 1967 ?
With armistice agreements ending Israel ’ s War of Independence , the Gaza Strip was in the hands of Egypt . Rather than consider sovereignty for the local Arab population and the Palestinian refugees who settled there , Egyptian authorities imposed harsh military rule . Meanwhile , the West Bank and the eastern half of Jerusalem were governed by Jordan . Again , there was no move to create an independent Palestinian state . To the contrary , Jordan annexed the territory , a step recognized by only two countries in the world , Britain and Pakistan .
It was during this period , in 1964 to be precise , that the Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO ) was founded . Its aim was not the creation of a state in the lands under Egyptian ( i . e ., Gaza ) and Jordanian ( i . e ., West Bank ) authority , but rather the elimination of Israel and the founding of a Palestinian Arab state in the whole of Palestine . Article 15 of the PLO Charter clearly articulated this goal :
The liberation of Palestine , from an Arab viewpoint , is a national duty to repulse the Zionist , imperialist invasion from the great Arab homeland and to purge the Zionist presence from Palestine .
In the ensuing years , PLO-sponsored terrorism took its deadly toll , focusing on Israeli , American , European , and Jewish targets . Schoolchildren , Olympic athletes , airplane passengers , diplomats , and even a wheelchair-bound tourist on a cruise ship were among the murdered targets of the terrorists .