PLO's Ten Point Program

PLO's Ten Point Program (in Arabic: برنامج النقاط العشر) (by Israel called the PLO's Phased Plan) is the plan accepted by the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), at its 12th meeting held in Cairo on 8 June 1974.

The Program called for the establishment of a national authority "over every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated" with the aim of "completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory". The program implied that the liberation of Palestine may be partial (at least, at some stage), and though it emphasized armed struggle, it did not exclude other means. This allowed the PLO to engage in diplomatic channels, and provided validation for future compromises made by the Palestinian leadership.

Background

Following the Fourth Arab–Israeli War in 1973 , the Palestinian leadership began discussions on achieving their aims . ^{[citation needed]}

Specifics of the Program

The Ten-Point Program mostly repeated the principles of the policies which the Palestinian National Council had accepted in the past . Section 4 of the program has reaffirmed prior resolutions concerned towards the .

The primary points are ^[1] :

• The rejection of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (adopted after the Six-Day War) , as it viewed Palestinians as no more than refugees .
• The rejection of the creation of a Palestinian entity on the condition of the implementation of Security Council Resolution 242 .
• The establishment of a democratic Palestinian state over all of former Mandatory Palestine (Israel and the Palestinian territories) .
• The demand of the return of all Palestinian refugees to their original homes .

The program called for the establishment of an "Independent fighting national authority " on "every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated" . This entity would strive to establish a "union" with the "confrontation countries" ( Belligerent Arab states bordering Israel ) , to achieve "liberation of all Palestinian territory" , as a step towards "comprehensive Arab unity" .

Palestinian reception

Because the Program introduced the concept of a two-state solution in the PLO, it was rejected by factions who interpreted it as a potential path towards a permanent peace agreement with Israel , and vowed to continue to fight until the destruction of Israel, and formed the Rejectionist Front, which was strongly backed by Iraq. ^{[citation needed]}

The factions that joined the Rejectionist Front included the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the second largest faction in the PLO, after Fatah. These factions would act independently of the PLO over the following years. Suspicion between the Fatah-led coalition and the Rejectionists , within and beyond the PLO, have continued to dominate the inner workings of the organization ever since, often resulting in paralysis or conflicting courses of action.^{[citation needed]}

A temporary closing of ranks came in 1977, as Palestinian factions joined with Arab governments in the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front to condemn Egyptian attempts to reach a separate peace with Israel, which eventually resulted in the 1979 Camp David Accords.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000s , PLO representative to Lebanon Abbas Zaki once stated in a video translated by MEMRI that "The two-state solution will lead to the collapse of Israel".^{[2] [citation needed]}

As of 2024 , The status of the Phased Plan within the PLO's current polices is unclear. ^{[citation needed]}

Israel's reaction

Israel called the Program the "PLO's Step/stage Program" or "PLO's Phased Plan" (Tokhnit HaSHlavim or Torat HaSHlavim), which it regarded as a dangerous policy, mainly because it implied that any future compromise agreement between Israel and the PLO would not be honored . Some Israeli observers believe negotiations with the PLO are not sincere , and allege that Palestinians may exploit conceded parts of the Occupied Territory to implement the Ten-Point Program , and eventually take over Israel. ^{[citation needed]} .

There is a debate within Israel on whether the Phased Plan represents the unofficial policy and opinion of certain factions within the Palestinian leadership and Public , and whether they aim to eventually take over the entirety of former Mandatory Palestine or only to the occupied areas  ; the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) , and the Gaza Strip.^[3][4]

When the Oslo Accords were first signed, Israeli right-wing politicians openly claimed that this was part of the ploy to implement the Ten Point Program.^[5]

In 2007 , the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the Palestinian leadership of exploiting the Oslo Accords to implement the Ten Point Program as an initial step towards Israel's destruction.^[6]

See also

• Israeli-Palestinian peace process
• Oslo Accords
• United Nations Security Council Resolution 242
• Palestinian right of return
• Salami tactics

References

1. "PLO Interim Program (Ten-Point Program) - 8 June 1974 (Historical Text)". Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
2. www.memri.org. "Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Abbas Zaki: Two-State Solution Will Lead to the Collapse of Israel". Memri.org. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
3. ארי, יוסי בן (2014-09-17). "ynet מה עושים כשהמודיעין סותר את עצמו? - חדשות". Ynet. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
4. "תוכנית השלבים" [Phased Plan] (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2016-11-20.
5. "News1 | מבט פלשתיני לפתרון הסכסוך". Nfc.co.il. 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
6. "INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE AGAINST ISRAEL BY LEADERSHIP OF PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY - 27-Nov-96". www.mfa.gov.il. Archived from the original on 22 June 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2022.

External links

 

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Political Programme of the 12th Palestine National Council

• 10 Point Program of the PLO (1974) - full text of the PLO's Phased Plan at the website of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations