Why the PLO is a failed, illegal and illigitimate organization?

Why the PLO is a failed organization will sure rile tens of thousands of Palestinians who continue to live the dream that was the PLO? Too bad the Palestinians in over 40 years of the PLO failed to look inward and see and finally admit why the PLO is a failed organization? They simply refuse to admit the truth always making excuses.

To begin with the Palestine Liberation Organization failed to live up to its name and liberate one single inch of Palestinian territories. Forget about 1948, we are only talking about 67 Occupied Palestine. The PLO is in Ramallah under the control and rule of Israel and under Oslo is nothing more than a security contractor and subcontractor for Israel’s civil administration managed and run by Israel’s Ministry of Defense.

It is true that tens of thousands of Palestinians died for the cause, a cause to liberate Palestine, perhaps not all of it, but at least that part occupied by Israel in 67. These young dedicated and braved souls died in Lebanon and few hundreds died in raids across Israeli borders. For the most part, the majority of victims died in Israeli air raids against Lebanon and in refugee camps and hundreds perished in the open sea in poorly planned and poorly executed operations and thousands died because of incompetent commanders. Never the less, they were all brave and committed. While young fighters and Fidayeen fought bravely Israeli advancing army on Beirut, many of the commanders ran away from the fight and were reward by Arafat with ranks of colonels and generals and now run the much corrupt Palestinian Security Forces and intelligence services.

Arafat over the years made sure that he controlled the purse and with it he controlled the hearts, minds and conscious of members of the Palestine National Council supposedly representing all Palestinians. The sad truth is that all members of the PNC were on the payroll of Arafat and he knew how to squeeze them when he wanted to and that is why in over 40 years there was never a challenge to Arafat and there was never an open and thorough investigations of the many failures of Arafat and his PLO. Arafat was able to silence the most committed and he made sure that he black mailed any one causing a serious challenge to his rule. That is why there was never an open financial accounting of the treasury of the PLO where billions of dollars simply disappeared and remained unaccounted for and there was never serious debate. All were yes people. Those who posed a serious challenge to Arafat ended up with a bullet in the head or the heart.

Arafat and the PLO committed major sins and caused irreparable harms for the Palestinians in Jordan before and after September 1970. The same is true in Lebanon where he and his executive thugs bragged they run Lebanon and they sure did. They ran it from the bars and brothels of Beirut while many of the young Fedayeens where putting their lives on the line. In Lebanon the PLO and its thugs behaved recklessly and without due regards and respect for the people of South Lebanon. That is why they greeted the invading army with open arms only of course to turn against the occupation and chase the Israeli out under the leadership of Hizboallah.

In Kuwait, Arafat and his executive committee are directly responsible for the expulsion of more than 350,000 Palestinians from Kuwait, who lost every thing and who lost more than $13 Billion in assets, business and personal belonging, due to Arafat stand with Saddam and in support of the invasion of Kuwait. Yes, no one can deny that Arafat in fact sided with Saddam, and that members of armed Palestinians factions on the payroll of Saddam did terrorize and commit murders against many of innocent Kuwaiti citizens. Never understood why these exiles never filed a criminal and civil lawsuits against Arafat and members of the executive committee. It is never too late.

More over many of the organizations or “fasaels” forming the PLO where on the payroll of many of the Arab regimes, doing their bidding and doing their dirty games and engaging in murder and crimes against opposition groups. In fact tens of thousands of Palestinians died in fights pitting one Palestinian organization against another. What we saw in Gaza pale against what we saw and witnessed in the heydays of Yaser Arafat and his PLO.

There is nothing wrong with negotiating peace with Israel and I am one of those who believe that only through negotiations can the Palestinians end the Israeli Occupation that lasted over 40 years. However, one has to admit that Arafat and his PLO missed so many opportunities to negotiate peace with Israel. One can only recall former president Carter formal offer to Arafat to renounce armed struggle and recognize Israel and the US will make sure the Israeli Occupation will end and a suitable solution to the refugees will be found. We need to remember that only 5,000 Jewish settlers where in the Palestinian territories. There were NO Jewish settlers in Hebron, in East Jerusalem, in Nablus, in Ramallah or Jenin. More than 95 % of the Occupied Territories were free of Jewish settlers. Yet Arafat beholding to Hafiz Assad preferred to play regional politics than make a decision that can save his people years of occupation and save their land and property from confiscation and outright theft by Israel and Jewish settlers. He and his idiots never had a plan for liberation and never had a plan for peace and never had a plan to run and manage a country. When in Lebanon and Tunis, the PLO never bothered with those under occupation. When it came to Ramallah it never bothered about those outside. This is the PLO that Abbas talks about now. He simply discovered the wonder that is the PLO.

Yet, with all of these failures and shortcomings, there was never a call for an open debate on issues and policies affecting the future of Palestinians. Members of the Executive and Central Committee never muster or have the courage to challenge Arafat and all of his failed policies and decisions. The PNC was even worst. Whenever they met, it was dinning and winning and of course having a nice time at the expense of the people with no serious efforts to truly represent the people’s interest. Arafat ran the PLO just like the Soviet leadership ran the Communist Party. The leadership selects whom to run, the leadership organize unions and associations and then select heads of these associations to be members of the PNC. In fact there was never an open election for memberships. Arafat and his mafia cooked every thing and the people ended up being royally screwed by Arafat and his mafia.

However the worst was yet to come with Oslo. Those who negotiated Oslo where illiterate, they did not read and write and they did not have any sense of intelligence to know what they were negotiating. When they concluded Oslo, they negotiated a security contract where the PLO will end the First Intifada in exchange Arafat and his PLO will be rewarded with billions of dollars for his organizations and all those who failed to liberate Palestine.

While Arafat and the PLO, as the “representative of the Palestinian people”: recognized Israel and its illegal occupation, Israel only recognized Arafat and the PLO but never recognized the freedom and independence of the Palestinian people nor their rights for an independent Palestinian state. While Arafat recognized a state, Israel did not recognize a Palestinian state, but recognized an organization, which is at best, is illegitimate and illegal and does not represent the Palestinian people.

Arafat failures did not stop with Oslo. He and his many and not so smart leadership came back to Occupied Palestine ill prepared and without any plans to run and manage any thing, let alone manage a territory under occupation. I am sure Israel awarded Arafat the contract without having to pre-qualify him and his PLO and see if they are able to manage local traffic, let alone manage the affairs of some 3.5 million people.

Arafat and his buddies accepted to run the occupation for Israel and they made a big mess of it. They ran one of the most, if not the most corrupt and incompetent government ever to exist in Asia and Africa. The PA was and remains riddle with corruption and incompetence with billions stolen and remain unaccounted for. Thugs who ran the security organizations for Israel ran one of the worst racketeering organizations ever to hit the Middle East. They put Israel’s many mafias to shame.

Prime ministers and ministers and heads of security organizations made a killing running a mafia and fleecing the people. They have control over distributions of fuel, gas, cement, food supplies, medical supplies and many others. One of the prime ministers even sold cement to build the Israeli Apartheid Wall, and is now making a killing on housing projects in Abu-Dis. This is the same man who ran and managed Samed Enterprises that lost billions of dollars of hard earned money where Palestinians had to contribute 5% of their income to go to a fund operated by the PLO, only to have the money disappeared in fraudulent projects and enterprises and into the pockets of senior officials of the PLO.

Let us not talk of the PLO as a liberation organization, it did not liberate any thing, in fact it perpetuate the occupation and our people enslavement. It is not the representative of the people since none of its members and officers ever elected or voted by the people. It is an organization whose leadership should be in jail, and not making life and death decisions for and on behalf of the Palestinian people. It is an organization that shamed us.

While we are all disgusted with events that took place in Gaza and the killing and murder that took place, but then many more, in facts hundreds more died in Gaza during the last year in infighting between the thugs of Fatah and the thugs of Hamas. Why is Abbas so offended when his men where murdered and driven out, and he was not offended when hundreds of innocent people died in Gaza through more than a year of lawlessness instigated for the most part by Fatah thugs and members of the Preventive Security Forces who robbed and fleeced Gaza blind.