On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly issued the resolution No. (181) calling for the partition of Palestine into two States; Arab State and Jewish State. The resolution states that the Jewish state obtains 56.47% of the Palestinian Lands, while the Arabic State obtains 43.53%.. The resolution also states that the city of Jerusalem will be under International Supervision.
The Palestinians rejected the resolution as they felt it is unfair while the Zionist extremist Organizations committed massacres of ethnic cleansing aiming at the displacement of Palestinians from their towns and villages, such as Deir Yassin which was committed on April 9, 1948 in which more than three hundred innocent Palestinian civilians were murdered. It is worth mentioning that violence has started decades ago following Belfour declaration of 1917 in which Great Britain promised the Jews to establish their national home in Palestine.
As a result of this scheme, the Palestinian national movement was formed and developed into different forms of resistance.
The most critical events during this era were (AL Nakbah) of the Palestinian People in 1948, and the outbreak of the first Arab- Israeli war which caused displacement of more than 800 thousand Palestinians.
Following the war, the armed Zionists organizations seized 78% of the Palestinian land including West Jerusalem. The remaining parts of Palestine represented by the west Bank and Gaza Strip were annexed to the neighbor Arab countries Jordan and Egypt respectively.
The Palestinian people have become refugees in the neighboring Arab countries.
In June, 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including East Jerusalem as well as Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.
The Current Palestinian Revolution:
Despite these serious events after 1948, the Palestinian people maintained their commitment to their national identity, and the dream of returning to Palestine. In 1964, The Palestine Liberation Organization was established based on a decision made by the Arab summit that was held in Cairo in the same year.
On the first of January 1965, the Palestinian revolution was declared led by the late Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat aimed at liberating the Palestinian land and achieving the right of return.
In 1969 Arafat was elected as a PLO President which later became the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian People. The Palestinian Diplomacy was developed in parallel with armed resistance
( Fateh Movement) and other Palestinian national had emerged were formed and functioned under the mandate of PLO.
In 1974, the United Nations recognized the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and granted it the observer status at the UN and its various institutions. In the same year, Arab states recognized PLO followed by international recognition by most of states.
In 1987, the first Intifada broke out in response to the repressive practices of the Israeli occupation seeking freedom and national independence. The Intifada increased awareness and drew more attention towards the Palestinian cause by the international community.
The PLO took the historical decision through the Palestinian National Council, (parliament in exile) to adopt the United Nation’s resolution on the Palestinian issue, and the Arab - Israeli conflict, especially resolutions No. (242,338), in addition to all General Assembly resolutions, including resolutions No. (181, 194) which became the base for any political settlement with Israel. This meant that PLO had accepted the approach of negotiation, and declared Palestine is an independent state in the exile, “on the borders of June 1967”, with East Jerusalem as its capital..
On September 13,1993, the PLO leadership signed the Declaration of Principles (Oslo Agreement) in the White House, which gave Palestinian people the first opportunity to establish a national authority on their land. As part of the series agreements, the Gaza- Jericho agreement was declared on the 14th of May 1994, which allowed the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza Strip and Jericho. The Next agreement was the interim agreement which was signed on the 28th of September, 1995 to expand Palestinian control over the rest of Palestinian cities and towns.
Among the most important issues stipulated in the interim agreement, were the establishment of the Palestinian Legislative Council, which consists of 88 members, representing all Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including occupied East Jerusalem. By this step the Palestinian people formed their three billers of the state, legislative, executive and judicial reflecting a democratic political system.