Palestine National Charter - LookLex Encyclopaedia

Palestine National Charter

The Palestine National Charter served as the foundations of the Palestinian struggle for an independent Palestinian state through most of the exiled period. The Charter, much disliked by Israel, has been one of the pillars in the disagreements between Palestine and Israel.

The Charter consists of 33 articles, among which reads:

^{From 1 and 2:} "...the Jews living in Palestine before the start of Zionist immigration are Palestinians..."
^{From 9:} "Palestine, as defined by the British protectorate, is the Palestinian Arab's homeland, and can not be divided"
^{From 19:} "...the Balfour Declaration and the British mandate are without political power..."
^{From 21:} "Zionism, which is parallel to international imperialism, is racist, aggressive and colonial. Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement."

History
1964 June: The Palestine National Charter is passed.
1968 July: During the 4th congress of the Palestine National Council in Cairo, the Charter has the sentence "Armed struggle is the only way of liberating Palestine", added.
1988 November: The principle of military attack on Israel in order to liberate Palestine, is removed from the Charter by Palestine National council.
1993 September: Chairman of the PLO Yassir Arafat declares in a letter to the Israeli Premier Minister Yizhak Rabin that the principles of the Charter that denies the right of existence for Israel, are "inoperative and no longer valid", even if the right to amend the Charter is exclusive to the PLO only.

By Tore Kjeilen