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Founded by the Egyptian President Colonel Nasser in 1964, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation has become one of the most effective terrorist organisations the world has ever known, championing a violent form of protest against Israel and the West since World War II. Dominated by Yasser Arafat for 35 years, the PLO and its affiliates were responsible for a long list of shocking acts of terror, including, kidnapping, murder, bombing and plane hijacks.
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00:04June the 27th, 1976, Uganda.
00:09A hijacked French airliner has been forced to land at Entebbe Airport.
00:15The lives of more than 250 passengers and crew
00:18now lie in the hands of a group of deadly and determined terrorists.
00:25Uganda is ruled by a madman, Idi Amin.
00:30The final outcome will be beyond anyone's imagination.
01:00The final outcome will be beyond anyone's imagination.
01:08June the 27th, 1976, Uganda.
01:13A French Airbus A300, Air France Flight 139, has been hijacked en route from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Paris.
01:24It's now on the ground at Entebbe Airport, in the East African state of Uganda.
01:30The terrorists, revealed as members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or the PFLP,
01:37demand the release of 53 militants held in Israel and elsewhere.
01:44At the time, Uganda is headed by Idi Amin, a psychopathic and ruthless dictator.
01:51To the utter astonishment of the outside world, he sides with the terrorists,
01:56supplying them with extra weapons and providing troops as backup.
02:01But both Amin and the hijackers are in for a very rude awakening.
02:12The PFLP is a hard-line offshoot of the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization.
02:18Founded in December 1967, the PFLP is committed first to driving the Israelis out of Palestine,
02:25followed by fomenting revolution on a global scale.
02:29And they don't much care how they do it.
02:34The PFLP embarks on a murderous spree of hijacking, bombing and assassination.
02:43It will last for years to come.
02:47Meanwhile, the PLO, the PFLP's parent body, although in itself a terrorist organization,
02:53is trying to take a more pragmatic approach.
02:58The PLO leaders are not averse to violence,
03:01but they realize that any settlement with Israel over the Palestinian question
03:05must also, in the long term, involve proper negotiation.
03:15Palestine, once part of the Ottoman Empire,
03:18had been controlled by the British since the early 1920s
03:21under a League of Nations mandate.
03:25In May 1948, however, after a long and thankless policing campaign,
03:30the British finally pull out,
03:31leaving the Jews to establish the State of Israel
03:34in the land they regard as theirs by ancient right.
03:39In political terms, Palestine has now ceased to exist.
03:45This infuriates not only Palestinian Arabs,
03:49but everyone in the neighboring Arab countries,
03:51including Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
03:57But any attempt the Arab world makes to wrest the region back from the Jews is resisted fiercely.
04:06By 1956, Egypt has a new president, Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser.
04:13At the time, he is probably more opposed to Israel than any other Arab leader.
04:19He has long dreamt of a united Arab world, with his country at the center.
04:25But he knows that this can never be achieved unless the Israelis are driven out of Palestine.
04:34So, in January 1964, during a meeting of Arab heads of state in Cairo, the Egyptian capital,
04:40Nasser proposes setting up an organization whose sole purpose is to crush Israel through armed force,
04:47and hand Palestine back to the Arabs.
04:54It will be called the Palestine Liberation Organization,
04:57and it will be funded by various Arab countries, with Egypt leading the way.
05:06However, as the PLO is struggling to make its mark, Israel is limbering up for war.
05:21By spring 1967, the government, headed by Prime Minister Levi Eshkol,
05:27is growing tired of repeated clashes along the border with Syria,
05:31as troops bombard outlying Israeli settlements.
05:40Then, on May 31st, Egypt and Jordan sign a mutual defense pact.
05:45Israel, now faced with the prospect of a war on several fronts, decides to take the initiative.
05:53On the morning of June 5th, Israeli planes destroy almost the whole of the Egyptian air force on the ground
05:59in less than three hours.
06:03At the same time, Israeli forces take on the Egyptians stationed in the Sinai and confront Jordan and Syria.
06:14Six days later, it's all over.
06:17In an astonishing display of military skill and daring, Israel completely routs its ancient enemies.
06:29Nasser is utterly humiliated in the eyes of the world.
06:34He now comes to the conclusion that the only way to attack Israel is through the PLO.
06:40But first, he has to beef up the organization's capability.
06:45So he starts thinking about inviting a group of Palestinian extremists based in Jordan, known as Fatah,
06:51to become the military wing of the PLO.
07:00This is a complete about-face, because until fairly recently, Nasser had been downplaying Fatah's role in the continuing struggle
07:07against Israel.
07:14But thanks to a number of raids on outlying Israeli settlements across the Jordanian border, Fatah has garnered a great
07:21deal of support from Palestinian Arabs.
07:25They see Fatah doing more for them than the PLO.
07:29This was especially true on March the 21st, 1968.
07:34When, following the bombing of an Israeli school bus, Israeli forces launch a full-scale attack on Fatah headquarters in
07:42the Jordanian town of Karameh.
07:46Although playing only a minor role, when compared with that of the Jordanians, Fatah still loses more than a hundred
07:53fighters,
07:54as, astonishingly, the Israelis are held off until they eventually withdraw.
08:01The news is greeted with delight throughout the Arab world.
08:04And over the next two days, more than 5,000 men and women rush to join Fatah.
08:15Fatah's leader, a charismatic Palestinian Arab called Yasser Arafat, is now regarded as a hero.
08:23And, as Nasser ruefully acknowledges, the Arabs need a hero to restore at least part of their self-esteem.
08:32Arafat, who would emerge as one of the most notorious terrorists the world has ever known, was born in Cairo
08:38to Palestinian parents.
08:43When he's just four years old, Arafat's mother dies.
08:46And he's packed off to Jerusalem, then the capital of the British mandate in Palestine, to live with his uncle.
08:53As he grows up, Arafat, in common with a great many other Palestinian Arabs, longs to get rid of the
08:59British.
09:01But he wants Palestine for the Arabs, not the Jews.
09:09By the early 1950s, Arafat is studying civil engineering at university in Cairo.
09:15He graduates in 1956, and a short time later heads for Kuwait, a tiny oil-rich state at the head
09:22of the Persian Gulf.
09:25Within two years, he's running his own construction company.
09:29At the same time, Arafat, together with a group of like-minded Palestinian friends, forms a militant organization known as
09:37Fatah.
09:39Dedicated to freeing Palestine from Israeli control through force of arms, Fatah is soon attracting both money and new recruits.
09:47In 1963, the president of the newly independent Algeria, Ahmed Ben Bella, allows Fatah to open an office in Algiers,
09:55and offers to train Palestinians in the art of guerrilla warfare.
10:00However, when Nasser forms the PLO in 1964, the flow of Algerian assistance is diverted to the new organization,
10:08and a great many Fatah members defect.
10:13But by 1968, due to poor leadership and general lack of direction, the PLO isn't really getting anywhere.
10:21Meanwhile, Fatah, now funded largely by Saudi Arabia, is mounting a series of hit-and-run raids into Israel from
10:28Jordan and Syria.
10:34As Fatah steadily increases in popularity, Nasser sets his pride aside and invites them into the PLO fold.
10:41Fatah accepts, quickly becoming the dominant partner.
10:47In January 1969, Arafat is elected chairman of the PLO's executive committee.
10:53Two years later, he's appointed general commander of the Palestine forces.
11:00As he now heads up what is probably the largest terrorist organization the world has ever known,
11:06Arafat and the PLO become completely synonymous.
11:12Although Fatah is the largest and most influential group within the PLO,
11:17there are various other smaller, but no less violent, factions under the same umbrella.
11:25These include the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the PFLP,
11:30the Palestine Liberation Front, the PLF,
11:33and the most notorious of all, the short-lived Black September Movement,
11:37which was responsible for the kidnapping and massacre of Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympics in 1972.
11:50In September, two years earlier, the PFLP also makes a name for itself when it hijacks four airliners and attempts
11:58to hijack a fifth.
12:00Three of the planes are forced down at a remote desert airstrip known as Dawson's Field, Jordan.
12:05The fourth heads for Cairo.
12:08After several days of tense negotiation, with the exception of 56 Israelis, the passengers and crews are released.
12:15The planes are then all blown up in a spectacular finale to the hijack.
12:25Furious that his country is a center of attention during the affair,
12:29King Hussein of Jordan declares martial law and orders Bedouin troops to attack PLO offices, camps and bases.
12:38The conflict rages for 11 days, during which Syria sends in tanks to support the Palestine Liberation Army.
12:46The US 6th Fleet arrives in the Eastern Mediterranean, and Israel deploys troops to help King Hussein.
12:53Desperate to halt what he sees as a civil war, Nasser invites King Hussein to Cairo, where, on September 27th,
13:001970, he persuades him to sign a ceasefire with Arafat.
13:07Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hussein grudgingly agrees to allow the PLO to remain in Jordan.
13:17However, the next day, Nasser dies of a heart attack.
13:21He's succeeded by Anwar Sadat.
13:24As far as Hussein is concerned, all bets are now off.
13:28He tears up the agreement with Arafat, and orders his troops to drive the PLO out of Jordan once and
13:34for all.
13:37Thousands of Palestinian Arabs, including Arafat, apparently disguised as a woman, now flee the country.
13:44Ending up in refugee camps in neighboring countries, including Lebanon, where the PLO sets up its new headquarters.
13:55Now, as the PLO rebuilds itself, Arafat comes to the conclusion that violence and terrorism is probably not going to
14:03win the day.
14:06So, he begins to explore ways of settling the Palestinian question through diplomacy.
14:10...to breed to be fighters. This is very important.
14:16In October 1974, the UN General Assembly recognizes the legitimacy of the PLO, and the following month invites Arafat to
14:25New York, where he addresses them for the first time.
14:29During his speech, he's heavily critical of Israel, but tempers his words by saying,
14:35Today, I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall
14:42from my hand.
14:45But Arafat's bid for respectability infuriates PLO hardliners, and some of the more radical factions, such as the PFLP, decide
14:55to go it alone.
15:00June 27th, 1976, Uganda.
15:05The PFLP asserts its independence from the PLO hierarchy in the most dramatic way possible, when, together with two members
15:12of the German Bader-Meinhof gang, two PFLP operatives hijack a French airliner en route from Tel Aviv to Paris.
15:22After refueling in Benghazi, Libya, the terrorists now force the plane to fly to Entebbe in Uganda, where they're joined
15:30by three more Palestinians.
15:33The terrorists are greeted by the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, who supports the Palestinian cause.
15:42Nine hours later, the passengers and crew are allowed off the plane and transferred to an airport transit building.
15:54It's surrounded by Ugandan troops deployed as backup.
16:00Now the terrorists make their demands known.
16:03They want the release of 40 Palestinians held in Israel, and 13 others imprisoned elsewhere.
16:12If they're not released within 48 hours, the terrorists will start executing the hostages.
16:20However, over the next two days, around 150 hostages are released and flown out of Uganda.
16:29But ominously, the terrorists hold on to more than 90 others, all of whom are Jews.
16:37The crew of 12 also stay behind. They refuse to desert the remaining passengers.
16:45Meanwhile, the Israeli government, headed by Yitchak Rabin, is hatching a daring plot to storm the airport and free the
16:53hostages.
16:53It will be called Operation Thunderbolt.
17:00On July 1st, with the expiry of the first deadline, the Israelis announced they'll agree to the terrorists' demands.
17:07Now the deadline is extended for another three days.
17:14July 3rd, 1976, Uganda.
17:18Hercules transport planes, loaded with Israeli special forces and their equipment, land at Entebbe just before midnight.
17:26They're helped by the fact that the Ugandans have inexplicably left the runway lights blazing.
17:35The rear ramp of one of the planes disgorges two Land Rovers and a black Mercedes, which, looking as if
17:42they might be Amin's official motorcade, race for the building where the hostages are held.
17:50As the vehicles close in, they're challenged by two Ugandan guards.
17:54Without any hesitation, the Israelis shoot them dead.
18:00Then, as the other guards realize what's happening and open fire from the control tower, the commandos storm the building.
18:07In less than an hour, in one of the most perfectly executed and daring rescue missions ever, it's over.
18:15Taken completely by surprise, the terrorists and the Ugandan troops are overwhelmed by the Israeli commandos.
18:25The Israelis then round off the raid with a flourish, by destroying eleven Russian-built MiG fighters on the ground,
18:32a quarter of the entire Ugandan air force.
18:41By midday, the Israeli commandos and the hostages are safely back in Tel Aviv, where they're given an ecstatic welcome.
18:51However, the spectacular success of the raid proves only a minor setback to the PFLP, and it's not long before
18:59they're planning and executing further hijacks.
19:07Despite this, Arafat is still determined to reach some sort of long-term settlement with Israel.
19:14But, in June 1982, Israel invades Lebanon, and the PLO is forced to relocate to Tunisia.
19:23Three years later, however, the organization is back in Lebanon, rebuilding itself with Iraqi and Saudi Arabian money.
19:32As he struggles to re-establish the PLO, Arafat still has trouble keeping control of some of its more extreme
19:39factions, such as the PLF.
19:47October the 7th, 1985, the Mediterranean.
19:52Four heavily armed PLF terrorists seize an Italian cruise ship, the Achille Laro, a few miles off the Egyptian coast.
20:02They now demand the release of 50 militants held in Israel.
20:05Otherwise, they'll start killing the passengers, most of whom are elderly.
20:14As the negotiations wear on, the terrorists demonstrate their brutal determination by shooting a 69-year-old disabled American, Leon
20:23Klinghoffer.
20:23They then throw his body, still in a wheelchair, overboard.
20:32The crisis comes to an end on October the 10th, when the Egyptian government promises the terrorists safe passage to
20:38Tunisia if they free the hostages unharmed.
20:42They accept the deal.
20:45But U.S. President Ronald Reagan is so outraged when he hears of Klinghoffer's death, that he orders U.S.
20:51Navy F-14s to intercept the terrorist's airliner, an Egyptian Air 737, and force it down in Sicily.
21:02There, the terrorists are seized by the Italian authorities, eventually receiving long prison sentences.
21:11Towards the end of 1987, Arafat is forced to put his plans for peace with Israel on hold, as the
21:18PLO plays a key role in what's called the Intifada.
21:24Israel erupts in a series of violent riots, as disaffected Palestinian Arabs wage war in the streets against Israeli rule.
21:36In November the following year, Arafat and the PLO declare that Palestine is now an independent state, with a government
21:44in waiting.
21:45A month later, Arafat believes he's really achieved something, when the U.S. administration, long Israel's greatest ally and supporter,
21:54says it will open discussions with the PLO on the way forward.
22:00In October 1991, there's a major breakthrough, during a conference on the Middle East held in Madrid, Spain, when the
22:08PLO and Israel engage in open dialogue for the first time.
22:14But the U.S. administration still has a great many misgivings about Arafat and his true intentions, especially since he
22:21had publicly denounced their invasion of Iraq during the first Gulf War in January the same year.
22:29This time, however, Arafat is determined to see things through.
22:33He holds secret discussions with the Israelis, which, in September 1993, with the full blessing of U.S. President Bill
22:41Clinton, lead to the Oslo Accords, giving Palestine self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza over the next five
22:48years.
22:51At the same time, Arafat officially recognizes Israel and announces the end of the PLO's violent campaign to free Palestine.
23:03Israel's Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, responds by officially recognizing the PLO.
23:11However, as he basks in his new role as a respected international statesman, Arafat is regarded as a traitor by
23:19a great many Palestinian hardliners.
23:21They accuse him of selling out.
23:27Then, in November 1995, Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by a Jewish extremist who hates him for reaching an agreement with
23:36Arafat over Palestine.
23:42Although Arafat, whose own life is constantly under threat from Palestinian extremists, is deeply distressed, it doesn't sway him from
23:50his ultimate goal, total self-determination for Palestine.
23:56But he would go to his grave in November 2004, dying of an unspecified illness in a Paris hospital aged
24:0475, with his life's dream still to be realized.
24:09And by then, with the violence over Palestine yet again in full swing, the U.S., now headed by President
24:16George W. Bush, has once more declared the PLO a terrorist organization.
24:22Among the reasons cited is the hijacking of the Kile Laro and the Dawson's Field incident.
24:31Despite this, the PLO is still recognized as the only true representative of the Palestinian people.
24:40Countless lives have been lost in the bloody war, fought on a biblical scale between Jews and Arabs as they
24:47struggled to survive.
24:51But as Arab terrorist organizations, especially the PLO, have alerted the world to their plight, they have so far failed
24:59to achieve their ultimate goal.
25:02But with the world demanding a solution to what has always been regarded as an intractable problem, it seems that
25:08with a measure of goodwill from either side, the Palestinian problem could be resolved once and for all.
25:17In the long term, the Palestinians might well secure their much longed-for objective.
25:23But it is far more likely to be through negotiation and the ballot box than through a bomb or the
25:28barrel of a gun.
25:33They may have been
25:33A big deal of troubleאר again.
25:59With the government.
25:59You
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