ABSTRACT
The Palestinian forces remain as diverse and devoid of central authority as ever. The chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and designated president of the state of Palestine is Yasir Arafat, who also heads Fatah, the largest constituent organization. Seven major organisations are members of PLO institutions: Fatah, PLF, ALF, PFLP, DFLP, PPSF and PCP. Palestinian military and para-military forces not belonging to the PLO are FRC (Abu Nidal), Fatah rebels (Abu Musa), PFLP-GC and al Saiqa. They are not controlled by the PLO executive organizations mentioned under Armed Forces. Ten Palestinian organizations, some formally belonging to the PLO, others not, convened in September 1992 in Syria and declared themselves an “opposition front,” opposed to the peace negotiations now in process. The ten are PFLP, Hamas-Islamic Resistance, PPSF, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Revolutionary Communist Party, DFLP, PFLP-GC, PLF, al-Saiqa and the Abu Musa Fatah Rebels (called also “Fatah-Intifada”).
