ABSTRACT
The fifth general assembly demarcated a new era in the history of the GUPS, in which armed Palestinian factions would claim center stage. GUPS's attempts at public diplomacy were also reflected in the opening remarks of PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat, whose speech revealed the extent of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Jordanian government. Participants included Yasir Arafat, senior leaders of various resistance organizations and activists from almost all of the Palestinian factions. GUPS enumerated the links between the General Union of Jordanian Students and the Palestinian revolution, which they believed had spurred their persecution at the hands of the Jordanian authorities. GUPS cooperation with the Egyptian Student Union, which had served to exacerbate its fall from favor with the regime, served also to seal a common fate for the two student groups in the eyes of a perturbed Egyptian government. It influences to extend far beyond the student political sphere, remained in close contact with the Egyptian Student Union.
