Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

522 • PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATIONgroup of the PFLP and has been defunct since the death of its leaderin 1978. The Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (FARL),the May 15 Organization, and the PFLP-Special Command wereall offshoots of the PFLP-Special Operations Group and have neverbeen part of the PLO. The Islamic Resistance Movement, also knownas Hamas, is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and, like theIslamic Jihad of Palestine group, has never been a part of the PLO.It should be noted, however, that individual members of these latterorganizations may have overlapping memberships in PLO groups.After the signing of the September 1993 Oslo Accords, the PLOgenerally dominated the Palestinian Authority, established to administerthe autonomous areas of Gaza and the West Bank createdwith Israeli’s withdrawals over time. On 20 January 1996 electionswere held for the 88-seat Palestinian Legislative Council and forpresident of the Palestinian Authority, in which al Fatah won 66 ofthe 88 council seats and Arafat won 88 percent of the vote to SamihaKhalil’s 11.5 percent. Under the Oslo Accords’ electoral provisions,the members of this council would be automatically considered membersof the Palestine National Council. On 12 February 1996 Arafatwas sworn in as president of the PA interim government. On 22 April1996 the Palestine National Council convened in Gaza for its 21stsession, for the first time on Palestinian soil since 1966, with 558 delegatesrepresenting Palestinians both in the diaspora and within thelands under the Palestinian Authority or still under Israeli control.The 21st PNC voted on 24 April 1996 by 504-54, with 14 abstentions,to annul anything in the PLO Charter calling for the destructionof the State of Israel. This PNC meeting was attended by PFLPleader George Habash and DFLP leader Nayef Hawatmeh, both criticsof the Oslo Accords; by Muhammad Abbas, also known as AbuAbbas, leader of the PLF; and by Muhammad Daoud Odeh, who ledthe Black September assault on the Israeli Olympic team in the 1972Summer Munich Olympics. The PFLP-General Command, Hamas,and Islamic Jihad in Palestine were not members of the PNC and sonot represented. Following the Wye River Accord, the PLO CentralCouncil met on 10 December 1998 to vote to abrogate Articles 9,15, 19, and 22 of the PLO Charter, which in essence require armedstruggle to destroy the State of Israel as the basis for Palestinianstatehood. The PNC had to reconvene in December 1998 to endorseby open vote this abrogation of these articles, which was done on