Could Derail Peace Process : Internal Splits, Tradition of Violence Plague PLO

Shortly after the Reagan Administration made the dramatic announcement that it would begin talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization, the State Department issued a secret alert to American diplomatic and military facilities overseas warning about a potential new rash of terrorism.

“Every past peace process has coincided with new violence. Since the stakes are even higher this time around,” said a Reagan Administration official, “it is more than likely that someone will try to do something even more sensational”--probably a PLO splinter group.

The alert underscores a crucial fact about the powerful organization with which the United States is at last negotiating: Whatever else it is, the PLO is far from monolithic or cohesive.

Since it was established at an Arab summit in Cairo in 1964 as a puppet group largely controlled by the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, the organization has evolved into a multifaceted and sometimes bitterly divided conglomerate with factions embracing sharply different attitudes, approaches and methods.

So deep are some of the divisions among the Palestinians that Arafat himself may now become a target of the kind of brutal terrorist attacks that have been the hallmark of his organization.

And the PLO’s internal divisions, coupled with its tradition of violence, pose a tough challenge for the United States as it tries to use the new talks to move toward a settlement of the Mideast dispute.

The factions now under the PLO umbrella vary widely in political orientation, from democratic to Marxist. Their choice of Arab allies is equally disparate, ranging from relatively conservative Saudi Arabia to militant Syria. The world’s most notorious guerrilla movement also contains within it a host of legitimate business enterprises and financial assets that make it a leading Third World multinational.

Inspired by the Algerians’ uprising against the French in 1962, the PLO was originally formed to enable Palestinians “to carry out their role in liberating their homeland and determining their destiny.”

In 1964, that meant retrieving the land on which the fledgling state of Israel was created. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip had not yet been lost.

The first PLO chairman was Ahmed Shukairi, an ally of President Nasser. Arafat, at that point, was far from the scene.

He was affiliated with Fatah, which means “conquest” or “opening” in Arabic. It had been formed in 1959 by five young Palestinian activists whose first big venture was the publication of a magazine addressing Palestinian political and social issues.

Arafat, a Cairo University engineering graduate, was elected its first chief. Lebanese politicians love to recall how he used to peddle the magazine door to door in Beirut in the early days.

While the PLO sat in the conference halls of Arab capitals, Arafat’s Fatah began forming a guerrilla organization to back its words with action. It issued Military Communique No. 1 on Jan. 1, 1965, claiming credit for a notably unsuccessful attack against Israel.

The Palestinian movement in general, however, did not pick up real momentum until the 1967 Middle East War, when Israel captured large chunks of Egypt, Jordan and Syria--plus sacred Jerusalem. Thousands of new Palestinian refugees were galvanized into action, coalescing into several new groups.

Fatah Emerges

By 1969, Arafat’s Fatah had emerged as the most powerful of these. In what was to be the first of several masterful political maneuvers, Arafat manipulated a takeover of the PLO leadership. The various other groups, some with open reluctance, then fell in with the PLO.

Daring guerrilla assaults across Israel’s borders and spectacularly bloody terrorist acts quickly became the PLO’s trademarks.

Among them were the 1970 triple hijacking of American, British and Swiss airliners, later blown up in the Jordanian desert, and the 1972 seizure of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Eleven Israeli hostages and five Palestinians were killed.

The wave of terrorism produced revulsion in many parts of the world, but for the PLO guerrillas, it had the desired effect: The outside world began paying attention to the Palestinian issue. Western nations became pressing the PLO to look for diplomatic alternatives to violence.

Ironically, peace has always been Arafat’s most troublesome problem.

Two rounds of splits within the movement, in the early 1970s and in 1982-83, have produced hard-line factions outside the PLO mainstream that have rejected diplomacy.

Both splits serve as ominous precedents for the current PLO-U.S. dialogue because both were largely the result of moves by Arafat on the diplomatic front--moves tied directly or indirectly with the United States.

Among the so-called rejectionist front are the Palestinian factions best known for conducting terrorist attacks outside Israel. Abu Nidal, whose faction is based in Libya, was responsible for the attacks on the Rome and Vienna airports three years ago that resulted in more than 20 American and European deaths.

Abu Nidal’s Revolutionary Council of Fatah was also linked with the hijacking of a Pan American flight in Pakistan and an attack on a synagogue in Istanbul, Turkey, both in 1986.

The attacks and threats have not been limited to Israelis and Americans. After Abu Nidal, whose real name is Sabri Banna, split from the mainstream PLO in the early 1970s, his group tried Arafat in absentia and sentenced him to death.

Arafat was charged with treason for betraying the struggle when he began pursuing diplomatic solutions. His effort resulted in his first U.N. address in 1974, when he waved an olive branch at the General Assembly.

“I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter’s gun,” he said. “Don’t let the olive branch fall from my hand.” The move, however, proved costly.

The second split followed Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and Arafat’s agreement to a U.S. plan to pull his fighters out of Beirut in order to end the massive bloodshed.

His controversial decision to abandon the struggle and his loyalty to commanders who had performed poorly--some charged they had fled combat with Israeli forces--triggered a backlash.

Abu Moussa, a former Arafat lieutenant whose real name is Said Moussa, and other pro-Syrian factions defected from the PLO. In 1983, with Syrian military assistance, they launched an offensive against Arafat loyalists in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli.

Weeks of fighting resulted in hundreds of Palestinian deaths--for the first time at Palestinian hands. Arafat was also once again forced to abandon Lebanon.

The split was the deepest and longest in the PLO’s history. It was only partially healed at a Palestinian summit in Algiers in 1987.

As a result, the factions now under the PLO umbrella are still far from united on either the peace process or the form of a Palestinian homeland. “The alliance is, at best, tenuous,” said a State Department official.

Arafat’s Fatah, which calls for a democratic Palestinian state, is the most moderate. Its main headquarters have been in Tunisia and Baghdad since the PLO evacuated Beirut in 1982.

It is now estimated to represent about 60% of the PLO membership, although members in other groups as well as thousands of other Palestinians who are not affiliated with any faction ultimately look to Arafat as the symbolic Palestinian leader.

A 1986 poll by the Jerusalem newspaper Al Fajr revealed that more than 90% of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip ultimately accept Arafat as their leader.

The next two largest PLO groups are Marxist. Both have been based in Syria since 1982. Both also split with Arafat over PLO strategy between 1982 and 1987.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is headed by a Christian pediatrician, Dr. George Habash. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which emerged after a split with the PFLP almost two decades ago, is headed by another Christian, Nayef Hawatmeh.

Both envision socialist rule in a Palestinian homeland. Although the PFLP and the DFLP have endorsed Arafat’s Geneva declaration, their long-term support in the event of a breakdown in the dialogue with the United States is uncertain, Mideast analysts say.

But the PLO is not just a political movement. During the 1970s, its various wings also developed social and business outlets that amounted to a mini-government.

PLO industries, often referred to jokingly in Beirut as “PLO Inc.,” included factories that made furniture, clothing, handicrafts and other basic goods. The concept developed when Palestinian refugees found employment opportunities limited.

Other Ventures

The PLO eventually branched out, setting up chicken farms and buying small textile firms in African and Middle Eastern countries. The PLO’s tax on Palestinians in the diaspora, which stretches from Latin America through Europe all the way to Australia, has been converted into avenues of return, not just subsistence.

By the time of its evacuation from Beirut, the PLO was the second-largest employer in the country--behind only the Lebanese government. Many of those activities have been retained or rebuilt in other Middle East and African nations.

For the past 15 years, the PLO has also sponsored a variety of social organizations, from women’s groups to writers’ unions. These groups in the Israeli-occupied territories were often the front for the PLO, which has been outlawed in Israel.

Over the past year, they have also formed the basic support network for the Palestinian uprising, or intifada as it is called in Arabic.

This is the third layer of the Palestinian movement. Although at least 80% of the youths involved in demonstrations and riots are considered to be loyal to Arafat, their actions have been self-initiated.

“This network of activists inside the territories has been pressing Arafat since early summer to get serious on the political initiative,” said Helena Cobban, a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and author of “The Palestine Liberation Organization.”

“And this is the constituency that Arafat now has to listen to.”

Sufficient Support

U.S. officials believe Arafat has sufficient support, at least for the time being, from the PLO mainstream and the Palestinians in the occupied territories to deal seriously with the United States.

They have fears, however, about a backlash--political or physical--from the four groups outside the PLO.

Indeed, U.S. counterterrorism officials suggest that Arafat may now be as vulnerable to terrorism attacks as American targets--maybe even more so.

The same terrorism with which it was long associated could well turn on the PLO leader for what radical Palestinians charge is selling out.

Abu Moussa, the Palestinian dissident, charged Thursday: “The stands of surrender which Arafat announced in Geneva constituted a liquidation of the Palestinian cause.

“Arafat has become one of the enemies of the revolution, and he should be treated on this basis.”

PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION Formally created in Cairo, 1964. First leader Ahmed Shukairi. Became umbrella for several Palestinian factions. FATAH Founded 1959. Moderate, centrist. Leader Yasser Arafat. Largest militia. Based in Tunisia. POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (PFLP) Founded 1967. Hard-line Marxist. Leader Dr. George Habash. Second-largest militia. Based in Syria. ARAB LIBERATION FRONT Founded 1969. Baathist. Leader Abdul-Rahmin Ahmed. Tiny militia based in Iraq. SAIKA Founded 1967. Pro-Syrian. Leaders Issam Kadi, Samini Attari. Small militia based in Syria, with a presence in Lebanon. PALESTINE COMMUNIST PARTY Founded about 1920. Leader Suleiman Ennadjab. Not involved in armed struggle. REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL OF FATAH Split form Arafat’s Fatah in early 1970s. Leader Abu Nidal. Small network of terrorist cells. Based in Libya. FATAH UPRISING Split form Arafat’s Fatah in 1982. Leader Abu Moussa. Small militia based in Syria, with a presence in Lebanon. DEMOCRATIC FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE Split from the PFLP in 1969. Marxist, closer to Moscow. Leader Nayef Hawatmeh. Third-largest militia. Based in Syria. PFLP-GENERAL COMMAND Split from PFLP in 1967. Split with Arafat in 1982. Leader Ahmed Jibril. Small militia based in Syria, with a presence in Lebanon. PALESTINE LIBERATION FRONT Split from PFLP-GC in 1976. Limited ideology. Leader Abul Abbas. Tiny militia based in Iraq.