FOUNDED ON Marxist-Leninist principles, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has become the longest-running revolutionary movement in the history of the world. The 1964 National Charter of the PLO was amended in 1968, and much of its far-left rhetoric has since been repudiated. From the time that Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser conceived of the PLO, it was intended to protect Arab interests in relation to the Jewish State of Israel. By the late 20th century, the PLO had become a major player in global efforts to obtain peace in the Middle East. As both a political group and a paramilitary organization, the PLO is unique, having been granted observer status in the United Nations

When the Arab League founded the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964, its ...