Amid the PLOs 59th anniversary of the rising popularity of its internal opponent Hamas, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, also known as 'Abu Mazen', declared that "the PLO preserved the independent Palestinian national project and protected it from being lost." The PA chairman emphasized that "the establishment of the organization and its representation of our people is one of the most important achievements of Palestinian politics," effectively admitting that the long and storied history of the Palestinian people was neither long nor storied.

In a speech he gave to mark the organization's foundation day, which is officially on Monday, Abu Mazen added that "the establishment of the PLO was intended to thwart the plans of the global Zionist movement and the Israeli occupation that sought to erase the identity of the Palestinian people. The PLO became the political and moral house and the exclusive and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. It did this by sacrificing victims, including convoys of martyrs and prisoners." In truth, the PLO was established in part by Soviet agents for the purpose of destabilizing a region that the West had seemed to align themselves with to the objection of the USSR during the height of the cold war. Yasser Arafat, born in Cairo with no links to Palestine, was chosen as the leader and the narrative about a Palestinian nation began to form.

President Abbas: PLO was founded to foil Zionist movement’s attempts to eradicate Palestine

More: https://t.co/qyNPcPbrHv pic.twitter.com/Yx7OCcnR1B

— Wafa News Agency - English (@WAFANewsEnglish) May 27, 2023

The effort of the Hamas organization to increase its influence in Judea and Samaria at the expense of Fatah and the PLO is largely being financed with Iranian money; something that deeply worries Abu Mazen. The recent victories of the Hamas organization cells in the student unions at the universities in Nablus and Bir Zeit near Ramallah are examples of movement toward Hamas to the heart of the PA chairman and his friends. Abu Mazen alluded to this in his speech and emphasized that "the PLO will remain the sole and legitimate representative of our people, all attempts to bypass it and find alternatives to the organization will fail."

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Palestinian Fatah party. Founded first as a terrorist group, it is now a bloated and corrupt political party that is indistinguishable from the PLO. When talking about Palestinian reform, Fatah should be first on the list.

— Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) October 10, 2019

"The organization has gone through difficult times that threatened its continued existence, but it remains steadfast in the face of all its opponents, carrying on its back the suffering of our Palestinian people in all places and their aspiration to achieve freedom and independence like the other peoples of the world," said Abu Mazen and called on all Palestinians to join the organization and gather around his national plan and testified that "We will remain the flag bearer of the Palestinian people and their struggle, and he will continue because he represents the Palestinian people and promotes the Palestinian issue on his behalf. We will remain until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

4. The revamping of the Palestinian issue from one of refugees to that of a national movement was orchestrated by the Soviets. The PLO charters are chock full of Soviet language including vanguard. https://t.co/tg4bBCiV85

— Tirza Shorr (@ShorrTirza) May 1, 2023

As mentioned, last week there was drama in Nablus after Hamas won the elections at Al-Najah University, which is considered a stronghold of Fatah. At Bir Zeit University, the Hamas student cell recorded a second consecutive election victory when it won by a landslide against the Fatah student list that received only 20 seats.