Arafat's Olive Branch at the United Nations

In the autumn of 1974 the Palestine Liberation Organization won unprecedented international standing. At the Arab League summit in Rabat in late October, Arab heads of state recognized the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. On 14 October, the UN General Assembly — for the first time in its history — invited a national liberation movement, the PLO, to participate in its plenary deliberations on the question of Palestine.

On 13 November 1974, Yasser Arafat, chairman of the PLO’s Executive Committee, addressed the General Assembly in New York. It was the first time a Palestinian leader had spoken for his people from the UN rostrum, and the session was held under extraordinary security. In his speech Arafat laid out the Palestinian claim to self-determination and framed the PLO’s armed struggle as the fight of an uprooted people, closing with the words: “Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.” Much of the hall rose in a standing ovation; Israel denounced the invitation, and the United States voted against the moves that followed.

Nine days later, on 22 November 1974, the Assembly adopted resolution 3236 (XXIX), reaffirming the “inalienable rights” of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination, national independence, and sovereignty, and recognizing the Palestinian people as a principal party to any Middle East peace. The same day, by 95 votes to 17 with 19 abstentions, resolution 3237 (XXIX) granted the PLO observer status at the United Nations — a diplomatic milestone that anchored the Palestine question at the UN and paved the way for the observer “State of Palestine” status upgraded by the Assembly nearly four decades later.