le had not lost its spirit in Israeli prisons and concentration camps or when faced with all forms of harassment and intimidation (November 13, 1974). Thus, the Palestinians still remained committed to the dissolution of Israel, but they were also divided over how to ultimately achieve this outcome. Pressured by a Palestinian youth uprising known as the intifada, in the occupied territories in 1987, and by Jordan's formal severing of its links to the West Bank in 1988, Arafat formally declared a Palestinian state in 1988, and conditionally accepted UN Resolution 242, which implicitly recognizes Israel. Arafat declared before the United Nations that the PLO renounced terrorism once and for all, and supported the right of all parties to live in peace -- Israel included. By the year's end some 70 countries had recognized the PLO. In all respects it functions as a government, except that it has no territory to govern. However, this diplomatic victory was undermined when Arafat backed Iraq in the Persian Gulf War causing the PLO to lose support among Arab states. Finding itself increasingly isolated and short of funds in the face of Israel's great military superiority, the PLO under Arafat agreed to negotiate with Israel in 1993. The result was an Israeli-Palestinian accord, signed in Washington on Sept. 13, 1993, which provided for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and West Bank. For the first time, Israel recognized the PLO and granted self-rule to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Jericho. Rabin and Arafat shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for their efforts in bringing peace. The Palestinian Authority (a Palestinian governing body in the occupied territories), an 88-seat Palestinian Council, was created under the 1993 peace agreement and held elections in 1996. Arafat captured 88% of the vote for the Palestinian presidency in the January 1996 Palestinian elections, in which his Fatah wing of the PLO wo...
