Editing Palestine Liberation Organization (section)

===PLO versus PA===
The 1993–1995 [[Oslo Accords]] deliberately detached the Palestinian population in the [[Palestinian territories|Occupied Palestinian Territories]] from the PLO and the Palestinians in exile by creating a [[Palestinian Authority]] (PA) for the Territories. A separate parliament and government were established. [[Mahmoud Abbas]] was one of the architects of the Oslo Accords.<ref name=bbc-2009>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1933453.stm Profile: Mahmoud Abbas]. BBC, 5 November 2009</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NHCQBAFMwawC&dq=Through+Secret+Channels&pg=PA19 Who's Who in the Arab World 2007–2008]. Walter de Gruyter, 2007</ref>

Although many in the PLO opposed the Oslo Agreements, the executive committee and the Central Council approved the Accords. It marked the beginning of the PLO's decline, as the PA came to replace the PLO as the prime Palestinian political institution. Political factions within the PLO that had opposed the Oslo process were marginalized.

The PLO managed to overcome the separation by uniting the power in PLO and PA in one individual, [[Yasser Arafat]]. In 2002, Arafat held the functions of Chairman of the PLO/Executive Committee; Chairman of [[Fatah]], the dominating faction within the PLO; as well as [[President of the Palestinian National Authority]]. He also controlled the [[Palestinian National Security Forces]].<ref name=ahram/>

Only during the [[Hamas]]-led PA Government in 2006–2007 did the PLO resurface. After Hamas [[Battle of Gaza (2007)|took over]] Gaza in 2007, Abbas issued a decree suspending the PLC and some sections of the [[Palestinian law#Basic Law|Palestinian Basic Law]], and appointed [[Salam Fayyad]] as prime minister.

The PLO remains the official representative of [[Palestine]] at [[United Nations|the UN]].