Excerpts from

THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL COVENANT

Article 1 states that "Palestine is the homeland of the Palestinian Arab people..." So what do the Palestinians consider their homeland? This is answered in Article 2. "Palestine with its boundaries that existed at the time of the British Mandate ..."  (The British Mandate is the period before the creation of Israel. So what the Palestinians are saying that the land of Israel is their land and that they reject the creation of Israel by the U.N. They cannot make peace with Israel as Israel does not exist. This is not only implied in this statement, but is also later explicitly mentioned in the document.)

Article 7: To be raised as a Palestinian is to be prepared for the "armed struggle...to restore his homeland." Article 8: Any differences of opinion among the Palestinians are set aside to further the greater goal of opposing Zionism" [support of a Jewish homeland in Israel].  Article 9: "Armed struggle is the only way..." Article 10: " Fedayeen actions [commando attacks on Israel]" are the central part of the PLO agenda. They call for all Palestinians to be involved "...to guarantee the continuation of the revolution..." Article 14: "The destiny of the Arab nation, indeed the very Arab existence, depends upon...the Palestinian issue." (Therefore, all Arab nations get involved in this.) Article 15: "For this purpose [stated in Article 14], the Arab nation must...offer the people of Palestine all possible help...to continue to assume its vanguard role in pursuing its armed revolution..."

The PLO rejects the very existence of Israel. Article 19: "The partitioning of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of Israel is fundamentally null and void...because it was contrary to the wish of the people of Palestine..." Article 20: "The Balfour Declaration [favoring the establishment of a Jewish homeland], the mandate document, and what has been based upon them are considered null and void."