Abbas speaks at a press conference held in Ramallah, Jan 7, 2005. The election for the chairman of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is due to be held Sunday when Palestinian voters will choose a successor to late leader Yasser Arafat. Mahmoud Abbas, chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee, is the leading contender among a total of seven candidates vying for the post. (Xinhua photo)

    BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The election for the chairman of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is due to be held Sunday when Palestinian voters will choose a successor to late leader Yasser Arafat.

    Mahmoud Abbas, chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee, is the leading contender among a total of seven candidates vying for the post.

    Following is some basic information about the PLO.

    Founded in May 1964 in Jerusalem, the PLO is a political organization of Palestinian Arabs dedicated to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

    The PLO includes the Palestine National Liberation Movement (Fatah), the biggest and most powerful faction of the organization,the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Arab Front of Palestine for the Liberation, the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front and a number of minor groups.

    Although the groups have very different individual characteristics, they share the same goal -- the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

    According to the Palestinian National Charter created in 1968 by the PLO and other groups, the PLO is the official representative for the Palestinian people and the leading political force of Palestine.

    The PLO is made up of three bodies: the Executive Committee, exercising central control; the Central Committee, the counsel; and the Palestine National Council, which was earlier the Palestinian people's parliament in exile.

    In 1969, Yasser Arafat, of Fatah, became chairman of the PLO's Executive Committee, a position he held till his death officially announced on Nov. 11, 2004.

    In 1974, the PLO was recognized by the United Nations as "the representative of the Palestinian people" and was proclaimed the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people by Arab states at the Rabat Conference.

    In 1982, the PLO was weakened after the invasion of Lebanon by Israel. PLO members in West Beirut were dispersed to other Arab countries.

    In 1988, accepting the UN Security Council Resolution 242 -- which in reality is a recognition of Israel -- the PLO proclaimed the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

    In 1993, a peace agreement between the PLO and Israel was reached under which the two sides agreed on mutual recognition anda degree of Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

    In 1996, the PLO formally revoked all clauses in its founding charter that called for the dissolution of Israel. The revocation led to the PFLP and the DFLP breaking away from the PLO Executive Committee.

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