|Yasser Arafat, the late PLO leader, came to embody the
Palestinians' struggle [GALLO/GETTY] The Palestine Liberation
Organisation (PLO) began with the aim of securing a national
home for the Palestinians. More than four decades on, that
struggle continues. The following is a chronology of key events
and developments related to the PLO. |Founding of the PLO
(1947-1967) November 29, 1947: The UN General Assembly adopts by
a two-thirds majority the Palestine partition plan dividing the
British Mandate of Palestine into two states. 1947-1949: The
Nakba, meaning "disaster" or "cataclysm". Up to 900,000
Palestinians leave their homes in the area that becomes the
state of Israel. May 14-15, 1948: Proclamation of the state of
Israel. Britain withdraws from Palestine. The Arab states reject
the partition plan. Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and
Lebanon declare war on Israel. Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian
armies advance into the newly proclaimed state of Israel. |Ahmad
al-Shukairy was named the first chairm