The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is often portrayed as the genuine voice of the "Palestinian people". However, evidence suggests that the PLO's origins are deeply intertwined with Soviet efforts to destabilize the West and its allies in the Middle East, particularly Israel. Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former Romanian intelligence officer, revealed that the PLO was not an organic Palestinian creation but a product of the KGB's covert operations. He defected to the United States in 1978, and became the highest-ranking intelligence officer ever to defect from the Eastern Bloc. Pacepa provided insights into various Soviet operations, including those involving the KGB.
Pacepa’s primary concern was exposing the manipulative tactics of the Soviet bloc, including the KGB's influence operations worldwide. Pacepa's revelations about the PLO and its Soviet ties were likely motivated by his broader aim to reveal the extent of Soviet disinformation and subversion tactics rather than any specific allegiance to Israel. His lack of direct connection to Israeli interests supports the credibility of his claims regarding the Soviet manipulation of the Palestinian cause.
Pacepa was concerned about the KGB's global operations aimed at destabilizing democratic societies and spreading Soviet influence. He worried about the KGB's extensive use of disinformation, psychological warfare, and manipulation of political movements worldwide to undermine the West, incite anti-American sentiment, and foster conflicts that served Soviet geopolitical interests. These tactics included creating and supporting terrorist organizations, manipulating media narratives, infiltrating academia, and influencing international politics through covert operations and grassroots political organizations to elect anti-government candidates who would support regime change in their country and be sympathetic to the goals of the USSR. Pacepa's insights revealed the breadth of Soviet efforts to subvert and destabilize Western democracies from within.
There are strong indications that the destabilization tactics described by Pacepa continue in various forms today. The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) Movement, for example, can be seen as a continuation of efforts to isolate Israel and undermine Western support, reflecting similar disinformation and subversive strategies attributed to the KGB during the Cold War. Under Putin, the remnants of the KGB, now operating within Russian intelligence, still engage in these long-term plans to weaken Western unity and sow discord within democratic societies, echoing Soviet-era tactics. Additionally, similar efforts are being supported by China, Iran, Qatar, and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Today's landscape includes the polarization of U.S. society, anti-American protests in academia and on the streets, and the demonization of American patriotic symbols, such as the American flag and the Bald Eagle, as symbols of racism and oppression. Narratives that pit the "haves" against the "have-nots," a left-wing media that often supports anti-American radical Islamist groups, and political figures, including a Vice President who has expressed interest in appointing a Secretary of State linked to the Iranian Regime, all further this destabilization.
The rise of members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar—who has openly stated her use of her congressional position to further the interests of Somalia's government—Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, and the rest of "The Squad," along with their supporters like Bernie Sanders, suggest that the ideological conflicts of the Cold War are far from over. It appears that leaders like Putin and Xi are playing the long game, aiming to destabilize the United States, as forewarned by ex-KGB operative Yuri Bezmenov.
Additionally, the BDS movement is often associated with various entities, including the Muslim Brotherhood (the parent organization of Hamas), and the PFLP, a violent and volatile leftist extremist terrorist organization which has conducted ruthless terrorist attacks throughout the world. Funding for this movement appears to be coming from countries like Qatar and Iran, while management positions are held by Muslim Brotherhood and PFLP convicted terrorists. These groups and nations have interests aligned with promoting anti-Israel sentiment and challenging Western support for Israel. The involvement of such players reflects a broader strategy to undermine Israel’s legitimacy and destabilize Western alliances, echoing tactics similar to those used by the KGB during the Cold War. This connection suggests a continuation of long-term plans aimed at creating discord within the West and fostering division, consistent with historical Soviet strategies.
According to Pacepa, the KGB meticulously orchestrated the PLO's formation to serve as a proxy for Soviet geopolitical interests. In 1964, the KGB convened the first PLO Council in Moscow, selecting 422 Palestinian representatives who would align with Soviet anti-Western and anti-Zionist goals. The PLO Charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel, was drafted under Soviet guidance. This document was designed to project a narrative of Palestinian victimhood while masking the broader Soviet strategy to weaken the United States and its Middle Eastern allies.
The KGB’s involvement was carefully concealed to maintain the illusion of a grassroots Palestinian movement. This deception was part of a broader Soviet strategy to infiltrate and manipulate global movements under the guise of supporting "national liberation" while actually promoting anti-Western sentiment and destabilizing democratic societies.
The PLO Charter, therefore, is not a mere authentic expression of Palestinian nationalism, but a strategic Soviet, ideologically-driven attack on Israeli sovereignty and on Western democracy with the ultimate goal of ending the “American Hegemony”. The PLO, under Soviet influence, became a tool to spread misinformation, foment unrest, and challenge the legitimacy of Israel on the international stage.
By exposing these historical manipulations, it becomes clear that the PLO's foundation was less about Palestinian self-determination and more about advancing Soviet strategic interests against the West. The Charter's language, which promotes the destruction of Israel, reflects the aggressive, expansionist goals of the Soviet Union rather than the legitimate aspirations of a people seeking self-governance.
To understand the full extent of Soviet manipulation in the PLO's creation and its impact on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, it is crucial to consider these hidden historical dynamics. Acknowledging this truth is essential for debunking false Palestinian narratives and reinforcing the reality of Israel's right to exist as a sovereign state amidst ongoing propaganda and geopolitical maneuvering.
The KGB's strategy involved fostering anti-Western sentiment and destabilizing democratic countries by supporting various "national liberation" movements worldwide. The PLO was a key element in this broader strategy, created to serve as a tool for Soviet anti-imperialist propaganda and to weaken U.S. influence in the Middle East. The Soviet Union saw the Palestinian cause as a vehicle to sow discord in the region, turn Arab states against Israel, and promote anti-Zionist narratives globally.
The Soviets chose the Palestinian cause because of its potential to ignite widespread support among Arab nations and galvanize global anti-colonial sentiment. The PLO was strategically positioned to act as a spearhead for Soviet influence in the Middle East, turning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a focal point of global anti-imperialist struggle. By creating an organization that appeared to be a grassroots liberation movement, the KGB aimed to disguise its true intentions and make the PLO seem like an authentic representative of Palestinian aspirations.
Yasser Arafat, the prominent leader of the PLO, was presented as a genuine Palestinian figurehead. However, the Soviets and Arafat himself concealed his Egyptian and possibly Libyan background to make him appear as an authentic Palestinian leader. This was part of a broader Soviet effort to manufacture a cohesive Palestinian identity that could serve their strategic objectives. Highlighting Arafat's foreign origins would have undermined the narrative of an indigenous Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation.
The PLO Charter's initial omission of Judea, Samaria (the West Bank), East Jerusalem, and Gaza as “Palestinian” territories was deliberate. At the time, these areas were controlled by Jordan and Egypt, which did not create a "Palestinian" homeland nor recognize Palestinians as a distinct people. Instead, they were seen as part of a larger Arab nation, underscoring the Pan-Arabist ideology rather than a unique Palestinian identity. The KGB's narrative aimed to mobilize Arabs against Israel rather than focusing on a distinct Palestinian state, consistent with Soviet objectives of promoting broader Arab unity against Western interests.
The Soviet Union's backing of the PLO aligned with a broader strategy to foster Pan-Arabism and anti-Western alliances. By leveraging Arab nationalism and portraying Israel as a colonial outpost of Western powers, the Soviets sought to create a united Arab front against Israel and its Western allies. This tactic not only aimed to isolate Israel diplomatically but also to encourage terrorist activities against Western targets, thus destabilizing the region further and extending Soviet influence.
The narrative that the PLO is a grassroots organization representing Palestinian aspirations is challenged by evidence of Soviet manipulation. The PLO’s creation and its charter were part of a carefully crafted Soviet strategy to use the Middle East conflict as a means to undermine Western influence and promote Soviet geopolitical interests. Recognizing this historical manipulation is essential to debunking false narratives and understanding the complexities behind the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
In 1972, KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov orchestrated Operation SIG to fuel anti-American and anti-Zionist sentiment by convincing Muslims that America is controlled by Jews who want to enslave the Islamic world. They sent 4,000 KGB agents into Islamic nations to spread thousands of copies of the Russian antisemitic hoax titled, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”.
"...the Islamic world was a waiting petri dish in which we could nurture a virulent strain of America-hatred, grown from the bacterium of Marxist-Leninist thought. Islamic anti-Semitism ran deep... We had only to keep repeating our themes — that the United States and Israel were 'fascist, imperial-Zionist countries' bankrolled by rich Jews. Islam was obsessed with preventing the infidels' occupation of its territory, and it would be highly receptive to our characterization of the U.S. Congress as a rapacious Zionist body aiming to turn the world into a Jewish fiefdom."
A quote from Pacepa in 2003 explains how the Soviets used Yasser Arafat as a KGB asset:
"He [Yasser Arafat] was an Egyptian bourgeois turned into a devoted Marxist by KGB foreign intelligence. The KGB had trained him at its Balashikha special-operations school east of Moscow and in the mid-1960s decided to groom him as the future PLO leader. First, the KGB destroyed the official records of Arafat's birth in Cairo, and replaced them with fictitious documents saying that he had been born in Jerusalem and was therefore a Palestinian by birth." - The Wall Street Journal
This is a quote from Pacepa in 2004 explains how the KGB formed the PLO:
"The PLO was dreamt up by the KGB, which had a penchant for 'liberation' organizations. There was the National Liberation Army of Bolivia, created by the KGB in 1964 with help from Ernesto 'Che' Guevara ... the KGB also created the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which carried out numerous bombing attacks... In 1964 the first PLO Council, consisting of 422 Palestinian representatives handpicked by the KGB, approved the Palestinian National Charter -- a document that had been drafted in Moscow. The Palestinian National Covenant and the Palestinian Constitution were also born in Moscow, with the help of Ahmed Shuqairy, a KGB influence agent who became the first PLO chairman..." - FrontPage Magazine
In 2010, historian Robert S. Wistrich wrote that the Soviet Union initiated an extensive campaign to undermine Israel and Zionism following their embarrassing loss via their main proxies, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan during The Six-Day War to counteract the blow to Soviet prestige after Israel's victory over the Arab states, which were Soviet allies. Other less involved participants were Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia.
"After 1967, the USSR began to flood the world with a constant flow of anti-Zionist propaganda... Only the Nazis in their twelve years of power had ever succeeded in producing such a sustained flow of fabricated libels as an instrument of their domestic and foreign policy." - Robert S. Wistrich, "A Lethal Obsession" (2010) p 139.
In 2016, John Richardson wrote an article for the Gatestone Institute titled, “The Soviet-Palestinian Lie”. In it he described the origins of today's BDS Movement:
“As early as 1965, the USSR had formally proposed in the UN a resolution that would condemn Zionism as colonialism and racism. Although the Soviets did not succeed in their first attempt, the UN turned out to be an overwhelmingly grateful recipient of Soviet bigotry and propaganda; in November 1975, Resolution 3379 condemning Zionism as ‘a form of racism and racial discrimination' was finally passed. This followed nearly a decade of diligent Soviet propaganda directed at the Third World, depicting Israel as a Trojan Horse for Western imperialism and racism. This campaign was designed to build support for Soviet foreign policy in Africa and the Middle East. Another tactic was constantly to draw visual and verbal comparisons in the Soviet media between Israel and South Africa (this is the origin of the canard of ‘Israeli apartheid’).”
For anyone interested in reading the original PLO Charter created by the KGB, here it is:
We. The Palestinian Arab people, who waged fierce and continuous battles to safeguard its homeland, to defend its dignity and honour, and who offered, all through the years, continuous caravans of immortal martyrs, and who wrote the noblest pages of sacrifice, offering and giving.
We. The Palestinian Arab people, who faced the forces of evil, injustice and aggression against whom the forces of International Zionism and colonialism conspired and worked to displace it, dispossess it from its homeland to realize its freedom and dignity and who has determined to amass its forces and mobilize its efforts and capabilities in order to continue its struggle and to move forward on the path of holy war until complete and final victory has been attained.
We. The Palestinian Arab people, depending on our right of self-defense and the complete restoration of our lost homeland – a right that has been recognized by international covenants and common practices including the charter of the United Nations and in implementation of the principles of human rights’ and comprehending the international political relations, with its various ramifications and limits, and considering the past experiences in all that pertains to the causes of the catastrophe (al-Nakba), and the means to face it.
And embarking from the Palestinian Arab reality, and for the sake of the honour of the Palestinian individual and his right to free and dignified life;
And realizing the national grave responsibility placed upon our shoulders, for the sake of all this.
We. The Palestinian Arab people, dictate and declare this Palestinian National Covenant and vow to realize it.
Article 1. Palestine is an Arab homeland bound by strong national ties to the rest of the Arab Countries and which together form the large Arab homeland.
Article 2. Palestine with its boundaries at the time of the British Mandate is a regional indivisible unit.
Article 3. The Palestinian Arab people has the legitimate right to its homeland and is an inseparable part of the Arab Nation. It shares the sufferings and aspirations of the Arab Nation and its struggle for freedom, sovereignty, progress and unity.
Article 4. The people of Palestine determines its destiny when it completes the liberation of its homeland in accordance with its own wishes and free will and choice.
Article 5. The Palestinian personality is a permanent and genuine characteristic that does not disappear. It is transferred from fathers to sons.
Article 6. The Palestinians are those Arab citizens who were living normally in Palestine up to 1947, whether they remained or were expelled. Every child who was born to a Palestinian parent after this date whether in Palestine or outside is a Palestinian.
Article 7. Jews of Palestinian origin are considered Palestinians if they are willing to live peacefully and loyally in Palestine.
Article 8. Bringing up Palestinian youth in Arab and nationalist manner is a fundamental national duty. All means of guidance education and enlightenment should be utilized to introduce the youth to its homeland in a deep spiritual way that will constantly and firmly bind them together.
Article 9. Doctrines whether political social or economic, shall not occupy the people of Palestine from the primary duty of liberating their homeland. All Palestinians constitute one national front and work with all their feelings and spiritual and material potentialities to free their homeland.
Article 10. Palestinians have three mottoes: National unity, National mobilization; and liberation. Once liberation is completed, the people of Palestine shall choose for its public life whatever political economic or social system they want.
Article 11. The Palestinian people firmly believe in Arab unity, and in order to play its role in realizing this goal, it must, at this stage of its struggle preserve its Palestinian personality and all its constituents. It must strengthen the consciousness of its existence and stand against any attempt or plan that may weaken or disintegrate its personality.
Article 12. Arab unity and the liberation of Palestine are two complementary goals; each prepares for the attainment of the other. Arab unity leads to the liberation of Palestine, and the liberation of Palestine leads to Arab unity. Working for both must go side by side.
Article 13. The destiny of the Arab Nation and even the essence of Arab existence are firmly tied to the destiny of the Palestine question; from this firm bond stems the effort and struggle of the Arab Nation to liberate Palestine. The People of Palestine assumes the vanguard role in achieving this sacred national goal.
Article 14. The liberation of Palestine from an Arab view point, is a national duty. Its responsibilities fall upon the entire Arab Nation, Governments and peoples, the Palestinian people being in the foreground. For this purpose the Arab Nation must mobilize its military spiritual and material potentialities, specifically, it must give to the Palestinian Arab people all possible support and backing and place at its disposal all opportunities and means to enable them to perform their roles in liberating their homeland.
Article 15. The liberation of Palestine, from a spiritual view point, prepares for the Holy Land, an atmosphere of tranquility and peace, in which all the Holy Places will be safeguarded, and the free worship and visit to all will be guaranteed, without any discrimination of race, colour, tongue, or religion. For all this, the Palestinian people look forward to the support of all spiritual forces in the world.
Article 16. The liberation of Palestine from an international view point is a defensive act necessitated by the demands of self-defense as stated in the charter of the United Nations. That is why the people of Palestine desiring to befriend all nations which love freedom, justice, and peace, is looking forward for their support in restoring the legitimate situation to Palestine, establishing peace and security in its territory, and enable its people to exercise national sovereignty and freedom.
Article 17. The Partitioning of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of Israel are illegal and false regardless of the loss of time, because they were contrary to the wish of the Palestine people and its natural right to its homeland, and in violation of the basic principles embodied in the charter of the United Nations, foremost among which is the right to self-determination.
Article 18. The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate system and all that has been based upon them are considered fraud. The claims of historic and spiritual ties, ties between Jews and Palestine are not in agreement with the facts of history or with the true basis of sound statehood. Judaism because it is a divine religion is not a nationality with independent existence. Furthermore the Jews are not one people with an independent personality because they are citizens of the countries to which they belong.
Article 19. Zionism is a colonialist movement in its inception, aggressive and expansionist in its goals, racist and segregationist in its configurations and fascist in its means and aims. Israel in its capacity as the spearhead of this destructive movement and the pillar for colonialism is a permanent source of tension and turmoil in the Middle East in particular and to the international community in general. Because of this the People of Palestine are worthy of the support and sustenance of the community of nations.
Article 20. The causes of peace and security and the needs of right and justice demand from all nations, in order to safeguard true relationships among peoples, and to maintain the loyalty of citizens to their homeland, to consider Zionism an illegal movement and to outlaw its presence and activities.
Article 21. The Palestine people believes in the principle of justice, freedom, sovereignty, self-determination, human dignity, and the right of peoples to practice these principles. It also supports all international efforts to bring about peace on the basis of justice and free international co-operation.
Article 22. The People of Palestine believe in peaceful coexistence on the basis of legal existence, for there can be no coexistence with aggression, nor can there be peace with occupation and colonialism.
Article 23. In realizing the goals and principles of this Covenant the Palestine Liberation Organization carries out its complete role to liberate Palestine in accordance with the fundamental law of this Organization.
Article 24. This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields.
Article 25. The Organization is encharged with the movement of the Palestinian people in its struggle to liberate its homeland in all liberational, organizational, political, and financial matters, and in all other needs of the Palestine Question in the Arab and international spheres.
Article 26. The Liberation Organization co-operates with all Arab governments each according to its ability, and does not interfere in the internal affairs of any state.
Article 27. The Organization shall have its flag, oath and national anthem. All this shall be resolved in accordance with a special system.
Article 28. The Fundamental Law for the Palestine Liberation Organization is attached to this Covenant. This Law defines the manner of establishing the Organization, its organs, institutions, the specialities of each one of them, and all the needed duties thrust upon it in accordance with this Covenant.
Article 29. This Covenant cannot be amended except by two-thirds majority of the National Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization in a special session called for this purpose.
