54 SOCIAL SCIENTIST ideological debate on wider issues, deferring them till the creation of the state of Palestine. It subscribes to the ideal of Arab unity, but believes it to be impractical till liberation is achieved, accepting whatever aid and assistance is available from the Arab states towards that end. Its strategy is based on popular resistance, both military and political. The Fatah has been able to convert all classes of Palestinians—the Palestinians in Israel, in Israeli-occupied areas, in the Arab Diaspora and in the extended Diaspora which includes the well-to-do businessmen, professionals, industrialists and well-known academics, intellectuals, artists and so on in the far-flung places like the United States, Europe etc. The second biggest resistance group is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) which emerged out of the disintegration of the ANM in the aftermath of the 1967 war. It subscribes to the Marxist ideology and considers the liberation of the Arab masses a precondition for the liberation of Palestine. Strategically, it perceives its struggle to be world-wide—against Israel, Zionism, Imperialism and Arab Reaction. Its tactics include spectacular operations like sky-jackings, selective violence in urban areas, and so on. In the initial years, George Habbash's meddling in Arab politics had resulted in his being accused of conspiring to overthrow ihe monarchy in Libya and the government in the North and South Yemen. In the 1960's, the PFLP had joined the Baathist government in Iraq, but developed differences soon after that on ideological and political grounds. Another faction of the ANM under Nayef Hawatmeh calls itself the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PDELP). It is more doctrinaire in its approach than the PFLP and disputes the latter's claims to Marxism-Leninism. It maintains a studied distance from the Arab regimes and emphasises the radi-calisation of the Arab masses as one of its major tasks. Al-Saiqa, a protege of Syria, is yet another group. It shares the Baathist aspiration of the Great Arab Socialist State comprising the liberated Palestine as well as the other Arab countries. The Arab Liberation Front, a protege of Iraq, is also Baathist in outlook but equally antagonistic to the Syrian version of it. The PFLP-General Command is a splinter group of PFLP and is believed to be supported by Libya. PLO: Goals and Organisation Although founded in 1964, the PLO became a viable organisation only a few years later. At the Palestine National Council (PNC) meeting in February 1969, Yasser Arafat was elected its chairman along with an 11-member executive committee. The PNC also revised the "Palestine National Charter" which was originally drafted in 1964 and which is the fundamental document of the movement.