Palestine Liberation Organization

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is a group that works to create a state for Palestinians. The group was created in 1964. It represents Palestinians in diplomatic relations to other countries. It has held observer status at the United Nations since 1974.
The PLO used violence to try and get what they wanted, which was land from the Israelis that they lost in the Arab-Israeli War in 1948. The PLO wants the right of return for Palestinian refugees. There were many cases of fighting between the PLO and the Israeli army. 
There are two factions in the organization: Fatah and Hamas. From 1993 to 1998, the PLO made agreements with Israel that created the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The PNA is in charge of governing Gaza and the West Bank. The leader of the PLO at the time was Yasser Arafat. He signed a series of peace treaties called the Oslo Accords with Yitzhak Rabin who was the Prime Minister of Israel at the time. Many politicians in the PLO and Israel did not agree with the Accords. Far right Israeli Yigal Amir who disagreed very much with the agreements killed Israeli prime minister Rabin.
Mahmoud Abbas has been leading the PLO as successor of Arafat since 29 October 2004 (acting until 11 November 2004).