The Evolving Relationship between the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees and the Palestinian Authority

Abstract

The creation of Israel in 1948 led to the destruction of the Palestinian entity and the dispersion of approximately 750,000 Palestinians into neighboring Arab and into Western countries. The Arab-Israeli war of 1967 and the subsequent Israeli military control over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip caused a second wave of refugees. In an attempt to integrate and to mobilize the dispersed Palestinian community against the Israeli occupation, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created in 1964 and has constituted since then the embodiment of the Palestinian national struggle.