Death of Khaled al-Fahoum, main cofounder of the PLO
Former chairman of the Palestinian National Council ( a parliament for the Palestinians in exile) Khaled al-Fahoum died in Damascus on Sunday and will be buried today in al-Dahdah cemetery in Damascus.
Al-Fahoum belongs to the old Palestinian generation which lived up with the Palestinian question since its first beginning. He is one of the figures which took part in the Palestinian national work since the setback of 1948.
Al-Fahoum was born in al-Basera city for a rich family owning vast lands and very influential politically. He received his elementary education and most of his secondary learning in al-Nasera and then studies chemical sciences in the American university in Beirut, AUB, from where he graduated in 1945.
He took part in defending al-Nasera after the Israeli attack on the mid of July 1948, but he left the city and did not return back to it since them after his uncle Youssef al-Fahoum who presided over the municipality, signed the contract of surrender to the Jews.
After that he left for Lebanon and from there to Iraq for a while and the to Syria where he worked as a chemistry, physics and sciences teacher in Daraa secondary school in Houran area.
Two years later al-Fahoum became the director of the seconday school and later after two years became a director of education in Daraa governorate. He then moved to Cairo to work at the ministry of education in the United Arab republic. He had this job for 8 months to became a cultural attach for the United Arab republic in Washington and this post lasted until the cassation between Syria and Egypt.
After that he returned back to the ministry of education in Damascus until the Palestine Liberation organization PLO was established in 1964 and he was then one of the main figures which contributed to its foundation and remained a member in its executive committee until 1971.
In 1967 he became the chairman of the Palestinian council until 1984 and between 1983- 1987 he presided over the Palestinian National Salvation Front Coalition from several Palestinian groups with Syria as a headquarters, announced opposition for the then PLO chief Yasser Arafat.