Fatah began implementing strategy of alternating violence with diplomacy after 1973
PA TV newsreader on the consequences of the Yom Kippur War:
"The Arab armies were not defeated this time [in contrast to the 1967 Six-Day War]; rather, the idea of abolishing the Israeli entity gradually declined, owing to great international pressure, which led to the ceasefire, and Arafat emerged from [the war] understanding that [even] in the best possible scenario, the Palestinians would not be able to regain more than the '67 borders. The idea that the armed struggle alone would not achieve the aim, and that there was no choice but to combine armed activity with a boosting of Palestinian diplomatic activity, gained more and more acceptance. And so [Arafat] began to sow the seeds of the 'two state' solution with the Fatah movement’s 'stages plan'."
Excerpt from Arafat's speech at UN General Assembly, 1974:
"I have come to you, honorable president [of the UN], with an olive branch in my [one] hand and with the rifle of revolution in the other. Do not cause the olive branch to fall from my hand! Do not cause the olive branch to fall from my hand! Do not cause the olive branch to fall from my hand!"
"The Arab armies were not defeated this time [in contrast to the 1967 Six-Day War]; rather, the idea of abolishing the Israeli entity gradually declined, owing to great international pressure, which led to the ceasefire, and Arafat emerged from [the war] understanding that [even] in the best possible scenario, the Palestinians would not be able to regain more than the '67 borders. The idea that the armed struggle alone would not achieve the aim, and that there was no choice but to combine armed activity with a boosting of Palestinian diplomatic activity, gained more and more acceptance. And so [Arafat] began to sow the seeds of the 'two state' solution with the Fatah movement’s 'stages plan'."
Excerpt from Arafat's speech at UN General Assembly, 1974:
"I have come to you, honorable president [of the UN], with an olive branch in my [one] hand and with the rifle of revolution in the other. Do not cause the olive branch to fall from my hand! Do not cause the olive branch to fall from my hand! Do not cause the olive branch to fall from my hand!"