The General Union of Palestine Students ( ar, الإتحاد العام لطلبة فلسطين) (GUPS) is an organization run by

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

students since the early 1920s. It is generally considered one of the first Palestinian institutions started. It was officially launched in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

in 1959 with chapters formed in universities all over the arab world. Several Palestinian politicians, writers, journalists and militants have been members or leaders of the GUPS. They include

Yasser Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

Hanan Ashrawi Hanan Daoud Mikhael Ashrawi ( ar, حنان داوود مخايل عشراوي ; born 8 October 1946) is a Palestinian politician, legislator, activist, and scholar who served as a member of the Leadership Committee and as an official spokesperson ...

, Faisal Husseini,

Walid Khalidi Walid Khalidi ( ar, وليد خالدي, born 1925 in Jerusalem) is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, establish ...

and many others. The organization is a member of the

World Federation of Democratic Youth The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) is an international youth organization, and has historically characterized itself as left-wing and anti-imperialist. WFDY was founded in London in 1945 as a broad international youth movement, ...

. Following the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993;

, the majority of GUPS chapters collapsed. Prior to the signing of the Accords, there were 60 GUPS chapters on US campuses. Today, only the

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

chapter remains operational in the US. Several GUPS chapters remain operational outside of the US, including in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Notable individuals

Notable members include Yasser Arafat, Hanan Ashrawi, Faisal Husseini, Walid Khalidi and many more. Nearing the end of the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

Yasser Arafat moved to

in order to re-enrol in the University of King Fuad I, later known as Cairo University, studying

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

and serving as chairman of the GUPS from 1952 until the year of his graduation of 1956 as well as the chairman of the Federation of Palestinian Students, both considered important positions in Palestinian politics.

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, served as Secretary General of GUPS whilst studying at

Al Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...

before being deported by Egyptian secret police to Gaza in 1983 during the last year of his studies. The pair along with

Khaled Yashruti Khaled Yashruti (1937 in Akko, Mandatory Palestine – 1970 in Beirut, Lebanon) was a Palestinian political activist and a leading member of the PLO. The Right wing of Fatah Beyond the Bagdad-oriented Ba'ath Party-linked Arab Liberation Front ...

, the then head of GUPS in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, and others later formed

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and s ...

in 1959.

Bombing at Patra, Greece

In 1991, a Palestinian member of the Union of Palestinian Students in Patra (

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

), was responsible for a bombing which killed seven people (six Greeks and the bomber), injured eight and destroying large parts of a six-story office building at Patra. According to the police the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely. The bomber was a 26 years old student of the Polytechnic School of the

University of Patras The University of Patras (UPatras; el, Πανεπιστήμιο Πατρών, ''Panepistímio Patrón'') is a public university in Patras, Greece. It is the third-largest university in Greece with respect to the size of the student body, the s ...

with

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

ian passport. Greek authorities believed that the target was the British consulate at the city which was nearby. Later, six more Palestinian students arrested in Greece in connection with the attack. After searching, the authorities found

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

assault riffles, remote controlled detonators and explosives at their apartments.Official: Terrorist Bomb Intended for British Consulate - Associated Press, April 28, 1991
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References

External links

General Union of Palestine students - official website , GUPS.org

Collection of GUPS posters
{{Authority control Student organizations established in 1959 Palestine Liberation Organization Palestinian organizations Palestinian terrorist incidents in Europe Greece–State of Palestine relations Palestinian terrorist incidents in Greece