The General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS; ) is a Palestinian student organization. Created in the 1920's, it is generally considered one of the first Palestinian institutions. It was officially launched in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

in 1959 with chapters formed in universities all over the Arab world. Considered "the first Palestinian sectoral organization to re-emerge after the 1948 dispersal," the General Union of Palestine Students "came to play a leading role in Palestinian organizational life" and helped form a cohort of leaders that would play prominent roles later on in the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

. Following the Oslo Accords, 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 chapter remains operational in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Several GUPS chapters remain operational in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, including in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The organization is a member of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.

Notable individuals

Several Palestinian politicians, writers, journalists and militants have been members or leaders of the GUPS. They include

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

, Hanan Ashrawi, Faisal Husseini, Walid Khalidi, Mahmoud Hamshari, Afif Safieh, Elias Sanbar, Ahmad Abdel Rahman and many others. Nearing the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War 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 regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

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. Abu Iyad served as Secretary General of GUPS whilst studying at Al Azhar University before being deported by Egyptian secret police to Gaza in 1983 during the last year of his studies. The pair along with Khaled Yashruti, the then head of GUPS in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, and others later formed Fatah in 1959.

Political significance

Drawing from the work of scholar Laurie Brand, the political scientist Khalil Shikaki summarizes the significance of the GUPS as follows:

In the absence of a political 'center,' the Palestine Student Union (later GUPS) served as the major political forum in which Palestinian feelings and aspirations could be expressed, and in which independent Palestinian mobilization and organizing activities could be carried out. In 1959, long before the famous 1974 Rabat summit resolution recognizing PLO representation of the Palestinians, GUPS concluded an agreement with Jordanian student unions designating Palestinian students from the
West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
as the constituency of GUPS alone. During GUPS's second conference in Gaza in 1962, resolutions were approved calling for the establishment of a Palestinian entity, a Palestinian army, and a Palestinian liberation organization.

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

Notable individuals

Political significance

See also

References

External links