Dokument #1193560
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
According to the Palestinian Information
Office in Ottawa, as stated in a telephone interview with the IRBDC
on 2 January 1990, there is no formal membership in the Palestinian
Liberation Organization (PLO), so there could be no renunciation of
membership. The source added that the PLO provides scholarships for
studies in Asia, Europe, America and other continents to
Palestinians from the Occupied Territories. In some cases, the
funds for the scholarships are provided entirely by the PLO, while
in some cases the scholarships are funded in part by the host
country or learning institution. Finally, the source stated that
the PLO does not require repayment after the studies are completed,
adding that most students who study abroad on PLO scholarships
return to the Occupied Territories, as expected by the PLO and
other sponsors.
According to the author of a book on the
Palestinian Liberation Organization published by the Cambridge
University Press, the PLO is a coalition of Palestinian groups and
has no membership of individuals. The affiliated groups, however,
may have specific membership requirements and conditions.
Individuals who work with the PLO but do not belong to a particular
group are normally considered employees and not members of the PLO.
The source added that many scholarships provided by the PLO take
place under PLO-to-government agreements, particularly in the case
of Socialist countries, with "a clear expectation" from the parties
involved that the student will return to work with Palestinians in
the Occupied Territories or, for example, in hospitals of the
Palestinian Red Crescent. The source added that military training
scholarships may be more strictly enforced than those in other
fields of study, indicating that the PLO could find it hard to
enforce the expected repayment from the student since it lost its
territorial base in Lebanon, but a kind of "social ostracism" could
be experienced by the individual who doesn't fulfil the
expectations of his/her sponsors.
Other oral sources currently available to
the IRBDC were unable to provide corroborating information on the
subject. Written information on the subject could not be found
among the sources currently available to the IRBDC.