General Union of Palestinian Students

The Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) transnational student organization. Officially established in Cairo, Egypt, in 1959, the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) aimed to preserve Palestinian identity and advocate for the liberation of Palestine by bringing together Palestinian young people. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who studied civil engineering in Cairo at what was then called the University of King Fuad I, served as chairman of the Palestinian Student Union from 1952 to 1956, when he graduated. This group eventually became GUPS. To be a member, one had to be Palestinian, be enrolled as a student, and pay nominal dues to the organization. It had a complicated system of democratic governance where, every three years, chapters selected delegates to an Administrative Committee and Executive Council. Members of the Executive Council sat on the Palestinian National Council. In its heyday in the 1980s, GUPS had approximately 55,000 active members spread across 55 countries. After the signing of the Oslo Accords, however, the group suffered from lack of focus and factional infighting; today, GUPS has only a small number of chapters in the United States, Europe, and South America. In the US, it has been mostly replaced by Students for Justice in Palestine, which includes non-Palestinians, has more than 350 chapters, and is independent of Palestinian political factions. GUPS serves as a student-led advocacy organization, participating in international forums, conferences, and campaigns for Palestinian interests.