document_title: Jackson Avery

question_text: who does jackson marry on grey's anatomy

question_tokens: who does jackson marry on grey 's anatomy

text: Jackson Avery

text: Storylines[edit]

text: Jackson Avery is the grandson of Harper Avery, one of the most famous surgeons in the country and the namesake of the prestigious Harper Avery Award. He grew up hearing about the nobility of being a surgeon at his grandfather's dinner table, which inspired him to become a surgeon. He was raised by a single mother, after his father "ran off to God knows where because he couldn't stand the pressure of being an Avery." His family never pushed him academically because he was 'just the pretty one', so he pushed himself. Jackson is initially a surgical resident at Mercy West Hospital. He joins the staff at Seattle Grace Mercy West after the merger of the two hospitals, alongside April Kepner (Sarah Drew), Reed Adamson (Nora Zehetner), and Charles Percy (Robert Baker). Jackson's grandfather tries to convince him to take a position at Massachusetts General Hospital when he is admitted to Seattle Grace, but Jackson refuses. In the aftermath of a hospital shooting, Jackson's sleep is disturbed and he and April move into fellow resident Meredith Grey's (Ellen Pompeo) house. For some time, the loss of Percy in the shooting affects his quality of work and his mood. The seventh season gradually displays Jackson's interest in Meredith's sister, Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) and they start a relationship. Dr. Avery starts working with chief of plastic surgery Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), despite Sloan having been in a relationship with Lexie. However, Lexie cannot stand the fact that the two of them are working together, and when she later shows that she still has feelings for Sloan, Avery breaks up with her.

text: As the end of the fifth year of residency is near, the surgical residents, including Jackson, prepare for their board certifications as they prepare for fellowships they plan on joining. The night before taking the exam, Jackson and the virgin April have sexual intercourse. Though April is confused because she broke the promise she made to Jesus to stay a virgin, the two of them are under stress and they have sex again during their exams. During the exam, Jackson is supported by his mother Catherine (Debbie Allen), who happens to be a tester at the exams. Jackson, Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, and Alex Karev eventually pass their exam, while April fails. Although Jackson has true feelings for her, she pushes him away because she believes that he feels guilty for having sex with her. In the season eight finale, Jackson reveals to April that he is taking the position at Tulane Medical Center, despite feeling sick for leaving Seattle Grace Mercy West and her behind. As a celebration of the conclusion of their residencies, the former chief of surgery Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) organizes his annual dinner for them. The eighth season ends with Avery, Karev, Kepner, and Webber waiting for Meredith and Yang, who are victims of an aviation accident that kills Lexie and eventually Mark.

text: After the accident, Dr. Avery stays at Seattle Grace and continues his work in plastic surgery. He and Dr. Kepner continue a sexual relationship, although April frets about the indiscretion to her faith until she believes she is pregnant. When told about the baby, Dr. Avery proposes to her and she accepts, promising her the fairytale wedding she has always wanted. As it turns out, the pregnancy was false and the couple break up before announcing the news of their engagement to the rest of the staff. As a means to avoid each other, the two doctors decide to each bring a date to Dr. Bailey's wedding selecting this date for each of them, both of which are interns. At the end of the wedding, Stephanie (Jerrika Hinton) the intern and Jackson have sex in his car, after affirming how their relationship was supposed to be merely professional. Shortly afterwards he tells April he is sleeping with Stephanie and even though she is crushed she thanks him for telling her the truth. It is hinted that Jackson is still in love with April when she turns to him for dating advice and he shows signs of jealousy but they manage to reestablish their friendship. When the hospital faces a financial crisis, Jackson's mom Catherine agrees to invest in the hospital via the Harper Avery foundation on the condition that Dr. Avery become the new chairman. The board (at Jackson's prompting) later renames the hospital Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Matthew and April get engaged but at the wedding, Jackson realizes he still loves her and stands up professing his love.

text: Faced with a huge decision, April winds up choosing Jackson over Matthew and they run out of her wedding together. However, April begins to panic over her decision, though she still chooses to drive away with Jackson. When April comes to believe that they have made a regrettable decision in running away from her wedding together, Jackson proposes to her and they elope. They keep their marriage a secret from the rest of the hospital staff, because of a new rule at the hospital restricting staff fraternization. Jackson's ex-girlfriend Stephanie feels especially betrayed because of how Jackson left her. Catherine Avery is not at all happy about her son's elopement with April, and the fact that there wasn't a prenuptial agreement to protect the Avery family fortune. They soon make up after April signs a postnuptial agreement. Jackson and April soon hit a rough patch when they realize that they have different views about the way their children should be raised in respect to religion. Soon after their fight, April realizes she is pregnant. April and Jackson's baby is diagnosed during pregnancy with Osteogenesis Imperfecta type 2, and learn that the baby will not survive long after birth. Jackson believes that termination is the best option, however April would rather give birth to the baby knowing it will not live very long .They scheduled an induction for the next day, at the beginning of the appointment they are asked to sign their baby's death certificate, which is too hard for the couple to bear. April doesn't sign the papers and returns to work the same day praying for a miracle, while at work she has a heart to heart with a lady who lost her fiancee the night before. They decide to give birth to the baby via induction termination at 24 weeks gestation having it baptized right then. She gives birth to Samuel Norbert Avery and he passes away shortly after birth. In the series 11 finale April announces to Jackson that she is leaving with Owen Hunt to be a trauma surgeon in the army - something she says she wants to do in order to properly grieve for their son; after initial refusal from Jackson he lets her go, but is left wondering what to do in order to grieve for himself. Over passing months April and Jackson only have few opportunities talking to one another. After discussions over the phone via facetime, April announces to Jackson that she is lengthening her service time, meaning she will be staying for a further few months; before Jackson can express his disgust at this, gunfire and explosions are heard at April's base camp, leaving her to quickly terminate the call. Jackson is unsure whether his wife is hurt or if she is ever coming home to Seattle. On Valentine's Day April returns to the hospital where she and Jackson embrace in the foyer. In season 12, their marriage begins to fall apart and they grow estranged. In episode 11, they file for a civil divorce. After their divorce is finalized, April reveals that they are expecting another child.

text: Development[edit]

text: Casting and creation[edit]

text: In February 2009, Michael Ausiello hinted at the possibility of central character, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) having another sibling.[4] The series had released a casting call for an actor that could pass as biracial, and the casting was postponed until season six.[5] Williams's casting was announced in late August 2009. Though his name is not given, the character's arc was expected to last several episodes.[2] Williams described his audition as a "simple process." He got the information on his birthday, August 5, went in the next day to read for the role, despite not knowing what part he had auditioned for. Williams learned he got the job a week later.[6] In late 2009, a casting call for a young Ellis Grey (Kate Burton) and a young Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.), who would appear in flashbacks fueled rumors that Jackson could be Meredith's half-brother. Williams later shot down the rumor saying that Meredith would have noticed if her mother were pregnant. Matt Webb Mitovich noted Williams's absence from the "Seattle Grace: On Call" webseries as a sign of big plans for the character.[5] In the episode, "Perfect Little Accident," which premiered on March 4, 2010, Jackson is revealed to be the grandson of the legendary Harper Avery (Chelcie Ross).[7] Shonda Rhimes hinted at the possibility of Williams and his co-star Sarah Drew becoming series regulars in her blog post about the season finale in May 2010, and Rhimes does not deny the possibility.[8] Williams's promotion was eventually confirmed in June 2010.[3]

text: Characterization[edit]

text: The character's profile on official ABC website describes Jackson as "hardworking, driven, observant" and "eager." However, at times, Jackson can be too confident and "overly competitive," and very "stubborn." He has a habit of teasing his coworkers.[1] Williams revealed to Essence.com that his character is very "ambitious. He doesn't takes sides or deal with any drama. He's there to work and not really get involved in the pettiness." When compared to himself, Williams Jackson is way more "cavalier," and bold.[6] Matt Webb Mitovitch described Jackson as having a "sense of entitlement," while Williams described Jackson's demeanor as "swagger." Because his work environment is extremely competitive, Jackson acts as if he belongs and refuses to second guess himself.[5] Upon arrival at Seattle Grace, he is "kind of a wise ass surgeon." He feels he is an "invader" in the new team and "he decides to deal with it kind of aggressively and not shy away from it and show his personality. He is very confident and likes to say what is on his mind."[9] Williams also said: "Jackson is more of a lone wolf. He's not really built to go seek support and a shoulder to cry on."[10] "He's always been trying to make it on his own. Jackson doesn't want to live off his legacy and his name, which also conflicts with him wanting to be close to his mother."[11]

text: Relationships[edit]

text: Jackson immediately clashes with Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) due their competitive natures. The immediate tension between the duo leads to speculation about a potential romance.[12] Yang and Avery compete for the same cases, and in the episode, "Invest in Love," for the first time, Jackson witnesses Cristina taking charge of a situation, and he admires her; he looks at her differently. At a party, when Jackson is a bit drunk, he opens up about how attractive he finds Cristina and kisses her. Jackson is unaware of Yang's relationship with Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), so the attraction is natural. Williams does not worry about fans of the couple hating his character because he understands that fans aren't really supposed to like the Mercy Westers; Jackson is in the enemy camp and "has to take his lumps." Williams said the kiss was a "pretty relatable crime of passion." The kiss doesn't have any immediate effects on Owen and Cristina's romance and it remains secret.[13] Jackson and Cristina develop a sort of mutual understanding as they tend to push one another to be better.

text: Speaking of Jackson's past relationship with Lexie Grey, Williams said: "He tried to be safe and wise and not deal with girls, really, when he first focused on transitioning into Seattle Grace from Mercy West. He kept his head down, got his work done and didn’t get caught up with banging nurses or anything. But he couldn’t help himself with Lexie once they got close; he really kind of fell for her. He made himself vulnerable probably to the least available person in the hospital, because he knew that she had a longstanding relationship with Mark. He knew he shouldn’t head in that direction, but he went against his better judgment and got burned for it."[14] "They are both kind of suckers for love [...] they both get caught up in their own momentum [...] he's all about his job and pressure from his grandfather but then he gets bowled over with this platonic relationship. Avery just can't help himself with Lexie."[15]

text: At the end of the eighth season, April and Jackson's friendship evolved into an intimate relationship: "I thought they were going to be able to walk the line of staying on the friendship side of things. What they have is kind of really unique and organic in the world of Grey’s Anatomy – two genders in a completely platonic, wholesome, pleasant and productive relationship/friendship. Who is to say that has to end?"[14] In the ninth season, Jackson started a relationship with intern Stephanie Edward. Williams gave his insight: "That's a relationship that is fun, light, and no strings attached. She's sweet. She's funny. They aren't bogged down by these big notions of each other.[16] Jackson later declares his love for April at her wedding to EMT Matthew. They get married and have a child together, but he dies shortly after birth. They are now divorced, but April is newly pregnant. In the present, April has just given birth to a baby girl, and it seems to have made them closer.

text: Reception[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2013)

text: Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly wrote the addition of Avery's character to the show was one of the 10 reasons she loves Grey's Anatomy again: "Dr. Avery wasn't quite clicking as part of the ensemble when Jesse Williams first joined the cast. But now? Oh, mama. He's flirty — to a fault — but he's also a decent dude, and the show was in need of a seriously single male character."[17] His bromance with mentor Mark Sloan has been positively received.[18] Janalen Samson of BuddyTV commented: "these scenes with Jesse Williams are proving to be gems. I do love a good Bromance and these two actors are bringing the love and the funny in spades.[19] The pairing was included in Zap2it's 25 Top Bromances of 2012.[20] Reviewing the first part of the ninth season, Lyons said: "Avery's mom is more interesting than he is."[21] He was listed in Wetpaint's "10 Hottest Male Doctors on TV".[22]


document_title: Fried Green Tomatoes

question_text: who is the bee charmer in fried green tomatoes

root

text: Fried Green Tomatoes

text: Plot[edit]

text: Evelyn Couch, a timid, unhappy housewife in her forties, meets elderly Ninny Threadgoode in an Anderson, Alabama, nursing home. Over several encounters with Evelyn, Ninny tells her the story of the now abandoned town of Whistle Stop, and the people who lived there. The film's subplot concerns Evelyn's dissatisfaction with her marriage, her life, her growing confidence, and her developing friendship with Ninny. The narrative switches several times between Ninny's story, which is set between World War I and World War II, and Evelyn's life in 1980s Birmingham.

tag: p

text: Ninny's story begins with tomboy Idgie Threadgoode, the youngest of the Threadgoode children, whom Ninny describes as her sister-in-law. Idgie's close relationship with her charming older brother, Buddy, is cut short when he is hit by a train and killed. Devastated, she recedes from formal society for much of her childhood and adolescence until Buddy's former girlfriend, the straitlaced Ruth Jamison, intervenes at the request of the concerned Threadgoode family.

text: Idgie initially resists Ruth's attempts at friendship, but gradually a deep attachment develops between them. Ruth leaves Whistle Stop to marry Frank Bennett and moves to Valdosta, Georgia. Idgie tries to forget her but later visits her house to find her pregnant and subject to physical abuse from Frank. Against his wishes and violent attempts to stop her, she returns to Whistle Stop with Idgie, where her baby, a boy whom she names Buddy, Jr., is born. Papa Threadgoode gives Idgie money to start a business so she can care for Ruth and Buddy, Jr. She and Ruth open the Whistle Stop Cafe, employing the family cook, Sipsey, and her son, Big George, who excel with a barbecue that becomes popular with their patrons.

text: Frank eventually returns to Whistle Stop to kidnap Buddy, Jr., but his attempt is thwarted by an unseen assailant, and he is later reported missing. Once his truck appears at the bottom of a nearby drying lake without its owner, Idgie is immediately a suspect, as she had publicly threatened violence against him for beating Ruth. She is detained along with Big George for his murder by Grady Kilgore, the local sheriff, who offers to release her and pin the crime solely on Big George; she refuses to sacrifice him. During the subsequent trial, the local minister, Reverend Scroggins, has no problem lying, providing Idgie and Big George with sound alibi for the time of Frank's disappearance. Taking into account his reputation for getting drunk, the judge rules his death an accident and dismisses the case. Idgie and Big George are cleared of all charges.

text: After the trial, Ruth is diagnosed with cancer, becomes very ill, and eventually dies. Following her death, the café closes. Over time, many Whistle Stop residents eventually move away, bringing Ninny to the end of her story, but not before the revelation of what really happened to Frank. Sipsey killed him with a blow to the head with a heavy cast iron frying pan while trying to prevent him from kidnapping Buddy, Jr. Idgie got Big George to barbecue Frank's body, which was later served to an investigator from Georgia searching for him. The investigator ate with gusto, proclaiming his meal the best pork barbecue he'd ever tasted.

text: Evelyn discovers that during Ninny's temporary stay at the nursing home, her house was condemned and torn down. Evelyn, having become friends with her, offers her a room in her house which she accepts. As they walk away from the empty lot where her house used to be, they pass Ruth's grave, freshly adorned with a jar of honey, a honeycomb, and a card which reads, "I'll always love you, the Bee Charmer". The Bee Charmer is Ruth's old nickname for Idgie, and the note reveals that she is still alive.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Kathy Bates as Evelyn Couch
Mary Stuart Masterson & Nancy Moore Atchison as Imogene "Idgie" Threadgoode
Mary-Louise Parker as Ruth Jamison
Jessica Tandy as Ninny Threadgoode
Cicely Tyson as Sipsey
Chris O'Donnell as Buddy Threadgoode
Stan Shaw as Big George
Gailard Sartain as Ed Couch
Timothy Scott as Smokey Lonesome
Gary Basaraba as Grady Kilgore
Lois Smith as Mama Threadgoode
Danny Nelson as Papa Threadgoode
Jo Harvey Allen as Women's Awareness Teacher
Macon McCalman as Prosecutor
Richard Riehle as Reverend Scroggins
Raynor Scheine as Curtis Smoot
Grace Zabriskie as Eva Bates
Reid Binion as Young Julian
Nick Searcy as Frank Bennett
Constance Shulman as Missy

tag: ul

text: Differences between the film and novel[edit]

text: Unlike the novel, the film does not make the lesbian romance between the two central characters explicit, instead leaving the relationship between Idgie and Ruth ambiguous.[2] The DVD contains an audio commentary in which the director acknowledges the relationship and points out that a scene between Idgie and Ruth engaging in a food fight was intended to be seen as symbolic love-making. At the time of the film's debut, it was criticized by reviewers and activists for what was seen as "glossing over" the lesbian relationship.[2][3] However, it won an award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation for best feature film with lesbian content.[4] It shows examples of discrimination against African Americans, women, and the disabled, but the novel's examination of sexuality-based prejudice through a robust lesbian plot, is made more ambiguous.[5]

text: Though in the book, Idgie and Ninny are two separate characters, at the end of the film it's largely hinted that they are one and the same, although this runs counter to Ninny's earlier comment that "I was practically adopted by the Threadgoodes; I married her [Idgie's] brother, Cleo".

text: Production[edit]

text: Conception and casting[edit]

text: Avnet first read the novel in 1987.[6] He was introduced to it by producer Lisa Lindstrom, with whom he worked on television films Heat Wave and Breaking Point. Although he wanted her to give him a synopsis of the story, she insisted he read the book and like her, he loved it. He decided to turn the story into a film and pitched the idea to Norman Lear's company, Act III Communications, who were interested and gave him a small budget for a screenwriter.[7] He hired Carol Sobieski who had written the screenplay for 1982's Annie. She wrote a draft for it as a musical, which he was unhappy with.[7] Sobieski left the project and he hired Flagg, who had been surprised that anyone would want to turn the novel into a film, to develop the script. Although she had some screenwriting experience, she found the process of turning her own novel into a script a strange one. The job was made somewhat easier by the work done by Sobieski and Avnet in choosing which characters from the book were going to be featured, but she found it difficult and also left the project, after writing 70 pages of the screenplay. With no money left to hire another writer, Avnet took the script over himself and spent the next 2–3 years developing it. Flagg gave her blessing to the final draft.[7]

text: Avnet wrote the film with Jessica Tandy in mind; she expressed excitement about making the film.[7] He had worked with Kathy Bates and Chris O'Donnell on the 1990 film Men Don't Leave before offering them the roles of Evelyn Couch and Buddy Threadgoode respectively.[6] When Bates read the script she loved the characters and was particularly keen to work with Tandy.[6] Mary-Louise Parker was casting director David Rubin's first choice for the role of Ruth Jamison. She read for the part several times, initially unhappy with her own tests. When she read along with Mary Stuart Masterson, they – and the producers – agreed that they had good chemistry.

text: Setting[edit]

text: Avnet hired Barbara Ling as production designer. Scouting for a location, she found Juliette, Georgia, a town that was, according to Avnet, nearly deserted.[7][8] The building chosen to be the Whistle Stop Café was formerly an antique and hardware store. It was redesigned as a cafe, with a horseshoe shaped counter to allow for optimal camera angles.[7]

text: After the release of the film, Juliette saw an influx of tourists and, with Jon Avnet's encouragement, locals opened the Whistle Stop Café, recreated to mirror the film set.[9] Although "Whistle Stop Café" is now a registered trademark, other establishments have appeared using that name.[10] While writing the novel, Flagg based Whistle Stop on Irondale, Alabama, and the café on a real-life restaurant, the Irondale Café.[8] She was a frequent visitor there which was formerly owned by her great-aunt.[11]

text: The scene where Idgie goes to collect honey from a beehive for Ruth was originally intended to be performed by a stunt double. However, after the latter backed out at the last minute, Masterson volunteered to do it herself. The footage of her covered in a swarm of live bees is seen in the final version of the film.[6]

text: The steam locomotive used in the film is A&WP 290, then in use pulling steam excursions for the New Georgia Railroad.[citation needed]

text: Release[edit]

text: The film was given a limited release in the US on December 27, 1991, opening in five theaters.[12] It got a wide release four weeks later on January 24, 1992, in 673 theaters. It ran for 19 weeks in total, with its widest release having been 1,331 theaters.[12]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The film grossed a total of $82,418,501 in the United States alone, and took in $37,000,000 outside the US, bringing the total to $119,418,501 worldwide.[12] In its opening weekend it earned $105,317, and at its wide release opening weekend it earned $5,235,940, which was 6.4 percent of its total gross.[12] According to Box Office Mojo, it ranked at no. 11 for all films released in the US in 1991, and no. 5 for PG‑13 rated films released that year.[citation needed]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: The film was generally well received by critics. Film review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gave it a "fresh" score of 73% based on 41 reviews.[13]

text: Critics enjoyed the narrative, but found it conventional and predictable.[3][14] The adaptation of the separate narrative of book to the screen was criticised by Time Out as "clumsy", Roger Ebert praised the performances, Janet Maslin praised the costume and production design and Emanuel Levy praised the cinematography and score.[3][15] The cast drew praise for their performances, particularly Masterson and Tandy.[3][15]

text: Awards and honors[edit]

text: The film was nominated at the 64th Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Jessica Tandy) and for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski).[16]

text: At the 46th British Academy Film Awards in 1992, Tandy was nominated for the Best Actress award, and Bates was nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Both also received Golden Globe nominations for their work, and the film got a Best Picture (Comedy or Musical) nomination.[16] At the 28th Guldbagge Awards in Sweden, it was nominated for the Best Foreign Film award.[17]

text: The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

text:
2005: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:

Evelyn Couch: "Face it girls, I'm older and I have more insurance." – Nominated[18]

2006: AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – Nominated[19]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
Fried Green Tomatoes

Studio album by Various Artists

Released
December 31, 1991

Genre
Soundtrack

Length
39:24

Label
MCA

tag: table

text: Fried Green Tomatoes: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the film, and featured a new song by Patti LaBelle. For the original score, composed by Thomas Newman, see Fried Green Tomatoes (score).

text: Track listing[edit]

text:
"I'll Remember You" (Grayson Hugh) – 5:08
"What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" (Paul Young) – 4:34
"Cherish" (Hip Hop Version) (Jodeci) – 3:58
"Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead" (Taylor Dayne) – 3:20
"Rooster Blues" (Peter Wolf) – 3:15
"Barbecue Bess" (Patti LaBelle) – 2:54
"If I Can Help Somebody" (Aaron Hall) – 3:49
"Cool Down Yonder" (Marion Williams) – 3:10
"Cherish" (Movie Version) (Jodeci) – 2:29
"Ghost Train" (Main Title) (Thomas Newman) – 3:11
"Visiting Ruth" (Newman) – 1:46
"A Charge To Keep I Have" (Newman) – 1:50

tag: ol


document_title: Palestine Liberation Organization

question_text: what is the goal of the palestine liberation organization

question_tokens: what is the goal of the palestine liberation organization

text: Palestine Liberation Organization

text: Founding

text: At its first summit meeting in Cairo in 1964, the Arab League initiated the creation of an organization representing the Palestinian people.[20] The Palestinian National Council convened in Jerusalem on 28 May 1964. Concluding this meeting the PLO was founded on 2 June 1964. Its stated goal was the "liberation of Palestine" through armed struggle.[21]

text: Ideology

text: The ideology of the PLO was formulated in the founding year 1964 in the Palestinian National Covenant.[21] The document is a combative anti-Zionist statement dedicated to the "restoration of the Palestinian homeland". It has no reference to religion. In 1968, the Charter was replaced by a comprehensively revised version.[22]

text: Until 1993, the only promoted option was armed struggle. From the signing of the Oslo Accords, negotiation and diplomacy became the only official policy. In April 1996, a large number of articles, which were inconsistent with the Oslo Accords, were wholly or partially nullified.[23]

text: At the core of the PLO's ideology is the belief that Zionists had unjustly expelled the Palestinians from Palestine and established a Jewish state in place under the pretext of having historic and Jewish ties with Palestine. The PLO demanded that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their homes. This is expressed in the National Covenant:

text: Article 2 of the Charter states that ″Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit″,[22] meaning that there is no place for a Jewish state. This article was adapted in 1996 to meet the Oslo Accords.[23]

text: Article 20 states: ″The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void. Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood. Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong″.[22] This article was nullified in 1996.

text: Article 3 reads: ″The Palestinian Arab people possess the legal right to their homeland and have the right to determine their destiny after achieving the liberation of their country in accordance with their wishes and entirely of their own accord and will″.

text: The PLO has always labelled the Palestinian people as Arabs. This was a natural consequence of the fact that the PLO was an offshoot of the Arab League. It also has a tactical element, as to keep the backing of Arab states. Over the years, the Arab identity remained the stated nature of the Palestinian State.[24] It is a reference to the ″Arab State″ envisioned in the UN Partition Plan.

text: Secularism versus adherence to Islam

text: The PLO and its dominating faction Fatah are often contrasted to more religious orientated factions like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). All, however, represent a predominant Muslim population. Practically the whole population of the Territories is Muslim, most of them Sunni. Only some 50,000 (ca 1%) of the 4.6 million Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT) are Palestinian Christian.[25][26]

text: The National Charter has no reference to religion. Under President Arafat, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority adopted the 2003 Amended Basic Law, which stipulates Islam as the sole official religion in Palestine and the principles of Islamic sharia as a principal source of legislation.[24] The draft Constitution, which never materialized, contains the same provisions.[27][28] At the time, the Palestine Legislative Council (PLC) did not include a single Hamas member. The draft Constitution was formulated by the ″Constitutional Committee″, appointed with the approval of the PLO.[29][30]

text: Organization

text: Structure

text: The PLO incorporates a range of generally secular ideologies of different Palestinian movements "committed to the struggle for Palestinian independence and liberation," hence the name of the organization. It formally is an umbrella organization that includes "numerous organizations of the resistance movement, political parties, and popular organizations."[31] From the beginning, the PLO was designed as a government in exile, with a parliament, the Palestine National Council (PNC), chosen by the Palestinian people, as the highest authority in the PLO, and an executing government (EC), elected by the PNC.[31] In practice, however, the organization was rather a hierarchic one with a military-like character, needed for its function as liberation organization, the "liberation of Palestine".[20]

text: Beside a Palestinian National Charter, which describes the ideology of the PLO, a constitution, named “Fundamental Law”, was adopted, which dictates the inner structure of the organization and the representation of the Palestinian people. A draft Constitution was written in 1963, to rule the PLO until free general elections among all the Palestinians in all the countries in which they resided could be held.[32] The Constitution was revised in 1968.[33]

text: Institutions

text: The Palestinian National Council has 740 members and the Executive Committee or ExCo has 18 members. The Palestinian Central Council or CC or PCC, established by the PNC in 1973, is the second leading body of the PLO.[34] The CC consists of 124 members[35] from the PLO Executive Committee, PNC, PLC and other Palestinian organizations.[36] The EC includes 15 representatives of the PLC.[31] The CC functions as an intermediary body between the PNC and the EC. The CC makes policy decisions when PNC is not in session, acting as a link between the PNC and the PLO-EC. The CC is elected by the PNC and chaired by the PNC speaker.[37]

text: The PNC serves as the parliament for all Palestinians inside and outside of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem. The PLO is governed internally by its “Fundamental Law”, which describes the powers and the relations between the organs of the PLO.[34]

text: Ahmad Shukeiri was the first Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee from 1964 to 1967.[38] In 1967, he was replaced by Yahia Hammuda. Yasser Arafat occupied the function from 1969 until his death in 2004.[39] He was succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen).[40][41]

text: According to an internal PLO document, the current PNC remains in function if elections are not possible. In absence of elections, most of the members of the PNC are appointed by the Executive Committee. The document further states that "the PNC represents all sectors of the Palestinian community worldwide, including numerous organizations of the resistance movement, political parties, popular organizations and independent personalities and figures from all sectors of life, including intellectuals, religious leaders and businessmen".[34]

text: Challenged representation

text: As of 2015, there have not been elections for many years, neither for the PNC, nor for the EC, the PCC and the President of the State of Palestine. The Executive Committee has formally 18 members, including its Chairman, but in past years many vacant seats in the Executive remained empty. Moreover, Hamas, the largest representative of the inhabitants of the Palestinian Territories alongside Fatah, is not represented in the PLO at all. The results of the last parliamentary elections for the PLC, held in the Territories in 2006, with Hamas as the big winner while not even a member of the PLO, "underlined the clear lack of a popular mandate by the PLO leadership", according to PASSIA.[42] Individual elected members of the PLC representing Hamas, however, are automatically members of the PNC.

text: The representative status of the PLO has often been challenged in the past.[20] It was for example doubted in 2011 by a group of Palestinian lawyers, jurists and legal scholars, due to lack of elections. They questioned the PLO's legitimacy to alter the status and role of the Organisation in respect of their status within the UN. They demanded immediate and direct elections to the Palestine National Council to ″activate representative PLO institutions in order to preserve, consolidate, and strengthen the effective legal representation of the Palestinian people as a whole″, before changing the status within the UN.[43]

text: PLO versus PA

text: The 1993-1995 Oslo Accords deliberately detached the Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories from the PLO and the Palestinians in exile by creating a Palestinian Authority (PA) for the Territories. A separate parliament and government were established. Mahmoud Abbas was one of the architects of the Oslo Accords.[44][45]

text: Although many in the PLO opposed the Oslo Agreements, the Executive Committee and the Central Council approved the Accords. It marked the beginning of the PLO’s decline, as the PA came to replace the PLO as the prime Palestinian political institution. Political factions within the PLO that had opposed the Oslo process were marginalized. Only during the Hamas-led PA Government in 2006-2007, the PLO resurfaced. After Hamas had taken over Gaza in 2007, Abbas issued a decree suspending the PLC and some sections of the Palestinian Basic Law, and appointing Salam Fayyad as Prime Minister.[20]

text: The PLO managed to overcome the separation by keeping the power in PLO and PA in one hand, upheld by Yasser Arafat. In 2002, Arafat held the functions Chairman of the PLO/Executive Committee and Chairman of Fatah, the dominating faction within the PLO, as well as President of the Palestinian National Authority. He also controlled the Palestinian National Security Forces.[46]

text: Internal politics

text: On 4 February 1969, Fatah founder Arafat was elected Chairman of the PLO in Cairo.[47][48] Since, Fatah has been the dominant factor within the PLO, which still continues in 2015.

text: Under pressure from the international community led by Israel and US, and from inside his own party Fatah, Arafat partially transferred some of his strongly centralized power in 2003,[28][46][49] causing strong tensions within the Palestinian leadership. Arafat appointed Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister, but this resulted in disputes about the transfer of tasks and responsibilities. Abbas was strongly supported by the US and the international community, because he was supposed to be more willing to give far-reaching concessions to Israel.[46] While Arafat had retained most of his power and a power struggle within Fatah continued, the leadership was criticised for corruption and nepotism.[50][51]

text: After Arafat's death, Abbas increasingly gained exclusive powers within both PLO and PA as well as in Fatah, until he had acquired the same power as was previously held by Arafat.[52] Critics say that Abbas even got more powers than Arafat.[53] Abbas is criticized for his autocratic rule and refusal to share powers and plans with other Palestinians. In the absence of a functioning parliament and Executive, he even began to issue his own laws. Senior representative of Abbas' Fatah faction and former Fatah minister of prisoner affairs Sufian Abu Zaida complained that Abbas appointed himself as the chief judge and prosecutor, making a mockery of the Palestinian judicial system.[53] There appeared reports of widespread corruption and nepotism within the Palestinian Authority.[52][54] Only Hamas-ruled Gaza has a more or less functioning parliament.[55]

text: 2015 struggle for power

text: With a de facto defunct parliament and Executive, Mahmoud Abbas increasingly gained exclusive powers within both PLO and PA as well as in Fatah. After the announcement in August 2015 of Abbas' resignation as Chairman of the Executive Committee and of nine other members as well, many Palestinians saw the move as just an attempt to replace some members in the Executive Committee, or to force a meeting of the PNC and remain in their jobs until the PNC decides whether to accept or to reject their resignations.[56][57] Met with fierce criticism by many Palestinian factions, a session of the PNC, who had to approve the resignations, was postponed indefinitely.[58]

text: Political status

text: The Palestine Liberation Organization is recognized by the Arab League as "the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people",[12][34] and by the United Nations as "the representative of the Palestinian people".[59]

text: The PLO was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 1987,[17][60] but in 1988 a presidential waiver was issued which permitted contact with the organization.[18] Most of the rest of the world recognized the PLO as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people from the mid-1970s onwards (after the PLO's admission to the UN as an observer.)[61]

text: Israel considered the PLO to be a terrorist organization until the Madrid Conference in 1991.[18] In 1993, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat recognized the State of Israel in an official letter to its prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. In response to Arafat's letter, Israel decided to revise its stance toward the PLO and to recognize the organization as the representative of the Palestinian people.[62][63] This led to the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

text: Status at the United Nations

text: Observer status

text: The United Nations General Assembly recognized the PLO as the "representative of the Palestinian people" in Resolution 3210 and Resolution 3236, and granted the PLO observer status on 22 November 1974 in Resolution 3237. On 12 January 1976 the UN Security Council voted 11–1 with 3 abstentions to allow the Palestinian Liberation Organization to participate in a Security Council debate without voting rights, a privilege usually restricted to UN member states. It was admitted as a full member of the Asia group on 2 April 1986.[64][65][66]

text: After the Palestinian Declaration of Independence the PLO's representation was renamed Palestine.[67] On 7 July 1998, this status was extended to allow participation in General Assembly debates, though not in voting.[68]

text: 2011 application for UN state membership

text: When President Mahmoud Abbas submitted an application for UN state membership, in September 2011, Palestinian lawyers, jurists and legal scholars expressed their concern that the change of Palestine's status in the UN (since 1988 designated as "Palestine" in place of "Palestine Liberation Organization") could have negative implications on the legal position of the Palestinian people. They warned for the risk of fragmentation, where the State of Palestine would represent the people within the UN and the PLO represent the people outside the UN, the latter including the Palestinians in exile, where refugees constitute more than half of the Palestinian people. They were also afraid of the loss of representation of the refugees in the UN.[43] In Resolution 67/19 of November 2012, Palestine was at last awarded non-member observer State status, but the General Assembly maintained the status of the PLO.

text: ′Non-member observer state′ status

text: By September 2012, with their application for full membership stalled due to the inability of Security Council members to 'make a unanimous recommendation', the PLO had decided to pursue an upgrade in status from "observer entity" to "non-member observer state". On 29 November 2012, Resolution 67/19 passed, upgrading Palestine to "non-member observer State" status in the United Nations.[69][70][71] The new status equates Palestine's with that of the Holy See.[72]

text: Diplomatic representation

text: The Palestine Information Office was registered with the Justice Department of the United States as a foreign agent until 1968, when it was closed. It was reopened in 1989 as the Palestine Affairs Center.[73] The PLO Mission office, in Washington D.C was opened in 1994, and represented the PLO in the United States. On 20 July 2010, the United States Department of State agreed to upgrade the status of the PLO Mission in the United States to "General Delegation of the PLO".[74]

text: Peace process

text: Initially, as a guerrilla organization, the PLO performed actions against Israel in the 1970s and early 1980s, regarded as terroristic activities by Israel and regarded as a war of liberation by the PLO. In 1988, however, the PLO officially endorsed a two-state solution, contingent on terms such as making East Jerusalem capital of the Palestinian state and giving Palestinians the right of return to land occupied by Palestinians prior to 1948, as well as the right to continue armed struggle until the end of "The Zionist Entity."[75] In 1996, the PLO nullified the articles of the PLO's Charter, or parts of it, which called for the destruction of Israel and for armed resistance.[76]

text: Ten Point Program

text: Following the failure of the armies of Egypt and Syria to defeat Israel in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, which broke the status quo existing since the June 1967 Six Day War, the PLO began formulating a strategic alternative.[77] Now, they intended to establish a ″national authority″ over every territory they would be able to reconquer. From 1 to 9 June 1974, the Palestine National Council held its 12th meeting in Cairo. On 8 June, the Ten Point Program was adopted. The Program stated:

text: The Liberation Organization will employ all means, and first and foremost armed struggle, to liberate Palestinian territory and to establish the independent combatant national authority for the people over every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated. This will require further changes being effected in the balance of power in favour of our people and their struggle.[78]

text: By ″every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated″ was implicitly meant the West Bank and Gaza Strip, albeit presented as an interim goal.[77] The final goal remained ″completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory″ and ″recover all their national rights and, first and foremost, their rights to return and to self-determination on the whole of the soil of their homeland″.[79] Also UN Resolution 242 was still rejected.[78]

text: While clinging to armed struggle as the prime means, the PLO no longer excluded peaceful means.Therefore, the Ten Point Program was considered the first attempt by the PLO at peaceful resolution. In October 1974, the Arab League proclaimed the PLO ″the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in any Palestinian territory that is liberated″, and also the UN recognized the PLO. From then, the diplomatic road was prepared. On the other hand, the Program was rejected by more radical factions and eventually caused a split in the movement.[77]

text: First Intifada

text: In 1987, the First Intifada broke out in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Intifada caught the PLO by surprise,[80] and the leadership abroad could only indirectly influence the events. A new local leadership emerged, the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU), comprising many leading Palestinian factions. After King Hussein of Jordan proclaimed the administrative and legal separation of the West Bank from Jordan in 1988,[81] the Palestine National Council adopted the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in Algiers, proclaiming an independent State of Palestine. The declaration made reference to UN resolutions without explicitly mentioning Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.

text: A month later, Arafat declared in Geneva that the PLO would support a solution of the conflict based on these Resolutions. Effectively, the PLO recognized Israel's right to exist within pre-1967 borders, with the understanding that the Palestinians would be allowed to set up their own state in the West Bank and Gaza. The United States accepted this clarification by Arafat and began to allow diplomatic contacts with PLO officials. The Proclamation of Independence did not lead to statehood, although over 100 states recognised the State of Palestine.

text: Oslo Accords

text: In 1993, the PLO secretly negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel.[82] The accords were signed on 20 August 1993.[82] There was a subsequent public ceremony in Washington D.C. on 13 September 1993 with Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin.[83] The Accords granted Palestinians the right to self-government on the Gaza Strip and the city of Jericho in the West Bank through the creation of the Palestinian Authority. Yasser Arafat was appointed head of the Palestinian Authority and a timetable for elections was laid out. The headquarters of the PLO were moved to Ramallah on the West Bank.[2][3]

text: Legal actions against the PLO

text: The PLO has been sued in the United States by families of those killed or injured in attacks by Palestinians. One of those lawsuits was settled prior to going to trial,[84][85] while another went to trial. The PLO was found liable and ordered to pay a judgment of $655.5 million US dollars, however that verdict was overturned on appeal for a lack of US federal jurisdiction over actions committed overseas.[86]

text: History and armed actions

text: Early actions

text: The PLO began their militancy campaign from its inception with an attack on Israel's National Water Carrier in January 1965.[18] The group used guerrilla tactics to attack Israel from their bases in Jordan (including the West Bank), Lebanon, Egypt (Gaza Strip), and Syria.[87]

text: The most notable of what were considered terrorist acts committed by member organizations of the PLO were:

text:
The 1970 Avivim school bus massacre by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), killed nine children, three adults and crippled 19.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the second-largest PLO faction after al-Fatah, carried out a number of attacks and plane hijackings mostly directed at Israel, most infamously the Dawson's Field hijackings, which precipitated the Black September in Jordan crisis.
In 1972, the Black September Organization carried out the Munich massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes.
In 1974, members of the DFLP seized a school in Israel and killed a total of 26 students and adults and wounded over 70 in the Ma'alot massacre.
The 1975, Savoy Hotel hostage situation killing 8 hostages and 3 soldiers, carried out by Fatah.
The 1978, Coastal Road massacre killing 37 Israelis and wounding 76, also carried out by Fatah.

text: War of attrition

text: From 1967 to September 1970 the PLO, with passive support from Jordan, fought a war of attrition with Israel. During this time, the PLO launched artillery attacks on the moshavim and kibbutzim of Bet Shean Valley Regional Council, while fedayeen launched numerous attacks on Israeli forces. Israel raided the PLO camps in Jordan, including Karameh, withdrawing only under Jordanian military pressure.[88]

text: This conflict culminated in Jordan's expulsion of the PLO to Lebanon in July 1971.

text: Black September in Jordan

text: The PLO suffered a major reversal with the Jordanian assault on its armed groups in the events known as Black September in 1970. The Palestinian groups were expelled from Jordan, and during the 1970s, the PLO was effectively an umbrella group of eight organizations headquartered in Damascus and Beirut, all devoted to armed struggle against Zionism or Israeli occupation, using methods which included direct clashing and guerrilla warfare against Israel. After Black September, the Cairo Agreement led the PLO to establish itself in Lebanon.

text: Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War

text: In the late 1960s, and especially after the expulsion of the Palestinian militants from Jordan in Black September events in 1970–1971, Lebanon had become the base for PLO operations. Palestinian militant organizations relocated their headquarters to South Lebanon, and relying on the support in Palestinian refugee camps, waged a campaign of attacks on the Galilee and on Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide. Increasing penetration of Palestinians into Lebanese politics and Israeli retaliations gradually deteriorated the situation.

text: By the mid-1970s, Arafat and his Fatah movement found themselves in a tenuous position.[citation needed] Arafat increasingly called for diplomacy, perhaps best symbolized by his Ten Points Program and his support for a UN Security Council resolution proposed in 1976 calling for a two-state settlement on the pre-1967 borders.[citation needed] But the Rejectionist Front denounced the calls for diplomacy, and a diplomatic solution was vetoed by the United States.[citation needed] In 1975, the increasing tensions between Palestinian militants and Christian militias exploded into the Lebanese Civil War, involving all factions. On 20 January 1976, the PLO took part in the Damour massacre in retaliation to the Karantina massacre. The PLO and Lebanese National Movement attacked the Christian town of Damour, killing 684 civilians and forcing the remainder of the towns population to flee. In 1976 Syria joined the war by invading Lebanon, which began the 29‑year Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and in 1978 Israel invaded South Lebanon, in response to the Coastal Road Massacre, executed by Palestinian militants based in Lebanon.

text: The population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip saw Arafat as their best hope for a resolution to the conflict.[citation needed] This was especially so in the aftermath of the Camp David Accords of 1978 between Israel and Egypt, which the Palestinians saw as a blow to their aspirations to self-determination.[citation needed] Abu Nidal, a sworn enemy of the PLO since 1974,[citation needed] assassinated the PLO's diplomatic envoy to the European Economic Community, which in the Venice Declaration of 1980 had called for the Palestinian right of self-determination to be recognized by Israel.

text: Opposition to Arafat was fierce not only among radical Arab groups, but also among many on the Israeli right.[citation needed] This included Menachem Begin, who had stated on more than one occasion that even if the PLO accepted UN Security Council Resolution 242 and recognized Israel's right to exist, he would never negotiate with the organization.[89][verification needed] This contradicted the official United States position that it would negotiate with the PLO if the PLO accepted Resolution 242 and recognized Israel, which the PLO had thus far been unwilling to do. Other Arab voices had recently called for a diplomatic resolution to the hostilities in accord with the international consensus, including Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat on his visit to Washington, DC in August 1981, and Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia in his 7 August peace proposal; together with Arafat's diplomatic maneuver, these developments made Israel's argument that it had "no partner for peace" seem increasingly problematic. Thus, in the eyes of Israeli hard-liners, "the Palestinians posed a greater challenge to Israel as a peacemaking organization than as a military one".[90]

text: After the appointment of Ariel Sharon to the post of Minister of defence in 1981, the Israeli government policy of allowing political growth to occur in the occupied West Bank and Gaza strip changed. The Israeli government tried, unsuccessfully, to dictate terms of political growth by replacing local pro-PLO leaders with an Israeli civil administration.[91]

text: In 1982, after an attack on a senior Israeli diplomat by Lebanon-based Palestinian militants in Lebanon, Israel invaded Lebanon in a much larger scale in coordination with the Lebanese Christian militias, reaching Beirut and eventually resulting in ousting of the PLO headquarters in June that year. Low-level Palestinian insurgency in Lebanon continued in parallel with the consolidation of Shia militant organizations, but became a secondary concern to Israeli military and other Lebanese factions. With ousting of the PLO, the Lebanese Civil War gradually turned into a prolonged conflict, shifting from mainly PLO-Christian conflict into involvement of all Lebanese factions – whether Sunni, Shia, Druze, and Christians.

text: Tunis

text: In 1982, the PLO relocated to Tunis, Tunisia after it was driven out of Lebanon by Israel during Israel's six-month invasion of Lebanon. Following massive raids by Israeli forces in Beirut, it is estimated that 8,000 PLO fighters evacuated the city and dispersed.[92]

text: On 1 October 1985, in Operation Wooden Leg, Israeli Air Force F-15s bombed the PLO's Tunis headquarters, killing more than 60 people.

text: It is suggested that the Tunis period (1982–1991) was a negative point in the PLO's history, leading up to the Oslo negotiations and formation of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PLO in exile was distant from a concentrated number of Palestinians and became far less effective.[93] There was a significant reduction in centres of research, political debates or journalistic endeavours that had encouraged an energised public presence of the PLO in Beirut. More and more Palestinians were abandoned, and many felt that this was the beginning of the end.[94]

text: Second Intifada

text: The Second or Al-Aqsa Intifada started concurrently with the breakdown of July 2000 Camp David talks between Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The Intifada never ended officially, but violence hit relatively low levels during 2005. The death toll, including both military personnel and civilians, of the entire conflict in 2000–2004 is estimated to be 3,223 Palestinians and 950 Israelis, although this number is criticized for not differentiating between combatants and civilians.[citation needed] Members of the PLO have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against Israelis during the Second Intifada.[citation needed]

text: In February 2015 in a civil case considered by a US federal court the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization were found liable for the death and injuries of US citizens in a number of terrorist attacks in Israel from 2001 to 2004. The damages are to be $655.5 million.[95]

text: Wealth controversy

text: According to a 1993 report by the British National Criminal Intelligence Service, the PLO was "the richest of all terrorist organizations", with $8–$10 billion in assets and an annual income of $1.5-$2 billion from "donations, extortion, payoffs, illegal arms dealing, drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, etc."[96]

text: Membership

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Present members include:

text:
Fatah – Largest faction, secular, left-wing nationalist.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – Second largest, radical left militant and communist
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) – Third largest, communist
The Palestinian People's Party (PPP) – Socialist[97]
The Palestine Liberation Front (PLF, Abu Abbas faction) – Minor left-wing faction
The Arab Liberation Front (ALF) – Minor faction, aligned to the Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party
As-Sa'iqa – Syrian-controlled Ba'athist faction
The Palestinian Democratic Union (Fida) – Minor democratic socialist, two-state solution, non militant faction
The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF, Samir Ghawsha faction) – minor socialist faction
The Palestinian Arab Front (PAF) – minor pro-Fatah, former Iraqi Ba'athist faction

text: Former member groups of the PLO include:

text:
The Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF, Abu Nidal Ashqar wing)
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC)[98]
The Revolutionary Palestinian Communist Party (RPCP)

text: Executive Committee Chairmen

text:
Ahmad Shukeiri (2 June 1964 – 24 December 1967)
Yahya Hammuda (24 December 1967 – 2 February 1969)
Yasser Arafat "Abu Amar" (4 February 1969 – 11 November 2004)

text: Mahmoud Abbas "Abu Mazen" (From 29 October 2004 – present)


document_title: Tres Zapotes

question_text: what number does the bars of tres zapotes represent

text: Tres Zapotes

text: Location[edit]

text: The site is located near the present-day village of Tres Zapotes, west of Santiago Tuxtla, Veracruz at the western edge of the Los Tuxtlas Mountains on the banks of the Rio Hueyapan (a small stream). The area is a transition point between the Los Tuxtlas Mountains and the Papaloapan River delta and allowed the inhabitants to take advantage of the forested uplands as well as the swamps and streams of the flatlands. Scarcely 10 km (6 mi) to the east stands Cerro el Vigía, an extinct volcano and important source of basalt and other volcanic stone, sandstone, and clay.[3] The nearby small site of Rancho la Cobata, on the northern flank of Cerro El Vigía, may have functioned as a monument workshop – most of the basalt stonework at Tres Zapotes was crafted from the colossal, "spheroid", smooth-faced boulders found even today at the summit of Cerro El Vigía. Some of these boulders are more than 3 meters in diameter.[4]

text: History[edit]

text: Olmec[edit]

text: Founded some time in the centuries before 1000 BCE,[5] Tres Zapotes emerged as a regional center early in the Middle Formative period, perhaps 900 - 800 BCE, roughly coinciding with the decline of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan. The earliest public architecture yet detected has been dated to the end of the Middle Formative, perhaps 500 BCE.[6]

text: It is thought that the two colossal heads date from this period.[7] It was near Tres Zapotes that the first colossal head was discovered in 1862 by José Melgar. To date, two have been found locally, labeled "Monument A" and Monument Q". Smaller than the colossal heads at San Lorenzo, they measure slightly less than 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) high. Together with the cruder and significantly larger head at Rancho la Cobata, these colossal heads show evidence of a local style of dress and sculpture, differing from that of San Lorenzo and La Venta.[2]

text: And, unlike the Olmec site of La Venta, Tres Zapotes was not abandoned at the close of the Middle Formative period, c. 400 BCE, nor was it immediately affected by the folding of the Olmec culture in the eastern Olmec heartland. However, during the next several hundred years, the Olmec culture at Tres Zapotes and on the western edge of the Olmec heartland would be gradually transformed into what has come to be called the Epi-Olmec (or post-Olmec) culture.

text: Epi-Olmec[edit]

text: Most of the monumental sculpture at Tres Zapotes is epi-Olmec, dating from the Late Formative period.[8] These sculptures show, as do Tres Zapotes ceramics, a continuity with and yet a gradual change away from Olmec patterns.[9] Tres Zapotes Stela D depicts a scene that is framed by the mouth of a monster, similar to the framing of La Venta's much more ancient Altar 4 — but while the Olmec altar refers to a mythical event, Stela D's content is historical in nature.

text: This framing device can also be seen Izapa Stela 2 which was carved at much the same time as Stela D. This and other similarities have led some archaeologists to suggest that Izapa heavily influenced Tres Zapotes' Epi-Olmec artistic conventions, or even that Tres Zapotes Epi-Olmec styles developed from the Izapan style.[10] However, recent scholarship instead highlights "their descent from a common ancestor, the Olmec culture, with some sharing of motifs and techniques in an evolving co-tradition".[11]

text: Despite similarities with earlier Olmec sculptures, though, Tres Zapotes Epi-Olmec sculpture appears to lack the artisanship, refinement, and detail of its San Lorenzo and La Venta predecessors. This is only partially attributable to the coarser local Cerro El Vigía basalt.[12]

text: It was during this Epi-Olmec period that a new Mesoamerican writing system appeared at Tres Zapotes: the Isthmian (or Epi-Olmec) script, as well as some of the earliest dates in the Long Count calendar format.

text: Classic era[edit]

text: Although the Classic era, starting roughly 300 CE, saw continued mound construction and Tres Zapotes remained a regional center, the era nonetheless brought a perceptible decline in Tres Zapotes' fortunes, as the centers of the new Classic Veracruz culture grew in prominence and size.

text: Tres Zapotes may have been abandoned by 900 CE, although there was a smaller and later occupation.[2]

text: Stela C[edit]

text: In 1939, archaeologist Matthew Stirling discovered at Tres Zapotes the bottom half of Stela C. This stela was carved from basalt, with one side showing an Olmec-style engraving that has been variously characterized as an abstract were-jaguar or a ruler on a throne.[13] On other side was the oldest Mesoamerican Long Count calendar date yet unearthed. This date, 7.16.6.16.18, correlates in our present-day calendar to September 3, 32 BCE, although there was some controversy over the missing baktun, the first digit, which Marion Stirling, Matthew's wife, had contended was a '7'. Her judgment was validated in 1969 when the top half of the stela was found.

text: Since 1939, only one older long-count date has been discovered, Stela 2 from Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, with a date of 7.16.3.2.13 (36 BCE).

text: The back of Stela C is engraved with one of the few surviving examples of Epi-Olmec script. A 1965 study concluded that Stela C, unlike most other basalt stonework at Tres Zapotes, was similar to the basalt used for La Venta Stela 3 and the basalt columns surrounding La Venta Complex A, which themselves have been traced to Punta Roca Partida, on the Gulf Coast at the northern side of the Los Tuxtlas Mountains.[14]

text: Site layout and societal organization[edit]

text: Over 160 mounds, platforms, and similar structures have been identified at Tres Zapotes, most of these being low residential platforms.[15] The major Epi-Olmec period structures are the prosaically-named Groups 1, 2, and 3, and the similarly structured Nestepe Group (also known as Group 4). Group 2 is more or less in the center of the residential core with the other three spaced almost 1 km (1 mi) away from Group 2 and from each other.

text: This equidistant spacing likely reflects a decentralized political structure, each mound group the creation of a separate faction within Tres Zapotes society. This is in contrast to La Venta, for example, where the heavily centralized public architecture reflected a centralized rulership.[16] At La Venta three of the four colossal heads were grouped together at the entrance to the ceremonial precinct while the fourth was at the edge of the large central plaza. The two Tres Zapotes heads were not in the central Group 2, but rather Monument A was located in Group 1 and Monument Q in the Nestepe Group.

text: Tres Zapotes's four mound groups are similar in design to those of Cerro de las Mesas, featuring a large plaza surrounded by several mounds, including a pyramidal or conical mound on the west end and a long mound on the north. The longer mounds likely supported administrative buildings and/or elite residences. The smaller mounds featured the residences of the lesser elites and temples.[6]

text: Although similar in composition, the mound groups varied widely in scale and complexity. The relatively simple Nestepe group's mounds were under 3 m (10 ft) tall and the plaza covered about 1½ hectares (3½ acres). On the other hand, Groups 2 and 3 featured mounds up to 12 m (39 ft) high with plazas covering 4 hectares. It is expected that this variation reflected differences in the various factions' access to labor and the duration of their period of influence.[2]

text: Tres Zapotes museum[edit]

text: There is a museum in the village of Tres Zapotes so that tourists and scholars alike can view the Olmec heads as well as half of the Stela C (the other half being in Mexico City).

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Stirling, p. 5.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Pool, p. 250.
Jump up ^ Pool, p. 246.
Jump up ^ Williams and Heizer, p. 9.
Jump up ^ Diehl, p. 182.
^ Jump up to: a b Pool, p. 248.
Jump up ^ Pool, p. 152.
Jump up ^ The Late Formative period stretches from 400 BCE until roughly 200 CE.
Jump up ^ Pool, p. 250-251.
Jump up ^ See Coe (1965), p. 769 and 773, who also conversely suggests that possibility that the Izapan style developed from Epi-Olmec.
Jump up ^ Pool, p. 255. Diehl, p. 183, is also unenthusiastic concerning significant Izapan influences at Tres Zapotes.
Jump up ^ Diehl, p. 183. Williams and Heizer state that the Cerro El Vigía basalt is "exceptionally coarse-grained", p. 4.
Jump up ^ Diehl, p. 185.
Jump up ^ Williams and Heizer, p. 21, and p. 7.
Jump up ^ Pool, p. 247.
Jump up ^ Pool, p. 249-250.


document_title: Field goal

question_text: who has the record for the longest field goal in the nfl

text: Field goal

text: Strategy[edit]

text: As a field goal is worth only three points, while a touchdown scores at least six (which usually becomes seven with a successful conversion, and potentially 8 with a two-point conversion), teams will generally attempt a field goal only in the following situations:

text:
It is fourth down (third down in Canadian rules), especially if the offense is more than a yard or two from a new first down, and within about 45 yards of the goal posts.
In the first half, there is enough time remaining to execute only one more play.
In the second half, there is enough time remaining to execute only one more play, and the team on offense needs three points to win or tie (four points in a few leagues given special circumstances).
The game is in overtime, and a FG is the quickest, easiest, and least risky way to end the match.

text: Except in desperate situations, a team will generally attempt field goals only when keeping a drive alive is unlikely, and its kicker has a significant chance of success, as a missed field goal results in a turnover at the spot of the kick (in the NFL) or at the line of scrimmage (in the NCAA). In American high school rules and Canadian football, where a missed field goal is treated the same as a punt, most teams still opt not to attempt field goals from very long range since field goal formations are not conducive to covering kick returns. Even under ideal conditions, the best professional kickers historically had difficulty making kicks longer than 50 yards consistently (the NFL record is 65 yards and the CFL record, 62 yards).[2] If a team chooses not to attempt a field goal on their last down, they can punt to the other team. A punt cannot score any points in American football unless the receiving team touches the ball first and the kicking team recovers it (though it can result in a single in Canadian football), but it may push the other team back toward its own end.

text: The longest field goal kick in NFL history is 64 yards, a record set by Matt Prater on December 8, 2013. The previous record was 63, originally set by Tom Dempsey and then matched by Jason Elam, Sebastian Janikowski, and David Akers. High school, college and most professional football leagues offer only a three-point field goal; however, some professional leagues have encouraged more rare kicks through four-point field goals. NFL Europe encouraged long field goals of 50 yards or more by making those worth four points instead of three (much like Australian rules' Super Goal or basketball's three-point line), a rule since adopted by the Stars Football League. Similarly, the sport of arena football sought (unsuccessfully) to repopularize the drop kick by making that worth four points; it failed, since only one kicker (Brian Mitchell) was able to do it with any semblance of proficiency. (In six-man football, where there is no offensive line, all field goals are worth four points instead of the usual three.)

text: The overall field goal percentage during the 2010 NFL season was 82.3. In comparison, Jan Stenerud, one of only two pure kickers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (along with Ray Guy), had a career field goal percentage of 66.8 from 1967 to 1985.[2]

text: How field goals are kicked[edit]

text: When a team decides to attempt a field goal, it will generally line up in a very tight formation, with all but two players lined up along or near the line of scrimmage: the placekicker and the holder. The holder is usually the team's punter or backup quarterback.[citation needed] Instead of the regular center, a team may have a dedicated long snapper trained especially to snap the ball on placekick attempts and punts.

text: The holder usually lines up seven to eight yards behind the line of scrimmage, with the kicker a few yards behind him. Upon receiving the snap, the holder holds the ball against the ground vertically, with the stitches away from the kicker. The kicker begins his approach during the snap, so the snapper and holder have little margin for error. A split-second mistake can disrupt the entire attempt.

text: The measurement of a field goal's distance is from the goalpost to the point where the ball was positioned for the kick by the holder. In American football, where the goalpost is located at the back of the end zone (above the end line), the ten yards of the end zone are added to the yard line distance at the spot of the hold.

text: In the early days of the sport, placekickers approached the ball straight on, with the toe making first contact with the ball. The technique of kicking the ball "soccer-style", by approaching the ball at an angle and kicking it with the instep, was introduced by kicker Pete Gogolak in the 1960s.[3] The Hungarian-born Gogolak, reflecting his roots in European soccer, observed that kicking the ball at an angle could cover more distance than kicking straight on.

text: Successful field goals[edit]

text: If there is any time left in the half, the method of resuming play after a successful field goal varies between leagues.

text: Missed field goals[edit]

text: A missed field goal is said to be "no good" if the kicked ball does not cross between the uprights and/or over the crossbar of the goal posts. If it misses to the posts' left it may be called "wide left" and "wide right" if it misses to the posts' right. A field goal attempt may be described as "short" if it does not have sufficient distance to go over the cross bar. Some commentators will only describe a field goal attempt as being short if it appears to have been aimed correctly while others will describe an attempt appearing to lack both accuracy and distance as being both wide and short.

text: If a field goal attempt is missed and does not go out of bounds, a defensive player may catch the ball and return it, like a punt or kickoff. This type of play usually occurs during an extremely long field goal attempt due to the distance the defense must travel to reach the returner. If there is a significant likelihood of a miss and the strategic game situation warrants it, the defense places a player downfield, in or near their end zone, to catch the ball. The risk in this is that the return man may be tackled deep in his own territory, at a considerably worse position than he could have gotten by letting the ball go dead (see below); furthermore, should the returner fumble the ball, the kicking team can recover it and gain a new set of downs (the advantage is that the kicking team is lined up very close together to stop kick blockers, and not spread across the field like a kickoff or punt team, and is therefore in poor position to defend the return). Thus, teams will usually return a kick only towards the end of a half (when the kick will be the final play) or in a particularly desperate situation.

text: If a ball caroms off one of the goal posts or the crossbar, but lands in the field of play, the ball is considered dead and cannot be returned. (This is not the case in arena football, where large "rebound nets" surround the goal posts for the explicit purpose of keeping the ball in play.) However, if the ball caroms off one of the goal posts or the crossbar and continues into the goal, the score counts.

text: Situations where the defense does not return a missed field goal vary between leagues and levels of play:

text: Blocked field goals[edit]

text: Occasionally, the defense will succeed in blocking a field goal. If a blocked field goal is in or behind the neutral zone, it is treated like a fumble and can be advanced by either team. Beyond the neutral zone, a blocked kick is treated like a punt and can be advanced only by the defense, unless a defensive player fumbles the ball, after which an offensive player can advance it.

text: History[edit]

text: In the early days of football, kicking was highly emphasized. In 1883, the scoring system was devised, with field goals counting for 5 points, and touchdowns and conversions worth 4 apiece. In 1897, the touchdown was raised to 5 points while the conversion was lowered to 1 point. Field goals were devalued to 4 points in 1904, and then to the modern 3 points in 1909. The touchdown was changed to 6 points in 1912 in American football; the Canadian game followed suit in 1956.

text: The spot of the conversion has also changed through the years. In 1924, NCAA rules spotted the conversion at the 3-yard line, before moving it back to the 5-yard line in 1925. In 1929, the spot was moved up to the 2-yard line, which the NFL had done until 2014. In 1968, the NCAA diverged from the NFL rules in moving the spot back to the original 3-yard line. Canadian rules originally spotted the conversion at the 5-yard line, which remains closer than in the American code as the goalposts are at the front of the end zone. In 2015, to make conversion kicks harder, the NFL and CFL moved the spot of the kick to the 15 and 25-yard lines, respectively. In addition, the CFL moved the spot for a two-point conversion up to the 3-yard line to entice more teams to go for 2 points as opposed to one.

text: The goalposts were originally located on the goal line; this led to many injuries and sometimes interfered with play. The NCAA moved the goal posts to the rear of the end zone in 1927. The NFL (still following NCAA rules at the time) followed suit, but moved the posts back to the goal line starting in the 1932 NFL Playoff Game, a change made necessary by the size of the indoor Chicago Stadium and kept when the NFL rules stopped mirroring the NCAA rules in 1933. The NFL kept the post at the goal line until 1974, when they were moved back to the rear of the end zone. This was partly a result of the narrowed hashmark distance made in 1972, which had made for easier field-goal angles. The Canadian game still has posts on the goal line.

text: The width of the goalposts and the hashmarks have also varied throughout the years. In 1959, the NCAA goalposts were widened to 23 feet 4 inches (7.11 m), the standard width for high school posts today. In 1991, the college goalposts were reduced in width to 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m), matching the NFL. For the 1991 and 1992 seasons, this meant potentially severe angles for short field goal attempts, since the hashmark width remained at 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m). In 1993, the NCAA narrowed the distance between the hashmarks to 40 ft (12.19 m), matching what was the width of hashmarks in the NFL from 1945 through 1971; the NFL narrowed the hashmarks in 1972 to goalpost width at 18.5 feet (5.64 m). In the CFL, the hashmarks are 51 feet (16 m), but the field is 195 feet (59 m) in width, 35 feet (11 m) wider than the American field.

text: The NFL increased the height of the uprights above the crossbar to 20 feet (6.10 m) in 1966 and 30 feet (9.14 m) in 1974. In 2014, they were raised five feet to 35 feet (10.67 m) after the adoption of a proposal by New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.[7]

text: The "slingshot" goalpost, with a single post curving to support the crossbar, was invented by Jim Trimble and Joel Rottman in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[8] The first were built by Alcan and displayed at Expo 67,[8][9] the World's fair in Montreal. The NFL had standardized the goalposts in 1966 and adopted the slingshot for the 1967 season;[8] the NCAA later adopted the same rule, but later allowed the use of "offset" goalposts, with two posts rather than one (which were the norm prior to the invention of the "slingshot" goalposts). The CFL was the first league to use the new goalposts; they made their debut in the 2nd game of the CFL's Eastern Conference final in 1966 (which was played at Montreal's Autostade as Landsdowne Park [now TD Place Stadium], the home of Ottawa Rough Riders, was undergoing renovations), and were used in the Grey Cup the next week at Vancouver's Empire Stadium. Three schools in Division I FBS currently use dual-support posts: Florida State, LSU, and Washington State. A special exemption was allowed by the NFL for the New Orleans Saints to use the offset goalposts during the 2005 season, when they used LSU's stadium for home games after Hurricane Katrina.

text: Goalposts at the professional level today are sometimes equipped with a camera mounted to the stanchion immediately behind the center of the crossbar. Since these cameras are both above and slightly behind the crossbar, a field goal attempt will be judged good if it strikes this equipment.

text: In 1989, the NCAA banned the kicking tee for field goals and extra points, requiring kicks from the ground.[10][11]

text: During the 2011 NFL season, a record 90 field goals of 50 yards or longer were made.[12] In 2012, this record was increased to 92 field goals of 50 yards or longer.[12]

text: Longest field goal records[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: As recorded in Guinness World Records:

text: The record for a field goal at any level is 69 yards. It was kicked by Ove Johansson of the Abilene Christian University Wildcats in the 1976 game against East Texas State University Lions (now Texas A&M University–Commerce) in Shotwell Stadium, Abilene, Texas.[13]

text: NFL[edit]

text: The longest field goal made was 64 yards by Matt Prater of the Denver Broncos on December 8, 2013.[14] The longest field goal attempt in an NFL game was 76 yards by Sebastian Janikowski on September 28, 2008.[15]

text: In the history of the NFL regular season, only 18 field goals have been made from at least 60 yards:[16]

text:
Distance
Kicker
Team
Result
Opposition
Date
Notes
Location
Elevation
Weather

64 yards
Matt Prater
Denver Broncos
51–28
Tennessee Titans
December 8, 2013
End of 1st half
Sports Authority Field at Mile High
5,280 ft (1,610 m)
13 °F; Sunny; Wind: S at 3 mph; Humidity: 72%

63 yards
Tom Dempsey
New Orleans Saints
19–17
Detroit Lions
November 8, 1970
Born with a stub for a right foot. Game-winning kick as time expired. Detroit kicker Errol Mann had kicked a field goal with :08 remaining to give Lions the lead.
Tulane Stadium
16 ft (4.9 m)

63 yards
Jason Elam
Denver Broncos
37–24
Jacksonville Jaguars
October 25, 1998
First field goal to tie record; soccer-style kicker
Mile High Stadium
5,280 ft (1,610 m)

63 yards
Sebastian Janikowski
Oakland Raiders
23–20
Denver Broncos
September 12, 2011
Left-footed
Sports Authority Field at Mile High
5,280 ft (1,610 m)
Light rain early

63 yards
David Akers
San Francisco 49ers
30–22
Green Bay Packers
September 9, 2012
Left-footed; end of first half; ball bounced off crossbar before crossing the plane
Lambeau Field
640 ft (200 m)
70 °F; Mostly Cloudy; Wind: N at 7 mph; Humidity: 43%

62 yards
Matt Bryant
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
23–21
Philadelphia Eagles
October 22, 2006
Game-winning kick as time expired
Raymond James Stadium
35 ft (11 m)

62 yards
Stephen Gostkowski
New England Patriots
33–8
Oakland Raiders
November 19, 2017
Right-footed; kicked as time expired at the end of the first half
Azteca Stadium
7,280 ft (2,220 m)
63 °F; Mostly Cloudy

61 yards
Sebastian Janikowski
Oakland Raiders
9–23
Cleveland Browns
December 27, 2009
Left-footed
FirstEnergy Stadium
580 ft (180 m)

61 yards
Jay Feely
Arizona Cardinals
16–19 (OT)
Buffalo Bills
October 14, 2012
Right-footed; longest game-tying field goal with 1:09 remaining in the 4th quarter, missed a 38-yard field goal that would have won the game at the end of regulation
University of Phoenix Stadium
1,150 ft (350 m)
Retractable roof closed

61 yards
Justin Tucker
Baltimore Ravens
18–16
Detroit Lions
December 16, 2013
Right-footed; game-winning field goal with 43 seconds remaining; sixth field goal of the game
Ford Field
601 ft (183 m)[17]
Dome

61 yards
Greg Zuerlein
St. Louis Rams
18–21 (OT)
Minnesota Vikings
November 8, 2015
Right-footed
TCF Bank Stadium
869 ft (265 m)
58 °F (14 °C); sunny

61 yards
Jake Elliott
Philadelphia Eagles
27–24
New York Giants
September 24, 2017
Right-footed; game winning kick as time expired. Second game of NFL career.
Lincoln Financial Field
39 ft (12 m)
91 °F (33 °C); sunny

60 yards
Steve Cox
Cleveland Browns
9–12
Cincinnati Bengals
October 21, 1984
Straight-ahead kick; on AstroTurf
Riverfront Stadium
490 ft (150 m)

60 yards
Morten Andersen
New Orleans Saints
17–20
Chicago Bears
October 27, 1991
Left-footed; on AstroTurf; first 60-yard kick done indoors
Louisiana Superdome
Sea level
Dome

60 yards
Rob Bironas
Tennessee Titans
20–17
Indianapolis Colts
December 3, 2006
Right-footed; game winner with six seconds remaining
LP Field
400 ft (120 m)

60 yards
Dan Carpenter
Miami Dolphins
10–13
Cleveland Browns
December 5, 2010
End of 1st half
Sun Life Stadium
5 ft (1.5 m)
77 °F (25 °C), wind SW at 14 mph (23 km/h)

60 yards
Greg Zuerlein
St. Louis Rams
19–13
Seattle Seahawks
September 30, 2012
In his rookie season; longest field goal in third quarter; also kicked a 58-yard field goal in the first quarter
Edward Jones Dome
466 ft (142 m)
Dome

60 yards
Chandler Catanzaro
Arizona Cardinals
18–33
Buffalo Bills
September 25, 2016
Longest field goal in career
New Era Field
600 ft (180 m)

text: Prior to Dempsey's 1970 kick, the longest field goal in NFL history was a 56-yard field goal by Bert Rechichar in 1953. A 55-yard field goal, achieved by a drop kick, was recorded by Paddy Driscoll in 1924, and stood as the unofficial record until that point; some sources indicate a 54-yarder by Glenn Presnell in 1934 as the record, due to the inability to precisely verify Driscoll's 55-yarder.

text: In a pre-season NFL game between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks on August 29, 2002, Ola Kimrin kicked a 65-yard field goal.[18] However, because pre-season games are not counted toward official records, this accomplishment is not the official record.

text: CFL[edit]

text:
62 yards, Paul McCallum, Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Edmonton Eskimos, October 27, 2001[19]
60 yards, Dave Ridgway, Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers, September 6, 1987[19]

text: College football[edit]

text:
69 yards, Ove Johansson, Abilene Christian vs. East Texas State on October 16, 1976. (NAIA)
67 yards, Tom Odle, Fort Hays State vs. Washburn, 1988. (NCAA)
67 yards, Joe Williams, Wichita State vs. Southern Illinois, 1978. (NCAA Division I)
67 yards, Russell Erxleben, Texas vs. Rice, 1977. (NCAA Division I)
67 yards, Steve Little, Arkansas vs. Texas, 1977.[20] (NCAA Division I)
65 yards, J. T. Haxall, Princeton vs. Yale, 1882.

text: All of the above kicks were successful with the use of a kicking tee, which was banned by the NCAA after the 1988 season.

text: 65 yards, Martin Gramatica, Kansas State vs. Northern Illinois, 1998 - without a tee [21]

text: The longest known drop-kicked field goal in college football was a 62-yard kick from Pat O'Dea, an Australian kicker who played on the Wisconsin Badgers football team. O'Dea's kick took place in a blizzard against Northwestern on November 15, 1898.[22]

text: U Sports[edit]

text: The longest field goal in U Sports football history is 59 yards, by Niko Difonte of Calgary Dinos, playing against the UBC Thunderbirds on November 11, 2017. The field goal was the final and winning play of the 81st Hardy Cup.[23][24]

text: High school[edit]

text:
68 yards, Dirk Borgognone, Reno High School vs. Sparks High School (Nevada), September 27, 1985[25][26]
67 yards, Austin Rehkow, Central Valley High School (Spokane Valley, Washington) vs. Shadle Park High School (Spokane, Washington), October 18, 2012, game-tying FG with :02 left in 4th quarter (CV would go on to win 62-55). [27][28] (tied with two others)
62 yards, David Rosenbaum, Woodrow Wilson High School (Washington, D.C.) vs. Spingarn High School, October 3, 2003. While no records are kept, considered to be the longest extra point scored. Penalties due to excessive celebration, unsportsmanlike conduct, and taunting.[29]

text: Independent amateur[edit]

text: 68 yards, Fabrizio Scaccia, Treasure Coast Bobcats (FL), March 29, 2009[30] (world record for a kick without the aid of a tee, which was banned for field goal and extra point attempts in the NCAA in 1989)

text: Independent Women's Football League[edit]

text: 44 yards, Sarah Oliver, California Quake vs. New Mexico Menace, April 26, 2008.[31]

text: Longest missed field goal return records[edit]

text: NFL[edit]

text: Field goal returns are rare in the NFL, since an attempt with sufficient distance that misses the uprights will automatically be dead. Returns are possible when a field goal is short, but in that case returners will usually down the ball so as to scrimmage from the spot of the kick. Normally, a return will only be attempted when there is not enough time left in the half to run a play from scrimmage. Nevertheless, four field goals have been returned for at least 107 yards in the 21st century:

text:
Distance returned
Returner
Team
Opposing kicker
Opposing team
Distance attempted
Date
Location

109 yards[32]
Antonio Cromartie
San Diego Chargers
Ryan Longwell
Minnesota Vikings
58 yards
November 4, 2007
Metrodome

108 yards[33]
Devin Hester
Chicago Bears
Jay Feely
New York Giants
52 yards
November 12, 2006
Giants Stadium

108 yards[34]
Nathan Vasher
Chicago Bears
Joe Nedney
San Francisco 49ers
52 yards
November 13, 2005
Soldier Field

107 yards[35]
Chris McAlister
Baltimore Ravens
Jason Elam
Denver Broncos
57 yards
September 30, 2002
Ravens Stadium

text: CFL[edit]

text: Because the goalposts in Canadian football are on the goal line, and because downing the ball in the end zone results in the kicking team scoring a single point, field goal returns are much more common. The longest missed field goal return in the CFL is 131 total yards. Against the Montreal Alouettes on August 22, 1958, the Toronto Argonauts' Boyd Carter ran 15 yards, then threw a lateral to Dave Mann, who then returned it for the final 116 yards.[36] This return, which started 21 yards behind the goal line, was during the era of 25-yard end zones (which made the maximum theoretical missed field return distance 134 yards in those days) and therefore cannot be met or exceeded on the modern field with 20-yard end zones. Since the shortening of the end zones in the CFL in 1986, a field goal has been returned for the maximum 129 yards on two occasions: by Tristan Jackson of the Saskatchewan Roughriders on July 14, 2012 [37] and by Trent Guy of the Montreal Alouettes on September 23, 2012.[38]

text: NCAA[edit]

text: In NCAA college football, only five missed field goals returns for touchdowns have ever been returned 100 yards or more:[39]

text:
September 17, 1966: Don Guest (California Golden Bears), 108-yard return for a touchdown after a failed 47-yard field goal attempt by Washington State.[39]
September 28, 1968: Richie Luzzi (Clemson Tigers), 108-yard return for a touchdown after a failed 47-yard field goal attempt by Georgia.[40]
September 7, 2013: Odell Beckham Jr. (LSU Tigers), 109-yard return for a touchdown after a failed 59-yard field goal attempt by UAB.[39]
November 30, 2013: Chris Davis, Jr. (Auburn Tigers), 109-yard return for a touchdown after what would have been a tie-breaking 57-yard field goal attempt by Alabama fell short as time expired, what some writers and fans call the greatest play in college football history.[41][42][43][44]
September 3, 2016: Brandon Wilson (Houston Cougars), 109-yard return for a touchdown after a failed 53-yard field goal attempt by Oklahoma.[45]

text: U Sports[edit]

text: In U Sports football, like in the CFL, the longest possible missed field goal return is 129 yards, and this has occurred three times.[24]

text:
Jeremy Botelho of the Manitoba Bisons playing against the Simon Fraser Clansmen on September 11, 2009
Jedd Gardner of the Guelph Gryphons playing against the McMaster Marauders on October 8, 2010
Tunde Adeleke of the Carleton Ravens playing against the Ottawa Gee-Gees on October 5, 2013