General Union of Palestinian Students

[1] Considered "the first Palestinian sectoral organization to re-emerge after the 1948 dispersal," the General Union of Palestine Students "came to play a leading role in Palestinian organizational life" and helped form a cohort of leaders that would play prominent roles later on in the Palestine Liberation Organization.

[3] Several GUPS chapters remain operational in Europe and South America, including in Chile and the United Kingdom.

They include Yasser Arafat, Hanan Ashrawi, Faisal Husseini, Walid Khalidi, Mahmoud Hamshari, Afif Safieh, Elias Sanbar, Ahmad Abdel Rahman[4] and many others.

Nearing the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Yasser Arafat moved to Cairo in order to re-enrol in the University of King Fuad I, later known as Cairo University, studying civil engineering and serving as chairman of the GUPS from 1952 until the year of his graduation of 1956 as well as the chairman of the Federation of Palestinian Students, both considered important positions in Palestinian politics.

In 1959, long before the famous 1974 Rabat summit resolution recognizing PLO representation of the Palestinians, GUPS concluded an agreement with Jordanian student unions designating Palestinian students from the West Bank as the constituency of GUPS alone.