Algeria has long been a champion of the Palestinians in Israel ever since winning Independence from France in 1962. The National Liberation Front or FLN had been a strong backer of the Palestinian Cause. During the Algerian War of Independence from 1954 to 1962 many Palestinians saw Algeria and its struggle for independence as a good model to be learned from. Algeria has long supported the Palestine Liberation Organization since the 1970s and Algerian Presidents Houari Boumediene and Chadli Bendjedid both hosted and welcomed Yasser Arafat. Algeria also provided arms and training for Palestinian militants. In 1974 a Palestinian embassy was opened in Algeria and under Abdelaziz Bouteflika who was the President of the General Assembly, the PLO was admitted as an observer and Yasser Arafat addressed the United Nations General Assembly. In 1975, Algeria sponsored and voted in support of the UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 which equated Zionism with racism (the resolution, however, was later revoked with Resolution 4686 in 1991, but Algeria voted against that resolution). After the Camp David Accords Algeria had severed all diplomatic relations with Egypt and continued to support the Palestinians although this time in a low key fashion. During the First Intifada, Algeria had strongly condemned Israeli actions and convened the 1988 Arab League summit. The emergency Arab Summit offered to support the intifada with financial aid. After the Palestinian Declaration of Independence on 15 November 1988, Algeria became the very first country in the world to recognize the new State of Palestine on 15 November 1988 and officially established full diplomatic relations with it by 18 December 1988. But Algeria soon went into political turmoil and soon erupted into a Civil War after the Algerian parliamentary elections in December 1991 which were cancelled by the Algerian Military in January 1992.