Democratic Palestine : 14 (ص 30)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 14 (ص 30)
- المحتوى
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Comrade Habash
and the Yemeni Revolution
While Comrade George Habash was in Democratic Yemen for the YSP congress in October 1985, he
was interviewed by the country’s leading newspaper «October 14th» (named for the date of the revolu-
tion). Irregardiess of the ensuing events in Yemen, we find it important to print this interview for two
reasons. One: It is the first interview in which Comrade Habash has spoken about his own life and his
entry into the national struggle. Two: It presents the background of the Yemeni revolution’s beginning in
the context of the Arab National Movement, and thereby for the historical relations between the YSP and
PFLP. (The paragraphs in italics are the introduction and conclusion written by the interviewer.)
Doctor George Habash is an extraordinary person, not
because he is a leader in the Palestinian revolution, or
because he is General Secretary of the PFLP, or even
because he has been active and steadfast in the Arab and
Palestinian national struggle for four decades of his 60 year
life. He is extraordinary because of his simple personality and
modesty that make you feel he is a close friend you have
known for many years. He opens his heart with no hesitation,
arrogance or insecurity. Because he is not an ordinary per-
son, he has a big heart with room for everything and a rich
mind that is always giving. When he speaks, he uses all his
feelings with deep concentration and calm, on even the hot-
test issue. He gives you confidence to speak with him and
search his mind.
What do you remember about the beginning of
your work in the Arab and Palestinian national
field, and the start of your academic life, how you
chose to study medicine?
In fact, | started my work in the Palestinian and Arab
national field at the same time - in 1948 - the year of the disas-
ter, the year that part of Palestine was occupied. Before that, |
was just an ordinary citizen, experiencing Palestinian and Arab
events, reacting like any other Palestinian or Arab citizen.
Before 1948, | had not started a continuous, organized strug-
gle, but the loss of Palestine affected me very deeply. It
30
affected the Arab and Palestinian youth. For me, it was the way
my family and | were thrown out of Lydda by force, and the hor-
rible crimes | witnessed being committed by the Zionist
occupying forces: the degrading way in which we were kicked
out of our home, the enormous difficulties that faced us when
we walked to Ramallah, and the indescribable human suffering
that | witnessed during this event. All this changed me com-
pletely. | didn't find any reason to live or any taste for life,
except through struggle against this enemy and the horrible
things it stands for.
| remember thinking seriously of leaving school. | was in
my second year, studying medicine at the American University
of Beirut. | thought of leaving school without knowing what to
do. All ! wanted was to struggle for regaining my right to live on
my land. Only | didn’t know how. I didn’t want to continue study-
ing in Beirut, because | wanted to stay in Palestine, my home-
land, in Ramallah, near Lydda. Only my mother's constant
pleading for me to continue my studies made me go back. |
consider myself an emotional person; | didn’t want to upset my
mother. | had to continue my school, and so | went back to
Beirut.
There | found what a great influence the disaster had not
only on the Palestinians, but on Arab youth in general; those
from Syria, Iraq, the Gulf and elsewhere were greatly affected.
In 1948, we started a student struggle that expressed our frust-
ration with the Arab leaders of the time. It also expressed our
wish to find out what was to be done. As we expressed it then:
What is to be done to avenge what has happened? What can
we do in struggle to win Palestine back? Since that time, | have
been on that path.
You say you are an emotional person, finishing
school due to your mother’s pleading, yet the
cause of your people and land is what led you to
embark on another journey - that of struggle. How
were you able to coordinate between becoming a
doctor and a militant? How were your mother’s
feelings? Did she want George the doctor or
George the militant?
In fact, when | went back to school in Beirut, my studying
was superficial. It is true that | passed with good grades, but |
didn't have in mind getting my degree in medicine in order to
practice. | had one thing in mind: working to liberate Palestine.
When | finished my study, | felt | had fulfilled my mother's
wishes. | could have taken the degree and said: Congratula-
tions mother, your son is now a doctor; so that she would let me - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 14
- تاريخ
- مارس ١٩٨٦
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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