Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 4)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 4)
- المحتوى
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The PFLP, while highly praising the firm and principled
positions of the USSR concerning our people’s struggle, ap-
preciates the peaceful Soviet initiatives leading to the agree-
ment to eliminate medium-range and short-range nuclear
weapons, as the first step towards protecting humanity from
the dangers of a nuclear war.
The succes of the imperialist-Zionist-Arab reactionary ag-
gression in this region is not inevitable. In contrast to the of-
ficial policies’ decline, bright signs have emerged and proved
the Arab nation’s capabilities. Our Palestinian people’s upris-
ing in the occupied homeland the heroic struggle of the
Lebanese National Resistance Front, and the Palestinian
military operations in the occupied homeland, the latest being
the heroic hang-glider operation, all these facts point out the
possibilities of succes in foiling all hostile plans.
On the 20 th anniversary, the PFLP promises to continue the
struggle until total victory and the achievment of the national
goals of the Palestinian people of return, self-determination and
the establishment of an independent state on Palestine.»
Interview with
Comrade George Habash
On the occasion of the PFLP’s 20th anniversary, Secretary General Comrade George Habash gave an
exclusive interview to Al Hadaf and Democratic Palestine
Twenty years after the PFLP’s establishment, can
you describe the circumstances in which it was
formed. What were the expectations that motivated
the decision to establish the Front?
The idea to establish the PFLP arose due to the results of the
1967 war, when the Zionist enemy succeeded in occupying the
rest of Palestine, in addition to the Sinai and the Golan
Heights. This made the Arab and Palestinian masses disillu-
sioned with the nationalist bourgeois regimes, headed at that
time by Nasser’s regime in Egypt. The masses were shocked by
the defeat and the new Zionist expansion, and by the failure of
the nationalist bourgeois project spearheaded by the Egyptian
regime. The question was what to do to restore our masses’
self-confidence and restore the credibility of our slogans.
In order to liberate Palestine, struggle by all means was
needed... at that time, the PLO was not the same as it is now -it
was not a front-like framework led by the armed resistance
organizations, it was only a few years old. The masses had no
confidence in it. It did not represent the Palestinian people’s
will. Nor was it a suitable framework for mobilizing their
capabilities for the liberation struggle. It had been established
by the Arab regimes, which made it difficult to imagine that it
could escape their control. This is not meant to belittle the im-
portance of the PLO’s having been established... But the re-
quirements of truth make us point out the many reservations
and questions that remained... Faced with this situation, we
made our decision to initiate new revolutionary action whereby
the Palestinian people could practice their will by fighting to
liberate their homeland.
In these circumstances, it was natural to think of establishing
a national front, representing the vanguard Palestinian forces,
to restore the prominence of the Palestinian role which had
been overlooked from 1948 until 1967. The time had come for
a new revolutionary response, with a different class nature,
capable of facing the new challenges. We saw the Algerian
people’s revolution as an inspiration, as well as the experience
of the Yemeni masses in the South, who achieved independence
in 1967.
4
A POPULAR FRONT
We engaged in contacts with all Palestinian forces and
Organizations that were preparing for armed struggle to
liberate Palestine through protracted people’s war. The most
important organizations were Fatah, the Palestinian branch of
the Arab Nationalist Movement, the Heros of Return, the
Palestine Liberation Front, the Palestinian branch of the Baath
Party and more than twenty smaller factions. This abundance
of factions reflected the Palestinian people’s awakening.
The name, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,
did not emerge at that time, for the negotiations which were
held among Palestinian organizations in Damascus aimed at
forming a fighting, nationalist, people’s front. We wanted to
include all Palestinian forces, also Fatah, but the dialogue did
not end in agreement to form such a front. Fatah refused to
participate, so the only choice then was to work with the
organizations that agreed to forming a unified front. Thus, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was formed from
the Palestinian branch of the Arab Nationalist Movement (the
Youth of Revenge). the Heros of Return, the Palestine Libera-
tion Front and a number of independent nationalists.
When we first thought of establishing the PFLP after the
June defeat, the expectations were that this front would in-
clude all fighting Palestinian organizations, as had happened
in Algeria (the Algerian National Liberation Front) and the
National Liberation Front that achieved the independence of
South Yemen. We never thought that we would be building a
Marxist-Leninist party. The idea of transformation was not
introduced at that time. When the PFLP’s establishment was
declared, it was clear that it was a front including the greatest
possible number of existing Palestinian fighting organizations,
and which aimed to continue working with Fatah in a unified
front. This is what happened in 1968, when we reached an
agreement that made the PLO a front-like framework led by
the fighting organizations, without losing the PLO’s represen-
tative capacity as a member of the Arab League.
From the start, we didn’t plan to form a party called the
PFLP. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 27
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