Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 12)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 12)
- المحتوى
-
then, we would be marching along to restore our just national
rights.
This, of course, is not the task of the struggle inside the oc-
cupied territories only. This struggie can not introduce the
needed change in the balance of forces, which would force the
establishment of a Palestinian state despite the enemy’s will,
but rather it is the task of the entire Palestinian struggle, fully
linked to its national and internationalist dimensions.
How did your viewpoint develop concerning the
relationship between the Palestinian national factor
and the Arab national factor?
This viewpoint developed during two stages, each divided
into subdivisions. The first stage was my participation in the
Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM). This stage overlooked the
Palestinian national factor and emphasized the pan-Arab
factor. I would like to point out that the ANM viewed the
liberation of Palestine as a process that preconditioned
achieving comprehensive Arab unity. And the ANM’s slogan
«unity is the road to Palestine» summarizes the ANM’s think-
ing. The ANM strongly believed in the pan-Arab dimension in
the early fifties, when we attempted to wage military actions
against the Zionist enemy, due to the continuous confronta-
tions with the Jordanian army which we used to call in those
days the «Guardians of Israel».
Several factors played a role in emphasizing the pan-Arab
national factor first, the results of the 1948 war and the defeat
of the Arab armies in Palestine led us to believe in the pan-
Arab response against this enemy. Second, at that time
the idea of pan-Arab was in its peak. Third, the atmosphere
that the late comrade Wadi Haddad and I found ourselves in,in
the American University of Beirut (AUB), where several Arab
militants showed readiness to struggle for Palestine, this at-
mosphere overshadowed the Palestinian national factor. It is
worth pointing out that pan-Arab was an ideology opposing
imperialism, Zionism and Arab reaction. Added to that is the
ANM’s inability to contact the Palestinian masses living in the
1948 occupied territories and to organize them. The exeption to
this was the Gaza strip, where the Palestinian chapter of the
ANM was a strong force.
The Nasserite era added to our belief that the pan-Arab idea
was close to liberating Palestine. But the events that took place
later shocked us and forced us gradually to question the old
pan-Arab ideas. The first event was the Zionists’ plan to
transfer the Jordan rivers’ water course and president Nasser’s
failure to respond. The second event was the dissolving of the
unity between Egypt and Syria (1963). And the third event was
the triumph of the Algerian revolution (1962). These events
forced us to seriously reconsider the relationship between the
Palestinian national factor and the Arab national factor.
Consequently a Palestinian branch of the ANM was formed,
called «The Youth of Revenge». This branch was concerned
with the Palestinian struggle. And it was considered a step on
the correct path, despite the continued emphasis on the Arab
national dimension.
The second stage is the PFLP’s. And in my own view point,
this stage materialized the correct and precise outlining of the
relationship between the Palestinian national and the Arab
national dimensions.
The PFLP realized that the Palestinian national dimension
in the struggle should be emphasized more than the pan-Arab
dimension. The 2nd and 4th PFLP congresses’ political reports
12
outlined precisely the dialectical relationship between the
Palestinian national and the Arab national dimensions.
What is your response to the charge that the PFLP
still emphasizes the pan-Arab dimension over the
Palestinian dimension?
I can easily countercharge those people that they emphasize
the narrow national dimension without taking any considera-
tion to the nature of our enemy and the methods to confront it.
But this essential issue should not be delt with charges and
countercharges. A correct definition of the relationship bet-
ween these two dimensions should be outlined. Our succes in
confronting the imperialist-Zionist-Arab reactionary camp
requires mobilizing the broadest alliances between the
Palestinian revolution and the nationalist progressive Arab
forces and regimes. Emphasizing a narrow Palestinian na-
tionalist dimension could only harm the struggle.
During the past 20 years what were the
developments that took place in your viewpoints
concerning the structure of the Zionist entity and
the factors affecting it, its relations to the west, the
confrontation with this entity on the Palestinian
and Arab levels in the light of the world situation
and the conflict between Socialism and Imperialism
and the Israeli democratic forces?
The questions raised have great importance, particularly
when understanding the nature of the Zionist entity constitutes
an important fact in outlining the forms of struggle against it.
The essential issue that should be discussed in my opinion is
the nature and the level of development that the Zionist state
has witnessed and the effects of this development on us, rather
than discussing the developments that took place in our view-
points. The Zionist state has witnessed several big qualitative
changes on all levels for the past 40 years.
On the economic level, industry is ranked first among the
different production sectors, in terms of the industry’s share in
the GNP or the exports. In 1984,90% of the Zionist state’s ex-
ports, which reached 6.5 billion dollars, were manufactured
goods. Industry in the Zionist state has become the dominant
factor in economy. The major weight in the Israeli industry
now is directed towards the «technotron» stage where elec-
tronics become the cornerstone of the industrial technology.
On the military level, Israel now produces the MIRKAVA
tanks and the KFIR fighter plane and is developing the in-
dustry of missiles, including the Jericho-II missile which is
capable of carrying nuclear warheads. And it is well-known
that «Israel» exports arms to several African, Latin American
countries and even to the US army. Although the production of
the LAVI-fighter plane has been delayed, developing the plane
is still continuing.
Despite these economic and military developments, the main
issue of concern are the developments that took place, and
could take place, in the organic raltionship between the Zionist
state and the Zionist movement, and on the relationship bet-
ween the Zionist state and the Zionist movement on one hand
and imperialism on the other hand. When «Israel» was
established in 1948, some said that this state could live nor- - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 27
- تاريخ
- ديسمبر ١٩٨٧
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed