Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 34)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 34)
- المحتوى
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The Lessons of
Four Decades of Struggle
In Democratic Palestine 30, we printed an article by Dr. George Habash, analyzing the reality of the
Zionist state, entitled ‘Israel? - 40 Years. The article below is the conclusion of this analysis, entitled
Lessons of Four Decades of our People’s Militant Experience. It reviews past tendencies and mistakes,
with the aim of contributing to a new Palestinian and Arab strategy of confrontation.
THE LESSONS OF FOUR DECADES OF OUR
PEOPLE’S MILITANT EXPERIENCE
On the occasion of the ill-fated fortieth anniversary of the
establishment of the state of ‘Israel’, we cannot but speak,
though briefly, about the most significant lessons gleaned from
the mistakes committed in the process of Palestinian and Arab
nationalist confrontation of the Zionist invasion over more
than half a century. The starting point of such an assessment
should by necessity be comprehensive, scientific and integrated
knowledge of the enemy. Such knowledge becomes doubly
necessary in a situation where there are heaps of false infor-
mation, and policies of ignorance and obscurantism pursued
by a series of hostile parties. Yet it is even truer that our ap-
proach should be complemented by careful observation of the
gaps and errors we ourselves have been committing in the
same period. Knowledge of the enemy and critical reassessment
of the course of our struggle are two essential conditions.
There is no way to overlook them when drawing up a com-
prehensive confrontation strategy equal to the challenges of the
Zionist-imperialist project which targets all of us.
The first lesson of our errors concerns the dialectics
between the Palestinian national dimension and the
pan-Arab dimension of the struggle against the
Zionist enemy. How have we dealt with this ex-
tremely important issue?
Historically, this issue has played a principal role in deter-
mining the advances as well as the retreats of the Palestinian
struggle. Mistakes in solving the Palestinian national / pan-
Arab equation have led to the exaggeration of one dimension
at the expense of the other, bringing about the most serious
and harmful consequences. The history of the Palestinian
struggle is full of evidence to support this hypothesis.
In 1936, the reactionary Arab position, particularly that of
the Hashemites, made a particular contribution to foiling the
longest and most comprehensive strike in our people’s history,
which had reached the level of civil disobedience. Also in 1939,
the Arab reactionary regimes contributed to thwarting the
Palestinian rebellion. Through their influence on some
Palestinian leaders, they planted illusions about the intentions
of the colonial British Mandate authorities. The same tragic
scene was repeated in 1948 when the Arab armies, led by Prince
Abdullah of Jordan, came and asked the Palestinians to de-
pend on them to liberate Palestine from the «Zionist filth» (as
Abdullah said). These armies performed the well-known
34
drama of losing Palestine, in spite of the popular resistance
and heroic steadfastness of the Palestinians.
Since then, the relationship between the Palestinian and the
Arab national dimension has taken a wrong course; the Arab
national aspect, for various reasons, overwhelmed the essential
Palestinian aspect. The problem became even more complex
when the Jordanian reactionary regime took part in the con-
spiracy to liquidate the national identity of the Palestinian
people.
It is impossible in such an article to cover the entire
development of the Palestinian and Arab _ liberation
movements’ outlook, including our own, on this issue.
Therefore, we shall confine ourselves to the most prominent
stages of development as far as we, the PFLP, earlier the Arab
Nationalist Movement (ANM), are concerned:
1. The first stage covers the period 1948-1967. In this period,
the Arab national dimension was clearly held above the
Palestinian one. At that time, we were in the framework of the
ANM. The reason for such an erroneous outlook may be found
in a number of factors, including the level of our development
and the spread of the liberationist national trend which took a
clear anti-imperialist direction, represented at its height by
Nasser and Nasserism. At that time, we gave priority to the
Arab national dimension, rather than the Palestinian one, in
the struggle against the Zionist enemy, though we didn’t
overlook the need for having Palestinian action, slogans and
programs. This developed gradually in our consciousness and
practice, going through different stages, including the founda-
tion of the Palestinian branch of the ANM, up to the
establishment of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine(PFLP) at the end of 1967. At that time, we succeeded
in grasping the correct way to deal with the problem.
2. The second stage began with the end of 1967, the year of
defeat, and has continued to the present. During this period,
we were functioning within the framework of the PFLP. We
stressed the necessity of safeguarding and crystallizing the
particularly Palestinian dimension within the general Arab na-
tional framework. At that time, we were able to grasp a sound
approach to this very sensitive problem, regardless of occa-
sional mistakes.
In brief, it can be said that this problem has given birth to
two wrong tendencies which. appeared at different historical
stages. The two continue to coexist in contradiction to each
other...
A. The first tendency tries to subjugate the Palestinian na-
tional dimension to the Arab national one. Its supporters raise - هو جزء من
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