Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 35)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 35)
- المحتوى
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slogans such as: «The way to Palestine is through Arab unity!»
This tendency dominated the Arab liberation movement in the
fifties and up to the mid-sixties. Its prevalence coincided with
the emergence of the Arab national bourgeois and their
respective struggles for national independence. The period was
characterized by almost total absence of a distinct Palestinian
role. Our people were subject to continuous attempts at li-
quidation by both the Zionist enemy and the Jordanian or
other Arab regimes.
B. The second tendency was narrow Palestinian nationalism
which upheld the motto, «We by ourselves alone,» to justify a
secessionist logic of disengaging from the Arab nationalist
dimension and following Arab provincialism, receding to ex-
tremely destructive conflicts. This tendency originally grew as
a reaction to the policies of liquidation (of the Palestinian na-
tional identity). It draws its strength from its militancy at times
when the Palestinian identity becomes an accusation in many
Arab countries. In addition, it expresses a militant affiliation
for which its advocates pay a heavy price under the yoke of
occupation and the iron fist. Narrow Palestinian nationalism
was nourished by the Arab situation which generates all kinds
of hated regionalism, communalism and sectarianism. It was
also nourished by the miserable status of the false Arab na-
tionalist propaganda of which remains only hostility to
Palestinian nationalism and attempts to liquidate it.
We cannot agree with either of these tendencies. Both have
been tested during the last forty years; both proved to be lack-
ing the correct perception of the dialectical relationship bet-
ween Palestinian and Arab nationalism, as well as the scientific
solution to this equation. This deficiency has led to a series of
problematic consequences.
While engaged in the struggle for national liberation and
independence, we cannot but take into consideration a number
of invariables, the most important of which are the following:
1. Palestinian patriotism is essential; the particular Palesti-
nian identity, as now embodied in the PLO, has to be stressed.
It is the only way to keep our cause in the proper perspective as
a question of a people, self-determination and legitimate
rights, not one of territorial borders and refugees. Concern for
the Palestinian identity, and protecting it from being liquidated
or confiscated, is part of the militant confrontation of the so-
called ‘Zionist identity’. Our Palestinian character is the an-
tithesis of the Zionist character in Palestine. It is an effective
weapon against Judaization on the one hand and Jordaniza-
tion on the other. Needless to say, such emphasis by no means
involves any contradiction with the Arab national identity or
with the Arab national dimension of the whole conflict; on the
contrary, it complements and consolidates that dimension.
2. Also essential is the Arab national dimension of the
Palestinian issue. Without an active Palestinian movement in-
teracting in harmony with its Arab nationalist environment, it
is impossible to seriously think of the national liberation
struggle or to preserve the achievements of our people and
revolution. We do not say this solely on the basis of the
Palestinian cause’s ties to Arab nationalism. We also say it
because of the particularity of our cause, the Palestinian
dispersion, the importance of rearguard bases, the Arab na-
tional aspect of the struggle against the Zionist enemy, the fact
that the Israeli factor has become a direct factor in the strug-
gles of many of the Arab peoples, etc. All such considerations
make us accept the interconnection of the Palestinian and Arab
national struggles. We are now talking in general terms,
because of limited space and other considerations. Yet we do
understand that the dialectics between the Palestinian and the
Arab national dimensions are much more complex than can be
covered in such a brief way.
3. Our concern about the Palestinian nationalism and par-
ticularity should be no means push us to regionalism or its
most harmful expression, chauvinism. Our concern about the
Arab national aspect of the struggle must not drag us to posi-
tions of liquidating the Palestinian identity, even if the Arab
nationalist movement happens to be of a Nasserist or un-
doubtedly progressive character.
4. The importance of correctly solving the problematic
Palestinian / Arab national equation leads us to look into the
relationship of the revolution to the Arab masses and regimes.
The prevailing mentality was to call for relations with the Arab
regimes instead of the popular masses, most often rendering
the latter relations temporary and tactical. The PLO’s relations
with the Arabs should, therefore, be corrected by rectifying the
links with the masses, which must remain the axis of
Palestinian-Arab relations.
5. Being an essential part of the international forces of
liberation, progress and peace, the Palestinian national
movement cannot help but be aligned with the progressive
Arab regimes, organizations and forces. This alliance should
be determined once and for all, because of the very character
of the Palestinian revolution and its status in the ongoing
struggle locally, nationally and internationally. It is absolutely
impermissible to make use of the deviations of some na-
tionalist or progressive Arab forces to justify cancelling the
demarcation line between the progressive and nationalist
regimes and forces on one hand, and the reactionary, col-
laborating ones on the other. The most important question is:
Is it permissible to get confused between the two camps? Are
the progressives in practice equal to the reactionary forces in
practice, concerning the cause of Palestine? Consequently, can
we maintain the same level of relations with the two?
6. Our alliance with the camp of progress in the Arab world
neither prevents nor contradicts the establishment of broader
Palestinian-Arab relations, including with what are called the
conservative regimes which are not directly involved in con-
spiracies against the Palestinian people, their patriotic cause
and armed revolution.
Taking these invariables into account, the proper attitude
towards the dialectics of Palestinian-Arab relations is to con-
centrate on the preservation of the particular Palestinian na-
tional dimension in close dialectic association with the general
Arab national dimension. It means to ally with the camp of
progress, essentially represented by the Arab masses, without
detaching ourselves from the Arab regimes which are not
directly involved in the conspiracies to liquidate the Palestinian
cause.
This point of view is based on rejection of all Palestinian
seclusionism which tries, under the pretext of the Arab
weakness, to spread despair and frustration. It also rejects all
kinds of regionalism, communalism and sectarianism which
are the expression of the weakness and disarray in the current >
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