Democratic Palestine : 37 (ص 8)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 37 (ص 8)
- المحتوى
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~ Theoretical Questions Raised by
The intifada has revitalized the contemporary Palestinian
revolution, raising many new theoretical issues, while reassert-
ing old ones. Turbulent revolutionary periods demand that we
find new styles of thinking and practice, suitable to these
developments, in order to create the means of struggle needed
for the new situation.
The dialectic of the interior and the exterior
Among the issues raised with new urgency is the relation bet-
ween the struggle inside and outside of Palestine - the interior
and the exterior. This has always been a particularity of the
Palestinian revolution since more than half of the Palestinian
people live in exile. Over the years, the center of gravity - the
leadership, as well as the military, informational and financial
headquarters - has been stationed outside Palestine. This gives
the relation between the interior and the exterior a different
character than that prevailing in other liberation movements. In
the Palestinian situation, this has become a majorissue relevant
to the revolution’s overall political and military activities; it is an
essential issuc in the Palestinian strategy.
The revolution’s center of gravity was supposed to be inside
Palestine all along - from the time of the resistance’s presence in
Jordan, later in Lebanon and so on. Yet the center was always
outside, and while it devoted attention to the interior, this was
inadequate. The 1982 invasion and the PLO’s departure from
Beirut was a big loss for the Palestinian revolution’s exterior
center. Due to these losses, the arena of action in the occupied
territories took on top priority. In the period from 1982 until the
outbreak of the uprising, there were significant devclopments
which made the uprising inevitable.
Being primarily in exile, the revolution was subject to the
influence and pressure of the Arab regimes. This pressure had a
great influence on the Palestinian strategy and tactics. The vari-
ous components of the Palestinian leadership have derived
political and military weight from their respective Arab coun-
terparts among the ruling Arab bourgeoisie. This further com-
plicated the internal struggle within the Palestinian revolution,
and influenced the policies, activities and confrontation plans of
the Palestinian leadership as a whole. Of course, the Arab
regime’s influence has not been the deciding factor in the Palesti-
nian bourgcoisic’s policies, because in the final analysis, the
decisive factor is chiefly internal. However, the factor of the
Arab regime’s influence gains more significance, the more the
Palestinian bourgeoisic’s policies approach the official Arab
policies.
The fact that the center of gravity lies outside Palestine, has
had a series of negative effects on the Palestinian revolution.
Most prominent among these are the military blows and repres-
sion to which it has been subjected; moreover, the revolution
has been partially deprived of its opportunity to work among the
masses. Nonetheless, the concentrated presence of the revolu-
6
the Intifada
tion’s center in the exterior has enabled a number of achieve-
ments over the last decades.
It was not due to the wish of any organization that the center of
the revolution has been in the exterior. Rather, this situation
was dictated by a number of historical circumstances, both
objective and subjective. Due to the particularity of the Palesti-
nian cause, the interior-exterior dialectic is bound to continue.
Therefore, any discussion of this matter revolves around a prop-
ortional shift in this relationship, i.e., relative shifts in action
and influence.
After the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the principal Palestinian
organizations concentrated on the work in the occupied ter-
ritories. This push, together with the accumulation of militant
expericnce by the masses in the occupicd territories, paved the
way for the uprising which, in turn, strongly revived the issue of
the proportional weight between the interior and the exterior.
Being a qualitative turning point in the Palestinian national
struggle, the uprising necessitated a new form of relation bet-
ween the interior and exterior - and a shift in favor of the
interior. This will make the interior more qualified to chart the
Palestinian policies in the future.
There are different opinions concerning this issue in the
Palestinian arena: The Palestinian Communist Party calls for
marginalizing the exterior in favor of the interior which would
become the decision-maker. Meanwhile, the right wing in the
PLO views itself as the only decision-maker, while the interior,
with all its militant structures, is merely an instrument and an
extension.
In our view, both these opinions are extreme. The first view-
point does not take into consideration the historical cir-
cumstances which led to the center of the revolution being
positioned in the exterior. Such a viewpoint, despite intentions,
leaves room for questioning the soleness of the PLO’s legitimate
representation of the Palestinian people. The second viewpoint
marginalizes the main arena of the Palestinian struggle, belittles
the role of the masses, and reduces their daily sacrifices to tools
for achieving certain goals.
The solution to this dilemma is: Firstly, maintaining one
leadership center, in this case the PLO, for many obvious
reasons; secondly, embarking on a process whereby the interior
gradually becomes a full partner in decision-making, based on
the organic unity between the interior and the exterior. Now is
the time to make this proportional change. Over two years, the
uprising has created its own structures, enabling it to take the
leadership in the field. Overlooking the significant role of these
structures could directly harm the uprising’s ability to achieve its
goals. The expericnce of the past two years has proven that con-
solidating these militant and mass structures can make the
interior an equal partner in the decision-making process. Sucha
change will have a positive impact on the uprising and the Pales-
tinian revolution as a whole, for the following reasons:
Democratic Palestine, February 1990 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 37
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