Democratic Palestine : 1 (ص 12)
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- Democratic Palestine : 1 (ص 12)
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democracy for the masses, being open to form a genuine
popular front, and having strategic relations with the socialist
community. Under these conditions, certain strata of the petit
bourgeoisie can fulfill the tasks of the national democratic.
revolution in alliance with the working class, the peasants and
other oppressed strata.
However, Democratic Yemen in not the main feature; the
main feature is what happened in Egypt and Iraq. The crisis of
the main branch of the Arab national liberation movement, led
by the petit bourgeoisie from 1952 until today, is a structural
one; it is rooted in the class nature of the leadership. Though
this petit bourgeoisie assumed the position of a bourgeoisie,
such a bourgeoisie cannot achieve real liberation or a national
democratic revolution. It is not like the bourgeoisie in Europe
or Japan. Rather, it is fated to remain as a_ parasitic
bourgeoisie, linked and subordinated to the international
imperialist bourgeoisie. Moreover, the ethnic and sectarian
conflicts in more than one Arab country show that this class
cannot preserve national unity in its own state.
The working class parties
The crisis of the other section of the Arab national
liberation movement - the working class and its organizations
-is a qualitatively different matter. It is not structural, because
the working class and its parties can achieve the aims of the
Arab national liberation movement. It is in their class interests
to achieve the national democratic revolution headed towards
socialism. Moreover, the international situation is conducive to
this in view of the growing capacity of the socialist community
and the structural crisis of imperialism. This has already
occurred in other countries, a prime example being Vietnam,
which also suffered partition. The Vietnamese revolution
achieved liberation and unity, and began socialist construction.
The crisis of the Arab communist parties, as reflected in
their limited growth and achievements, is not structural, but
related to certain significant mistakes in their political line. We
dealt with this in the Political Report of the PFLP’s 4th
National Congress. For example, many communist parties
regarded this stage as not being theirs. They thought that a
national democratic revolution is usually the revolution of the
bourgeoisie. They did not take into consideration that things
changed radically after the October Revolution. They
overlooked Lenin’s theory on the link between the national
democratic and the socialist revolution, and the importance of
the working class’s leading role. When certain communist
parties have this view, of course it has consequences. They
took part in the Arab national liberation movement, but due to
their theoretical assumptions, they did not aim to play a
leading role. This complicated their situation.
In the fifties; when Nasser’s leadership achieved
successes, certain communist parties began to speak of the
non-capitalist path of development, and the possibility of
achieving socialism in this way. This means that the
bourgeoisie can achieve socialism, which is a contradiction in
itself. This was a very grave theoretical mistake. In Egypt, the
Communist Party dissolved itself, because they said that
Nasser could achieve socialism.
There were also mistakes concerning the Arab national
question, specifically on the questions of Palestine and Arab
unity. Despite the clear theoretical position adopted by the
international communist movement against Zionism, as a
racist, colonial movement tied to imperialism, a change
occurred in the Arab communist parties’ position on the
question of Palestine after 1948. This had negative effects on
the national and mass level. Moreover, for a long period, the
Arab communist parties failed to recognize the concept of an
Arab nation, without taking into consideration the importance
of this concept as a weapon in confronting the imperialist,
Zionist and reactionary plots.
12
This should give an idea not only of the roots of the crisis,
but also of how we should try to find solutions. Briefly, it is our
duty to emphasize that the bourgeois leadership of the Arab
national liberation movement is on the way to an end.
Accordingly, the working class and its parties must prepare
themselves to achieve the tasks that have been put on the
agenda, but not achieved, by the feudal, bourgeois and petit
bourgeois classes. These tasks can only be achieved by the
working class - its party, ideology, strategy and international
alliances.
Based on the battle of Beirut, some concluded that allying
with the Arabs was useless. Why does the Front reject this
narrow, Palestinian-only approach?
It would be a fatal mistake to adopt a narrow Palestinian
line; this would mean that Palestine will not be liberated. On
the contrary, the experience of Beirut confirms the PFLP’s
view that the Palestinian revolution is part of the Arab national
liberation movement and the Arab revolution.
There are many facts that support our view. The first is
the simple fact that the Palestinian people are part of the Arab
nation. The Arab liberation movement did not intend to have
Syria, Palestine or Lebanon as separate states. It aimed at a
united Arab state, for the simple reason that the Arab nation
has most, though not all, of the factors that constitute a nation.
The division of the Mashraq was the work of the colonial
powers, as seen in the Sykes-Picot treaty. Are we to remain
victims of what was proposed in this agreement?
Of course, many years have passed since the partition of
the area, and this has led some people to think that this idea of
the unity of the Arab nation is no longer essential. Let us put
this argument aside and concentrate on the practical reasons
for the PFLP’s rejection of any narrow Palestinian trend:
First: The Zionist colonization and Israeli institutions have
developed far beyond what we faced in 1948. In 1948, despite
all their-efforts, the Zionists were only able to gather 600,000-
700,000 settlers in Palestine; this was also despite the
evacuation of Jews from Europe due to fascism. Today,
Zionism boasts of more than three million settlers in Palestine.
Second: More than half the Palestinian people are living
outside of Palestine, mainly in the surrounding Arab countries.
In Jordan, there are over one million; in Lebanon, about
million; in Syria, about 300,000; in Egypt, 50,000-100;000.
In this situation, how must we fight to liberate Palestine?
Of course, our people in Palestine fight directly against the
Israeli authorities and setthements. Close to two million
Palestinians inside confronting the Israeli army can create
immense problems for ‘Israel’. This says to the world that we
exist and have our rights; we will not accept Israeli control,
imperialism, etc. However, we are up against the Likud’s line,
insisting that all of Palestine is ‘Israel’. Even the Labor Party
concedes only part of Palestine, to be connected with Jordan.
We are up against the enormously equipped Israeli army and
militarized society. In view of these facts, if we direct our
struggle against ‘Israel’ solely through the Palestinians inside,
will we obtain our objectives? No! This explains the fact that in
spite of 18 years of struggle, we have not liberated one inch of
Palestinian soil.
In order to liberate Palestine, Palestinians in the occupied
land must fight, but there must also be a role for the
Palestinians outside. Now we get to the essential point.
Whenever we, as Palestinians, fight from outside, we have
been overwhelmed by the following experience, both in
Jordan and in Lebanon: ‘Israel’ begins to threaten the regimes
of these countries, saying, “We don’t want the Palestinians
operating from your soil. Either you take care of them, or we
will do so ourselves, by conquering your land”. In Jordan, the
result was that the regime made a direct attack to finish off the
Palestinian revolution. In Lebanon, the reactionary regime
tried many times to finish off the Palestinian revolution prior - هو جزء من
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