The Palestinian Left and Its Decline: Loyal Opposition

Description

This book examines the history of the Palestinian Left by focusing on the trajectory of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during its declining phase. Relying on a substantial corpus of primary sources, this study illustrates how the PFLP’s political agency contributed to its own marginalisation within the Palestinian national movement. Following the 1982 eviction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from Lebanon, the bases of the PFLP’s opposition to Fatah’s primacy in the national movement were jeopardised. This book argues that the PFLP’s «loyalty» to the PLO institutional and political framework prevented the formulation of a real counterhegemonic political project. This drove the PFLP’s action to suffer a fundamental contradiction undermining its stance within the national movement. In the attempt to continue its opposition to Fatah, while maintaining integration in the Palestinian mainstream, the PFLP’s agency fluctuated, compromising its effectiveness and credibility. Apparently irreversible, the PFLP’s marginalisation is a factor fostering the current Palestinian impasse, as no alternative is emerging to break the thirteen-year long Hamas-Fatah polarisation. Preface Note on Transliteration Contents Abbreviations Chapter 1: Introduction Crisis of the Left, Crisis of the Palestinian National Movement Subjective Factors, Dilemmas and Policy Fluctuations State of the Literature Note on Sources Outline of the Book The PFLP’s Ideological and Organisational Background The PFLP Before 1982: Rivalry with Fatah and Leftist Fragmentation Chapter 2: Out of Beirut: Years of Split Introduction Tipping the PLO Balance: The Bases of the PFLP’s Opposition to Arafat’s Diplomatic Strategy Institutional Opposition: Constraining the Moderate Leadership Within the PLO The Formation of the Joint Command and Fatah’s Internal Split Pressures from Within, Pressures from Without: The PFLP’s Fluctuation in the Intra-Palestinian Dialogue The 17th and the 18th PNCs: From Total Rejection to Reconciliation Arafat’s Progresses and the PFLP’s Choice of Syrian Proxies From the Collapse of Hussein-Arafat Coordination to PLO Reconciliation: Unity Overrides Opposition Conclusions Chapter 3: Imagining an “Axis of Resistance”: The PFLP’s Foreign Policy in the Mid-1980s Introduction Regional Developments and Internal Shifts: The Bases of Alignment with Syria Presenting the Viability of Alliance with Syria The Backlash of the Alliance with Syria: Returning Contradictions The War of the Camps: The Outbreak of PFLP-Syrian Contradictions Making Sense of the War of the Camps, Seeking Broader Legitimacy The Persistence of the War of the Camps The USSR and the PFLP in the Mid-1980s: Limited Rapprochement A Reluctant Ally: Overview of PLO, PFLP-Soviet Relations Tactical Convergence, Strategic Distance Conclusions Chapter 4: The First Intifada: Initial Opportunities, Final Marginalisation Introduction Background to the Intifada: The PLO Penetration in the OPT The Emergence of the Islamist Alternative Contrasting Dynamics in the First Intifada: The PFLP Between Opportunity and Marginalisation The PFLP’s Pragmatism During the First “Triumphant” Year of the Intifada Losing the Intifada Momentum Avoiding the Split: The PFLP’s Choice of Integration The PFLP’s Inside-Outside Divide The Problematic Encounter with Political Islam Conclusions Chapter 5: The Advent of the Peace Process: From Rejection to Acceptance of the “Palestinian Versailles” Introduction The PLO Between International Vulnerability and a Fading Intifada The PFLP’s Uncertainty on the Eve of Oslo The Conservatism of a Revolutionary Organisation: The PFLP’s Fifth National Congress Marxism-Leninism Reconfirmed Same Structure, Same Programme and Same Leadership “Peace” in Oslo PFLP-DFLP Coalition Reloaded The PLO as an Obstacle of Islamist-Leftist Association Heights and Decline of the Unified Leadership: Joint Opposition, Separate Integration From Rejection to Acceptance Re-Integrating the PLO to Preserve Authority Looking for a Settlement Conclusions Chapter 6: The Al-Aqsa Intifada and After: Resurfacing Contradictions and Ultimate Marginalisation Introduction Integrating the PNA: Democratisation and Commitment to Civil Society The PFLP’s Sixth National Congress: The Resurfacing Contradictions of “Institutional” Opposition The Outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada A Divided Movement in an Asymmetric War The PFLP’s View of the Al-Aqsa Intifada: From a New National Front to a Bipolar System Joining the Fight: The PFLP Between Militarisation and Palestinian Fragmentation The PFLP’s Retaliation and the Election of Ahmad Sa‘adat After Abu Ali: “Defensive Shield” and the PFLP’s Shift Towards Mediation The PFLP’s Mediation in the Intra-Palestinian Dialogue The Opposition-Integration Dilemma in Post-Arafat Palestinian Politics The “First Palestinian Coup” or the PFLP’s Ultimate Choice for Integration Conclusions Chapter 7: Paths of Decline and Renewal: The PFLP and Leftist Trajectories Across Time Introduction The Communist Movement in Egypt (1921–1952): Primacy of the National Cause Enduring Repression, Seeking Collaboration: Egyptian Communism and the Nasserist Regime (1952–1965) Egyptian Communism and the Palestinian Left in Perspective The Evolution of the PKK’s Radical Alternative, 1970s–2000s Political Renewal and Its Dilemmas: Marxism, National Liberation and Personal Leadership in the PKK and the PFLP Conclusions Chapter 8: Conclusions The Dilemmas of a Loyal Opposition and the Unattainable Alternative Different Phases, Constant Fluctuations Tools and Concepts for the History(ies) of the Left(s) Index