PALESTINIAN ISSUESA survey

ARAB NATIONALISM

Arab and Zionist nationalism are both early 20th century movements

One influenced by nationalism and anti-semitism and the other by nationalism and anti Ottoman sentiments

Arab Nationalism also to some extent a consequence of Zionism

Pan-arabism a creation of Nasser Pan-Arabism has had shortlived successes such

as the union of Egypt and Syria or the longer lasting Arab League founded in 1945

Palestinian consciousness is a part of Arab Nationalism

ARAB NATIONALISM

Arab NationalismArab Identity

CultureFreedom

Ba’athSecular

Socialism

Pan Arabism

Socialist

Unity

Freedom

•Palestinian Cause•PLO

PALESTINE 1945-49

Resistance to British and Zionists UNSCOP and the partition of Palestine Civil war 1st Arab Israeli war and defeat Palestine absorbed by Egypt, West Bank by

Jordan, Negev by Israel Palestinian refugee crisis

FATE OF PALESTINIANS 1948 ONWARDS

Middle east political groups

Refugees

Palestinians

• Radical – PFLP, Black September 1965-

• PLO – Nasser creation 1964

• Fatah –student 1959

• Middle East• Migrate to USA and

Europe

• Citizens in Jordan etc• Refugees

PALESTINIAN POLITICAL IDENTITY

PFLPOf George

HabashRadical groupsBlack

SeptemberBaader MeinhofPLO

Controlled by Nasser

PLA however a cause for

concern for Fatah

and infiltrated by Arafat

FATAHDominated by Group of

threeYasser Arafat

Salah KhalafKhalil Wazir

RISE OF BA’ATHISM

Founded by Michael Aflaq and Constantin Zurieq

Aims to combine Socialism and Arab nationalism

A secular pan Arab movement By 1950’s a more hostile Arab nationalism

emerges Anti Jewish and anti West Socialist in name but not really Marxist in aim Used by Nasser to develop Pan Arabism:

‘Social freedom is the only door to political freedom’

3 principles of Arab nationalism: Socialism, Union and Freedom

THE CREATION OF THE PLO

Acc to Kirsten Schulze, the war of 1956 demonstrated yet again that the focus of the Arab leaders was on their domestic concerns rather than any desire to liberate Palestine.

It seemed as if the Arab world had forgotten about the plight of the Palestinian refugees

PALESTINIAN VIEW OF THE CONFLICT Growing feeling that the world was forgetting them and

ignored by both the Arab governments and the world. The Fatah was formed in 1958 -1959 ( the term when the

arab initials are reversed means the movement for the liberation of Palestine) Haraka Tahrir Filastin

Formed by three men all of whom had fled to Gaza at the creation of Israel and then moved to Cairo in the 1950’s where they dominated the Palestinian Students League at Cairo Uni.

All left Cairo following the Suez crisis and settled in Kuwait and published a journal called Our Palestine ( Filastinuna) Yasser Arafat Salah Khalaf Khalil Wazir

Yasser Arafat was a minor branch of the Husseini clan on his mother’s side

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FORMATION OF THE FATAH

According to T.G.Fraser ‘The Arab Israeli conflict’ the formation of the Fatah signalled

1. the revival of Palestinian awareness. It had taken about 10 years to evolve

2. Indicated a growing Arab hostility to Palestinian issue. The movements for Palestinian causes incurred the hostility of Arab intelligence services

AIMS OF THE FATAH

Liberation of Palestine had to precede Arab unity

Militancy and military action were precludes to politics

In a sense this was the thinking of the time..Algerian Revolt under Franz Fanon was one such example

FATAH IDEOLOGY

While initially it was a more militant movement, later writing reveal that the groups philosphy of action changed according to the circumstances.

By mid 1965 when the Fatah m.o changed and it attacked Israeli installations , it argued that tensions with Israel would promote Arab unity to confront Israel which would result in an Arab victory and the liberation of Palestine from Israeli control.

It assumed Arab military superiority over Israel in conventional weapons. War seemed desirable sooner rather than later.

ARAB NATIONAL MOVEMENT

Several factions merged later, under the rubric of the Arab National Movement ( ANM) led by George Habash. Formed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Eventually a rival of the Fatah

Within this framework the liberation of Palestine would occur only after Arab unity had been achieved

ISRAEL’S ACTIONS

By 1963, Israel had reached a critical stage in its plans for a National Carrier which would channel the waters of the River Jordan to the Negev

Arab reaction was angry as this would provide more water resources and help Israel to absorb its immigrants

The Arab world saw this as water theft since the source of the River Jordan lay in Jordan and not in Israel

Of all the Arab powers, Nasser was the only one who knew that the Arab world was not in a position to fight Israel.

ARAB SUMMIT CAIRO 1964

Nasser convened the Arab summit in Jan. 1964 with the intention of creating a political organization for the Palestinians

The proposed organization was to be very much under the control of Nasser

PLO set up in May 1964 with a Nasser crony called Ahmed Shuqairy as its head.

PLO=Palestine Liberation Organization

KIRSTEN SCHULZE

In her book Kirsten Schulze says:In an attempt to control the Palestinian

Fedayeen and to prevent their actions from completely desatabilisng the region, Nasser established the PLO…. The new organization provided Nasser with leadership credentials in his regional rivalry with Iraq and Syria ( both had pro-Communist Baathist regimes). Thus it is not surprising that the PLO soon became an object of an inter Arab struggle for influence between Egypt, Syria and Iraq as well as an Arab-Palestinian struggle for control.

THE ROLE OF THE PLO The Charter of the PLO had the usual goal: the

partition of Palestine was illegal as was the creation of Israel.

Acc to Schulze it was a political manifesto and a Constitution at the same time, laying claim to Palestine as a future state and designating armed struggle as the means to this end.

The PLO was never designed to be an effective voice of the Palestinians, it was to be a safety valve

It was to bolster Nasser’s faltering image as a pan-Arab leader

Shuqairy failed to be an effective leader but his virulent anti- Israel rhetoric provided Israel anti Arab propagandists much material

SET UP OF THE PLO

Main body of the PLO was the PNC or the Palestinian National Council

AT first PLO had a 100 members AS PLO grew more popular had up to as

many as 600 members Real power was in the hands of a small

committee headed by Shuqairy.

ARAFAT 1964 ARAFAT 1995

ARAFAT

The Fatah and the PLO were at odds, they regarded Shuqairy with contempt

The new Palestine Liberation Army ( PLA) a part of the PLO was causing the Fatah alarm as they were aggressively recruited from the Fatah

Arafat determined to provoke war in a bid to halt the bleeding of Fatah activists, while Nasser determined to prevent it.

Arafat chose to exploit the Nasser Assad( Syrian) rivalry to attain his aims

SYRIAN FATAH ALLIANCE Syrian sponsorship of the Fatah was a part of the struggle

for Arab leadership Union of Syria and Egypt had collapsed in 1961. Nasser’s

image had been tarnished While Syria may not have necessarily accepted Fatah’s

armed resistance nevertheless it saw the Fatah’s role as helping it in the water diversion issues with Israel.

It enlisted Fatah’s aid in reprisals against Israel. By the end of 1965 close to 39 raids on Israel. Israe’ls

reaction was maximum response, what was worrying to Israel was it was not clear who was the sponsor since the raids were carried out from Jordan while the backer was Syria.

It was this alliance between Syrian Baathists ( ruling party) and the activities of the Fatah that set the stage for the next war in this region.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BATTLE OF KARAMEH 1968

Karameh gives Arafat control of the PLO and sideline Ahmed Shukairy

‘Armed struggle is the only way to liberate palestine’ 1968

Arafat unable to contain actions of splinter groups such as the PFLP

PFLP: POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE

Fed up that 20 years 1948-1968 had yielded no gains for Palestinians

Pointed out that Fedayeen raids had elicited little but Israeli reprisals

Hijacking and bombing of Airplanes and terror became their calling card

Israel’s response was to bomb Palestinian refugee camps but this did not receive enough media attention

PLO FORCED OUT OF JORDAN

PLO was beginning to operate as a state within a state

Jordan was to bear the brunt of Israeli reprisals

1970 blowing up of the BOAC plane in Jordan( Dawson Field) was the catalyst for reprisals

War between PLO and Jordanian armed forces in September 1970

Worst fighting in10 days…PLO referred to it as ‘Black September’

PLO driven out in to Syria and Lebanon. Jordanian PM was assassinated

EMERGENCE OF BLACK SEPTEMBER

Splinter group responsible for assassination of Jordanian PM and massacre of 11 Israeli athletes

QUOTES:

George Habash: ‘when we hijack a plane, it had more effect than if we kill 100 Israelis in battle