Basic Political Documents of the Armed Palestinian Resistance Movement

254 Pages·1969·6.458 MB·English

by  Leila S. Kadi

BASIC POLITICAL DOCUMENTS
OF THE ARMED PALESTINIAN
RESISTANCE MOVEMENT

PALESTINE BOOKS - No. 27
BASIC POLITICAL DOCUMENTS
OF THE ARMED PALESTINIAN
RESISTANCE MOVEMENT
Selected, Translated and Introduced
by
Leila S. Kadi
Palestine Liberation Organization
Research Center
Beirut — Lebanon
December 1969

I would like to extend my gratitude to the following
friends and colleagues for the efforts they contributed
in helping me prepare this book: Mrs. Rosemary Sayegh,
Dr. Sadik J. Al-Azm, Dr. Nabil Sha’th, Mr. Ian Howard
and Mr. Ibrahim Al*Abid.
Leila S. Kadi
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Preface 9
Historical Background 11
The Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Al-Fateh) .................. 37
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) ......................................... 13$
The Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation
of Palestine (PDFLP) 143
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).................... 179
Appendix: Text of United Nations Security Council Resolution
of 22 November 1967 249
Index 231
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PREFACE
This study is essentially a description of the organizational development
of Palestinian resistance together with an examination of the political ideolo­
gies of the various groups and their relations with the Arab governments. Due
to the exigencies of space and time, I have found myself limited to translating
the documents of Al-Fateh, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLOI.
the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PDFLP). and
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The Research
Center hopes soon to supplement this work by publishing translations of the
documents of other resistance organizations. No attempt has been made to
give an account of the activities of the guerrilla groups within Palestine.
The significance of the armed Palestinian resistance is not to be regarded
only in terms of a new and effective force in the social and political life of
die Arabs. In addition to this there is the heroism of the men who have
become guerrillas. There can be no doubt that these men have enkindled
within the Arab world a new inspiration and a new awareness of the possibili­
ties that exist for the Arabs. While the Arab world still bitterly remembers
its third defeat at the hands of Zionism, these young men of Palestine go out
to redress the balance, to restore Arab right and pride.
These men, nearly all of whom are Palestinians, remember and fight
because they want to return to the land — the land that is theirs and the land
that is their patents'! In a random sample taken of 300 men of Al-Fateh
who died fighting in 1968, it was found that their average age was 24 years
six months, and 23 per cent of them were bom after 1948. The memory of
Palestine is still strong in the hearts of Palestinians and, while that memory
remains, Palestine is not lost to them.
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