"The Social Question Has Been Neglected"

Interview with Nassar Ibrahim, chief editor of ’Al Hadaf’, the newspaper of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Question : Your organization played a major role in the Palestinian resistance movement in the 1970s and 80s. Why do we hear so little about the PFLP these days ?

Nassar Ibrahim : The Palestinian left is in a very difficult situation right now. On the one hand, we were strongly affected by the global crisis on the left after 1989. The collapse of the Soviet Union had a very negative effect on us, because for a long time we wrongly depended on a foreign model of revolution which was not right for the Palestinian situation. Now we are paying the price for that uncritical approach. But there are also domestic political reasons for our crisis. The central focus of our politics was always the struggle of the Palestinian people for national liberation and against the occupation policies of Israel. We treated the Palestinian people as a unit, thereby failing to pay attention to the contradictions which exist within Palestinian society. The social question hardly played a role in our thinking. For the past few years, however, we have been trying to correct such mistakes and mark out our own revolutionary path. We are also in a dialogue with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), who are also affected by the crisis, with the aim of creating a long-term unity in order to strengthen the weight of the Palestinian left.

Haven’t the Oslo Agreement and the creation of the Palestinian Authority by Arafat caught your organization by surprise and made the crisis even more deep ?

I think the Oslo Agreement is only very little to blame for the crisis on the left. Of course we have to orient ourselves to this new situation. The crisis is more affected by our relationship to the new Palestinian autonomy officials. There are two tendencies within the Palestinian left concerning this issue. One faction is for taking part in the Palestinian Authority, with the aim of changing it from the inside. That is the position of the Communist Party of Palestine, which was present with delegates during the peace negotiations. The other faction strictly rejects participation in the Palestinian Authority. The PFLP and the DFLP are part of this tendency. We rejected participation in the peace process from the beginning, because to us it was clear that the global balance of power was not in our favor. Peace talks at this time can only have negative results for us.

Is your organization really united behind such a position ?

Of course we have a variety of opinions within the PFLP. But we think that’s positive. Parties which refuse to allow differing opinions become stagnant. The important thing is to stay unified, despite having different opinions. We have adopted a new approach to democratic centralism. We have struck a balance so that the democracy does not end in chaos and the centralism does not become authoritarian.

How does this balance look with respect to the question of the autonomy authorities ? There are PFLP members who work with the Palestinian Authority.

Members of our organization are not banned from working with this authority. PFLP members work in civil, health, and cultural associations. We were active in those areas even before the Oslo Agreement was signed. These associations only became part of the Palestinian Authority afterwards. Our members will stay active within them. But PFLP members are prohibited from taking part in the political offices, forces of repression, or negotiating committees of the Palestinian Authority.

In the past few months, Arafat has been waving the issue of a national dialogue with all Palestinian groups like a fist in the face of the Israeli government. Is the PFLP being pressured to take part in such a process ?

We have always stated that we support a dialogue between different Palestinian forces. But we don’t want a dialogue just for the sake of talking, nor do we want to take part in a process which is just a front for the Palestinian Authority’s policies. There have been pseudo-conferences under the motto of "National Dialogue" before, but the Palestinian Authority has never been willing to change its course. Because the differences among Palestinian groups with respect to the Oslo Agreement are so vast, there is no basis right now for a dialogue.

Do you have any dialogue with the Israeli left ?

The Israeli left is very weak. With the few forces that are willing, we do have contacts at all levels and we organize joint protests and informational meetings. We hope that the leftist forces in Israel will gain in importance. The PFLP has no problems with the citizens of Israel. We want to live together with them in equality.

Do leftist organizations like the PFLP see any danger in the rise of Islamic groups like Hamas ?

In many parts of the world, religious forces have gained in strength since the decline of the left. In Palestine, the Islamists have decades of tradition and they can’t be compared to Islamic groups in Iran or Algeria. At the moment, the Palestinian people are in a phase of national liberation, and for us as leftists, the main issue is the Israeli occupation. On this issue, we are united with the Islamic groups, in so far as they are also fighting against the occupation. But in almost all other areas, we have large differences with the Islamists, especially in social questions, the status of women in the society, and so on.

You have stated that one mistake of the Palestinian left in the past was to focus the struggle on the Israeli occupation while forgetting the social question, but your organization still considers the Israeli occupation to be its most important issue. How have your politics in fact changed ?

The main contradiction in the society, the Israeli occupation, became clearer during the Intifada and continues to this day. The Oslo Agreement did not change this. On the contrary : the situation of the Palestinian people has become worse. So for us, the struggle against Israeli occupation has taken on an even greater significance. But we are just as determined to struggle within Palestinian society itself. We work against the policies of the bourgeoisie, assembled in the Palestinian Authority. We are seeking to activate the social work of women, children, youths, and neighborhood committees. Another important issue is freedom for the ca. 3,500 Palestinian prisoners still being held by Israel, and the return of Palestinian refugees in exile.

Has the human rights situation changed at all since the signing of the Oslo Agreement and Arafat coming to power ?

Unfortunately, not much has changed. Despite the Oslo Agreement, the occupation continues. The land and the people, except for a few cities, are still controlled by Israel, and they continue to suffer. So human rights violations continue. Some examples : the comprehensive blockades by Israel, which prevent Palestinians from going to work. That results in great financial and psychological strain for people. Then there are the arbitrary arrests at Israeli checkpoints in Palestinian areas, usually without reason. Houses belonging to Palestinian families are destroyed because they supposedly had no building permits. But at the same time, Israel continues to build settlements on Palestinian land. And the torture of Palestinian prisoners is still allowed under Israeli law.

What is the situation of political prisoners in Palestine ?

The number of Palestinian and Arab political prisoners in Israel is about 3,500. People can be held without charge for 6 months. This time period can be extended, so it’s possible for people to be held for more than 6 years without being convicted of anything. 150 political prisoners are under the age of 18. The prisoners are dispersed between 12 different prisons, some of which are just tent camps in the desert. The conditions for prisoners are very hard, especially as far as their health is concerned, which is why 500 or so are very ill. Visits are only occasionally allowed. At the present time, we have launched a campaign for Mohammad Raja Nerat, alias Abou Rafaa. He was born in 1929 and has been in prison for more than 25 years. Although he is very ill, he has no chance for release, because he is serving a life sentence, which for Palestinians means they will die in prison. Recently he sent a very personal letter to Palestinian and international organizations. He knows that he doesn’t have long to live, but in his letter, he asks people not to forget him. We feel his case is exemplary of the situation of political prisoners in Palestine.

(Interview by Peter Nowak ; Translated by Arm The Spirit from ’Sozialistische Zeitung’ #1/1998 )