"The Peace Process Is A Charade"

Interview With Nassar Ibrahim And Dr. Mahir Al-Tahir, Members Of The Executive Committee Of The Popular Front For The Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

Question : Your organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been among those who opposed the Oslo Agreement from the beginning. How would you characterize the results of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, six years after they began ?

Nassar Ibrahim : It’s impossible to say that there is still a Peace Process in the Middle East right now. Israel continues to refuse to recognize any Palestinian rights, especially the right to self-determination and the right of refugees to return to their homes. Leaving aside the idea of a Palestinian state, Israel won’t even recognize Palestinian autonomy and the agreements concerning Jerusalem. Instead, Israel has intensified its construction of settlements. As long as the rights of the Palestinian people are not recognized, we cannot speak of peace. It is obvious that this process has come to a deadend.

Mahir al-Tahir : Immediately following the Oslo Agreement in September 1993, many Palestinians in West Jordan and the Gaza Strip believed that their lives would get better. After more than four years of this "Peace Process", the Palestinian masses now see very clearly that the agreement is not the solution, nor even the beginnings of a solution. Rather, the economic, political, social, and security problems of the Palestinians in West Jordan and the Gaza Strip have become worse. The unemployment rate in Gaza is 65 percent, in West Jordan it’s 48 percent. The people live in very difficult conditions. There are no jobs. Israel continuously seals off its borders with the autonomous areas. At the political level, it has finally become clear that Israel is not going to withdraw from West Jordan and Gaza, rather they are reorganizing and expanding their security forces. The Israeli army continues to control all traffic in and out of the autonomous areas, even the borders with the Gaza Strip. They have total control over the freedom of movement of the Palestinians. So what has taken place has not been a troop withdrawal, rather a more efficient organization of the Israeli occupation forces.

At the same time Israel increased its settlement building and the confiscation of Palestinian lands in and around Jerusalem after 1993. Palestinian cities have been ringed with settlements with the eventual aim of confiscating them altogether. The building of settlements hasn’t just increased under Netanyahu’s Likud government, it also increased under the Labor government of Shimon Peres. The whole world has condemned these settlement activities, but the USA continues to vote against all resolutions in the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.

The so-called Peace Process is a lie, a big theater, with the aim of pushing through security arrangements which benefit the major powers in the region and which guarantee the interests of Israel. Today we are confronted with a situation where the Palestinian Authority are taking means of repression against all opposition forces which oppose the Oslo Agreement.

Nassar Ibrahim : Israel has destroyed the geographical unity of Gaza and the West Bank and turned them into Areas A, B, and C, which are periodically blockaded by the Israelis. Israel controls the Palestinian economy and has made it dependent on its own, thereby preventing any independent Palestinian development.

Although the Oslo Agreement calls for the release of political prisoners, there are still 3,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Among these are 234 in administrative custody
 these are prisoners held without charge, and their periods of detention can be extended every six months. Some of them have been in prison without trial for years !

Question : The PFLP’s rejection of the Madrid conference and Oslo corresponds with your concept of national liberation. But the Oslo Agreement is a reality. Shouldn’t the PFLP have placed the social contradictions, and Arafat’s leadership, at the center of its focus instead ?

Nassar Ibrahim : For us, the struggle for national liberation is at the same time a struggle for social liberation. But we view the main contradiction in Zionist Israel. We can’t have any explosion of social contradictions in Palestine at the expense of the struggle against Israel. That’s why we emphasize this main contradiction. Social and economic liberation, and the liberation of women, cannot occur under occupation. But that doesn’t mean that we will put off our social struggle until the country is free. We try and combine the two with one another.

Question : What effect did the collapse of the Soviet Union have on the PFLP as a liberation movement ?

Mahir al-Tahir : Naturally, the collapse of the Soviet Union was a loss for all revolutionary forces worldwide, in particular those in the Third World. Despite the many mistakes which the Soviet Union made, its attempt to be a pole for anti-imperialist confrontation and its counterbalance in the world played an important role in defending the interests of the oppressed peoples and liberation movements. So it goes without saying that the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a very damaging change in the balance of power worldwide.

But it’s also clear that our experiences and political work over the past 30 years needs to be thoroughly re-examined. We need to look at our mistakes and draw consequences from them. There needs to be a process of renewal to resist the New World Order and neo-liberalism. The world at the end of the 20th century is very different than it was 30, 50, or 100 years ago. Marxism, therefore, needs to be further developed. We need to view it in a lively and creative way, in conjunction with its past reality.

Question : What are the goals of the PFLP in the occupied territories and the "autonomous" Palestinian areas ?

Mahir al-Tahir : We are still in the phase of national liberation struggle, whose principle goal is winning our independence. The political plan of the PFLP calls for us to intensify our presence in Palestine. More than 70% of our cadre are in Palestine. That doesn’t mean that Palestinians in exile are not important, but our main activities are in the Palestinian areas.

Israel is trying to provoke a Palestinian civil war. We won’t let this happen. We believe that inter-Palestinian differences can be worked out democratically and without violence. Bearing in mind the tense situation, we are trying to help prevent the breakout of a Palestinian civil war.

We want Arafat to organize a referendum, so that we can see what the Palestinians think of the Oslo Agreement. I believe that more than 90% of the Palestinian population would reject Oslo and its results. Arafat has put everything into Oslo. He has recognized Israel’s right to exist and changed the PLO’s Charter, but Israel has increased its settlement building and continued to confiscate Palestinian land. We need to mobilize against this. We are active in various means of continuing the struggle against Israeli occupation. Revolutionary violence and armed struggle are a part of that. That has nothing to do with terrorism, as Israel always calls it, rather legitimate acts of resistance. This armed resistance is also covered by international UN agreements. But we have placed more of our energy into political and diplomatic work, as well as publicity work and mass protests, rather than military actions.

What’s more, we need to work on a democratic civil society in the West Bank and Gaza, to struggle against the dictatorial and repressive policies of the Arafat regime. I hate to say it, but following Oslo, a Palestinian power has been created which is more despotic than many Arab states.

So on the one hand we fight against Israeli occupation, and on the other hand we resist the policies of Yassar Arafat. We are striving to create a broad, Palestinian national front, one which includes all forces opposed to Oslo. But we have had difficulties in this, due to contradictions with Islamic groups, as well as differences with other leftist tendencies.

Nassar Ibrahim : We are trying to increase the presence of the left on the streets. In particular, since the policies of the Palestinian bourgeoisie have failed, it is imperative that we develop a social and political program to provide a democratic alternative for Palestinians. Realizing this democratic program calls for a comprehensive confrontation with the Israeli occupation on the one hand, and with the Palestinian bourgeoisie on the other.

Question : Why was your alliance policy at one time based on the Islamists of Hamas against Fatah ? How are you oriented today ?

Nassar Ibrahim : Changes at the global level also led to a collapse of the Palestinian left, and the Islamic opposition grew stronger. We saw in this a temporary process, because the program of political Islam is in contradiction to the interests of the Palestinian people. Although they do develop certain social activities, such as the construction of kindergartens and hospitals, they are not fundamentally interested in the liberation of people. That’s what they have in common with the Palestinian bourgeoisie. That’s why, in the long run, they cannot have any success at solving the social contradictions.

The Islamists draw their growing support from the Palestinians because of the strength they display in their struggle against the occupation. Before the Intifada, these groups were supported by the Israeli state to take on the left, while leftist groups were repressed and banned. That’s another reason why the Islamist groups have grown stronger and the left weaker. It was only during the Intifada that Israel changed its position towards the Islamist groups.

In the question of national liberation, we are united with the Islamist organizations, and we struggle together against the occupation. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have major differences with them in all other areas, like the social question, the status of women in the society, and so on.

Question : Do you see a realistic possibility, in the near future, of a leftist bloc being formed in opposition to Fatah and the Islamists ?

Nassar Ibrahim : We believe in the necessity of a united Palestinian left. As long as the left is divided, we will remain weak. We are working concretely towards a reunification with the DFLP [Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine], but that process is moving slowly.

Mahir al-Tahir : The unity of the left is a very important theme in our discussions. Arafat has profited enormously from the divisions and splits among the leftist forces in the Palestinian areas, and this has helped him to expand his power. His power is based on the weakness of the left and the lack of a united leftist force. We have formed a joint leadership now with the DFLP, comprised of members of both politburos. This is the first step towards a unification of both organizations.

We need to break through the impression that there are only two options in the present Palestinian situation : following Arafat and his group, or joining the Islamist forces. We need to make it clear that there is a democratic alternative, which rejects Oslo, and which is working for the national rights of the Palestinians. An alternative which seeks to build a secular, democratic society, not based on religion. If this alternative is to be successful, it must be political. We need to work more on this.

Unfortunately, the Party of the People, the former Palestinian Communist Party, is participating in the Palestinian Authority and has a very different view of the Oslo Agreement. That’s why we have had problems working together with the Party of the People.

Question : Is it feasible for a Palestinian leftist bloc to work together with the Israeli left ?

Nassar Ibrahim : We have contacts with Israeli leftist groups, but they are very small. We hope that they will become stronger and able to influence Israeli politics. That’s not only in our interest, it would also benefit the Israeli people.

The main problem right now is the position of Israel. Israel is the occupying power and they have expelled the Palestinian people. The minimal demand of the PFLP - self-determination and a right for Palestinian exiles to return home - envisions a peaceful coexistence of Jews, Palestinians, Christians, etc., in one state. So in that sense we are not ruling out further cooperation with the Israeli left.

Interview by Rudiger Gobel

(Translated by Arm The Spirit from ’junge Welt’ - January 19, 1998)