"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)