THE POLITICS OF PALESTINIAN NATIONALISM William B. Quandt, Fuad Jabber, Ann Mosely Lesch UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY, LOS ANGELES, LONDON University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England Copyright © 1973, by The Rand Corporation Second Printing, 1974 ISBN: 0-520-02336-6 (cloth) 0-520-02372-2 (paper) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 72-89791 Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS Preface vii Abbreviations ix Introduction 1 Part I. The Palestine Arab Nationalist Movement Under the Mandate by Ann Mosely Lesch 5 Part II. Political and Military Dimensions of Contemporary Palestinian Nationalism by William B. Quandt 43 1. The Eclipse of Palestinian Nationalism, 1947-1967 45 2. Organizational Developments, June 1967 to September 1970 52 3. Palestinian Political Leadership 79 4. Ideology and Objectives 94 5. Military Strategy and Capabilities of the Fedayeen 113 6. The September 1970 Crisis and Its Aftermath 124 7. Conclusion 149 v VI CONTENTS Part III. The Palestinian Resistance and Inter-Arab Politics by Fuad Jabber 155 1. The Resistance Movement before the Six-Day War 157 2. The Arab World after the Defeat 176 3. The Arab Regimes and the Palestinian Revolution 186 4. The Resistance in Crisis 199 Bibliography 217 Index 225 MAPS 1. U.N. General Assembly's Plan of Partition with Economic Union (1947) x 2. Palestine and Surrounding Countries xi FIGURES 1. Arab Political Organization in Palestine, 1919-1939 15 2. Precursors and Offshoots of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine 61 3. Organizational Structure of the Palestinian Resistance Movement in 1970 74 4. Guerrilla Military Operations Carried Out by Fatah, 1965 to May 1967 172 TABLE Major Palestinian Commando Groups: Summer 1970 66 PREFACE Palestinian nationalism, the subject of this book, is alleged by some observers not to exist. We believe that it does exist and that it has been neglected for too long by students of the Middle East. The idea of Arab statehood in Palestine, which has been the object of Palestinian nationalism since the 1920s, has been embodied in a bewildering variety of political parties and movements. Twice in modern history, Palestinian nationalism has been a strong and dynamic factor in the Middle East, first in the decades of the 1920s and 1930s, then again in the 1960s, especially after the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. It is the most recent manifestation of Palestinian nationalism that receives primary attention in this study. The earlier period, how­ ever, is analyzed in an introductory section, both to provide histori­ cal perspective and background and to illustrate some of the basic patterns in Palestinian political life that have persisted into the present. Political developments within the Palestinian community, and particularly the rise of the Resistance movement, are the subject of Part II. Problems of political organization and leadership are dealt with in detail, and the effects of dependence on other Arab states for support are analyzed. Because the Palestinian movement has Vlll PREFACE been so much at the mercy of inter-Arab politics, this topic receives special attention in Part III. Inevitably, Parts II and III cover some of the same ground and repeat some information, but in the first instance the focus is on internal political developments, while in the second it is on the inter-Arab political context and its impact on the Resistance movement. The authorship of each section has been kept separate, for al­ though this has been in many ways a collaborative effort, each author has a distinctive point of view that we have sought to pre­ serve rather than compromise through joint authorship. We have all commented on and contributed to each other’s sections, but the responsibility ultimately lies with the individual author. A note on transliteration from Arabic is required. Apart from a few commonly known names (e.g., Nasser, Hussein, Hashemite), we have adopted a simplified version of standard transliteration which is meant to be sufficiently accurate for scholars and relatively close to normal pronunciation to be useful for the layman. Special mark­ ings for “alif” are not used, and “ayn” is represented by an apostro­ phe only within a word, not at its beginning. When names appear, the “al-” prefix is only maintained if the entire name is given. Al­ though we have sought for consistency and accuracy, we realize that our idiosyncratic system may leave some readers unsatisfied, but—we hope—not confused. Finally, we must acknowledge with thanks the help of many friends and colleagues in the course of our research. They will recognize their valuable contributions without our having to list them by name, for to do so would be a lengthy process indeed. The research in Part I by Ann Lesch was carried out in preparing a doctoral dissertation for Columbia University, entitled “The Frustration of a Nationalist Movement: Palestine Arab Politics, 1917-1939.” Her chapter in this book was written at the request of the senior author. Much of the research in Part II was sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, whose support is gratefully acknowledged. Part III was written by Fuad Jabber for the Rand Corporation. While various parts of the book, therefore, reflect different sources of sup­ port, in all cases the authors alone are responsible for the views expressed. Santa Monica, California September 1972 ABBREVIATIONS ALF Arab Liberation Front ANM Arab Nationalist Movement AOLP Action Organization for the Liberation of Palestine OAP Organization of Arab Palestine PASC Palestine Armed Struggle Command PDFLP Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Pales­ tine PFLP Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine PFLP-GC Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, General Command PLA Palestine Liberation Army PLF Palestine Liberation Front (Jibril) PLF Popular Liberation Forces (Commando Wing of PLA) PLO Palestine Liberation Organization POLP Popular Organization for the Liberation of Palestine PPS Parti Populaire Syrien—same as SSNP PPSF Palestinian Popular Struggle Front PRFLP Popular Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Pal­ estine SSNP Syrian Social Nationalist Party Map 1. U.N. General Assembly's Plan of Partition with Economic Union (1947)