The Palestinian Entity 1959-1974

Arab Politics and the PLO

Moshe Shemesh

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780714642536
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136285196
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

This book traces the development of the Palestinian national movement, especially in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, between 1968 and 1974 under the leadership of the Fatah which has become the PLO's backbone.

Notes

CHAPTER ONE

1. Isa al-Shu‘aybi, al-Kiyaniyya al-Filastiniyya 1947–1977, Beirut, 1979, p. 88; Adli Hashad, Sha‘b Filastin fi Tariq al-Awda, Cairo, 1964, p. 104; Ahmad al-Shuqayri, Min al-Qumma ila al-Hazima, Beirut, 1971, p. 57; also al-Ahram, 6.4.59.

2 Muhammad Hasanayn Haykal (Haykal), al-Ahram, 20.12.58; Jamal Abd al-Nasir (Nasir), al-Ahram, 24.12.58.

3. This term was used by Butrus Ghali, Dirasat fi al-Diblumasiyya al-Arabiyya, Cairo, 1973, p. 233; and by M.H. Kerr, The Arab Cold War, third edition, London, 1971.

4. Michel Aflaq, lecture before Ba‘th members in Paris, 21.6.64, Nidal Hizb al-Ba‘th, Bayanat Qiyadatihi al-Qawmiyya 1963–1966, Beirut, October 1971, pp. 147–148.

5. For the meaning of these slogans see Nasir, Filastin Min Aqwal al-Ra‘is, Cairo, n.d., speeches during the period December 1953 – June 1964 (Aqwal), pp. 39, 42, 145–147, al-Ahram, 23.2.62; Haykal, al-Ahram, 10.3.61, 29.12.61, 9.3.62, 28.8.64.

6. See also UAR Memorandum to the Arab League Secretary-General, al-Ahram, 5.1.60; Nasir’s assessment during UAR government’s discussion on the Jordan River problem in Haykal, al-Ahram, 18.5.62; also Haykal, al-Ahram, 4.1.63.

7. See Nasir, Aqwal, pp. 64, 90.

8. See Nasir, al-Ahram, 18.4.59, 21.2.60, 4.3.61, Aqwal, pp. 65, 67, 76; Haykal, al-Ahram, 10.3.61.

9. Nasir in Haykal, al-Ahram, 18.5.62, quoting from the UAR Government Protocol; Josef Abu Khatir (then Lebanese ambassador in Cairo), Liqa’at Ma‘a Jamal Abd al-Nasir, Beirut, 1971, pp. 101–102, quoting Nasir in meeting with him on 17.9.62.

10. Ruz al-Yusuf, 15.12.63; Nasir, al-Ahram, 24.12.61, 27.6.62, 23.7.63, 28.8.63; Haykal, al-Ahram, 7.9.62, went too far in writing “we do not want war as an adventure; the war ought to be well planned”.

11. Nasir, al-Ahram, 26.4.60, 19.10.60, 1.6.65, Aqwal, p. 82, 21.3.60.

12. On 14 February 1959, the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram, probably as a result of instructions from high quarters, began a campaign which continued for some weeks which cautioned against “the great danger threatening Arab nationalism”, in the shape of three million Jews from the Eastern Bloc immigrating to Israel. The UAR succeeded in drawing the whole Arab world into this campaign including the Arab media and the Arab League Institutions. Al-Ahram, 15.2.59–10.3.59; Nasir, al-Ahram, 22.2.59; for further Arab references to this subject see Egypt: al-Musawwar, 20.2.59; Ruz al-Yusuf, 23.2.59; al-Akhbar, 21.2.59; al-Ahram, 20.5.59; Akhir Sa‘a, 11.3.59; Syria: al-Nasr, Damascus, 5.3.59; Jordan: al-Jihad, 16.2.59, 22.2.59; Filastin, Amman, 18.2.59, 21.2.59; al-Difa‘, 19.2.59; Lebanon: al-Jarida, 17.2.59, 19.2.59, 22.2.59; al-Hayat, 24.2.59; Iraq: Baghdad Radio, (R) commentaries, 17.2.59, 18.2.59.

13. See Proposals for the Continuation of United Nations Assistance to Palestinian Refugees, document submitted by the secretary-general, 14th Session, A/4121, 15 June 1959.

14. Nasir even went so far as to connect Israel’s attempts to break the blockade of the Suez Canal by sending a Danish ship, the Inga Toft, to the “wave of expected Jewish immigration to Israel”. He presented these attempts as “a new measure in the final process of eliminating the Palestinian problem”. See Nasir’s assessment of the situation presented to Haykal, al-Ahram, 30.6.59; Haykal, al-Ahram, 21.9.62, published the text of President Kennedy’s despatch (11.5.61) and Nasir’s reply (18.8.61); see also Nasir, al-Ahram, 14.7.60, Aqwal, pp. 46, 50; UAR FM’s speech at the ALC, al-Ahram, 27.8.60.

15. See Nasir, al-Ahram, 19.10.60, 4.3.61, 27.6.62 (speech before the members of the Legislative Council of the Gaza Strip), 24.12.62, 14,24.12.63, Aqwal, p. 136; Haykal, al-Ahram, 27.1.61 (quoting Nasir), 16.11.62.

16. On the development of the ANM and its connections with Egypt see Walid Kazziha, Revolutionary Transformalion in the Arab World, London, 1975; on the Palestinians’ activities in pan-Arab movements and pro-Nasirist parties see Hani al-Hasan (a Fatah leader), Fatah Bayna al-Nazariyya wa al-Tatbiq, Shuun Filastiniyya (Shuun), No. 7, March 1972, pp. 9–21; Fatah, Dirasat wa-Tajarib Thawriyya, No. 1, Min Muntalaqat al-‘Amal al-Fidai, August 1967, pp. 38–39; Adnan Badr, Sab‘ Sanawat lil-Jabha al-Sha‘biyya li-Tahrir Filastin, al-Hadaf Beirut, 14.12.74.

17. Haykal, al-Ahram, 17.8.62; Khayri Hammad, al-Ahram, 2.3.63, 3.3.63, two articles entitled Filastin wa Qadiyyat al-Wahda.

18. Damascus R., 25.6.60, the resolutions of the National Union Congress of the Syrian Region; on the Egyptian concept see al-Musawwar, 10.7.59; Akhbar al-Yawm, 31.12.60; al-Akhbar, 14.8.59; al-Ahram, 13.8.59, 27.8.59, 14.2.60, 15.12.60; Ruz al-Yusuf 5.9.60; al-Wahda, Damascus, 20.5.59; al-Siyasa, Beirut, 17.4.62; al-Sayyad, Beirut, 27.4.61.

19. Al-Jarida al-Rasmiyya, Law No. 255, 1955, al-Qanun al-Asasi li al-Mantiqa al-Waqi‘a Tahta Raqabat al-Quwwat al-Misriyya; also al-Ahram, 6.9.60; the Gaza Strip was subordinated to the War Ministry as an occupied area; although the governor of the Gaza Strip was called the administrative governor, he was always a senior army officer who was nominated by the president, so that he was in fact a military governor.

20. Al-Nizam al-Dusturi li-Qita‘ Ghazza, al-Jarida al-Rasmiyya, No. 75, 29.3.62; al-Ahram, 6.9.60, 10.3.62; Akhir Sa‘a, 23.5.62; al-Sha‘b, Cairo, 17.2.59; al-Hayat, 18.2.59.

21. The idea of the PLF had already been mentioned in the pro-Egyptian newspapers in Lebanon in November 1961; see, for example, Kul Shay, Beirut, 11.11.61; on the development of this project and contact with Palestinians in other Arab states see al-Akhbar 5.11.62, 15.5.63; al-Jumhuriyya, Cairo, 5.11.62, 7.12.62; Nidal al-Awda, Gaza, October 1962; Ruz al-Yusuf 5.11.62, 12.8.63; al-Sayyad, 16.8.62; al-Hawadith, 29.11.62; Sawt al-Uruba, Beirut, 4.8.62.

22. See Nasir, al-Ahram, 26.4.60; Abd al-Hamid al-Sarraj, then head of the Executive Council of the Syrian Region, Baghdad R., 11.7.61; resolutions of the General Congress of the National Union, al-Ahram, ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Preface to the Second Edition
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Glossary
• I. The Problem of the Palestinian Entity, 1959–1963
• II. The Struggle over Palestinian Representation in the Arab and Palestinian Arenas, 1964–1967
• III. The “Palestinian Resistance” Representation and Confrontation, 1968–1971
• IV. The PLO Crises and Achievements, 1972–1974
• Conclusion
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index