The Palestinian Left and Its Decline: Loyal Opposition

Preface
Note on Transliteration
Contents
Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Introduction
	Crisis of the Left, Crisis of the Palestinian National Movement
	Subjective Factors, Dilemmas and Policy Fluctuations
	State of the Literature
	Note on Sources
	Outline of the Book
	The PFLP’s Ideological and Organisational Background
	The PFLP Before 1982: Rivalry with Fatah and Leftist Fragmentation
Chapter 2: Out of Beirut: Years of Split
	Introduction
	Tipping the PLO Balance: The Bases of the PFLP’s Opposition to Arafat’s Diplomatic Strategy
	Institutional Opposition: Constraining the Moderate Leadership Within the PLO
	The Formation of the Joint Command and Fatah’s Internal Split
	Pressures from Within, Pressures from Without: The PFLP’s Fluctuation in the Intra-Palestinian Dialogue
	The 17th and the 18th PNCs: From Total Rejection to Reconciliation
	Arafat’s Progresses and the PFLP’s Choice of Syrian Proxies
	From the Collapse of Hussein-Arafat Coordination to PLO Reconciliation: Unity Overrides Opposition
	Conclusions
Chapter 3: Imagining an “Axis of Resistance”: The PFLP’s Foreign Policy in the Mid-1980s
	Introduction
	Regional Developments and Internal Shifts: The Bases of Alignment with Syria
	Presenting the Viability of Alliance with Syria
	The Backlash of the Alliance with Syria: Returning Contradictions
	The War of the Camps: The Outbreak of PFLP-Syrian Contradictions
	Making Sense of the War of the Camps, Seeking Broader Legitimacy
	The Persistence of the War of the Camps
	The USSR and the PFLP in the Mid-1980s: Limited Rapprochement
	A Reluctant Ally: Overview of PLO, PFLP-Soviet Relations
	Tactical Convergence, Strategic Distance
	Conclusions
Chapter 4: The First Intifada: Initial Opportunities, Final Marginalisation
	Introduction
	Background to the Intifada: The PLO Penetration in the OPT
	The Emergence of the Islamist Alternative
	Contrasting Dynamics in the First Intifada: The PFLP Between Opportunity and Marginalisation
	The PFLP’s Pragmatism During the First “Triumphant” Year of the Intifada
	Losing the Intifada Momentum
	Avoiding the Split: The PFLP’s Choice of Integration
	The PFLP’s Inside-Outside Divide
	The Problematic Encounter with Political Islam
	Conclusions
Chapter 5: The Advent of the Peace Process: From Rejection to Acceptance of the “Palestinian Versailles”
	Introduction
	The PLO Between International Vulnerability and a Fading Intifada
	The PFLP’s Uncertainty on the Eve of Oslo
	The Conservatism of a Revolutionary Organisation: The PFLP’s Fifth National Congress
	Marxism-Leninism Reconfirmed
	Same Structure, Same Programme and Same Leadership
	“Peace” in Oslo
	PFLP-DFLP Coalition Reloaded
	The PLO as an Obstacle of Islamist-Leftist Association
	Heights and Decline of the Unified Leadership: Joint Opposition, Separate Integration
	From Rejection to Acceptance
	Re-Integrating the PLO to Preserve Authority
	Looking for a Settlement
	Conclusions
Chapter 6: The Al-Aqsa Intifada and After: Resurfacing Contradictions and Ultimate Marginalisation
	Introduction
	Integrating the PNA: Democratisation and Commitment to Civil Society
	The PFLP’s Sixth National Congress: The Resurfacing Contradictions of “Institutional” Opposition
	The Outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada
	A Divided Movement in an Asymmetric War
	The PFLP’s View of the Al-Aqsa Intifada: From a New National Front to a Bipolar System
	Joining the Fight: The PFLP Between Militarisation and Palestinian Fragmentation
	The PFLP’s Retaliation and the Election of Ahmad Sa‘adat
	After Abu Ali: “Defensive Shield” and the PFLP’s Shift Towards Mediation
	The PFLP’s Mediation in the Intra-Palestinian Dialogue
	The Opposition-Integration Dilemma in Post-Arafat Palestinian Politics
	The “First Palestinian Coup” or the PFLP’s Ultimate Choice for Integration
	Conclusions
Chapter 7: Paths of Decline and Renewal: The PFLP and Leftist Trajectories Across Time
	Introduction
	The Communist Movement in Egypt (1921–1952): Primacy of the National Cause
	Enduring Repression, Seeking Collaboration: Egyptian Communism and the Nasserist Regime (1952–1965)
	Egyptian Communism and the Palestinian Left in Perspective
	The Evolution of the PKK’s Radical Alternative, 1970s–2000s
	Political Renewal and Its Dilemmas: Marxism, National Liberation and Personal Leadership in the PKK and the PFLP
	Conclusions
Chapter 8: Conclusions
	The Dilemmas of a Loyal Opposition and the Unattainable Alternative
	Different Phases, Constant Fluctuations
	Tools and Concepts for the History(ies) of the Left(s)
Index