Research Catalog

Title

The PFLP's changing role in the Middle East / Harold M. Cubert.

Author

Cubert, Harold M.

Publication

London ; Portland, Or. : F. Cass, 1997.

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Details

Description

xiii, 235 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• This is Harold Cubert's groundbreaking history of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a violent Marxist faction within the Palestinian national movement. Taking an academically rigorous but politically neutral approach, Cubert explores the group's background and provides a thorough analysis of its aims, methods, structures, and the factors responsible for its recent decline. The PFLP rejects any settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict that falls short of the total elimination of Israel and the establishment of an independent state on what it claims to be Palestinian land. It is implacably hostile towards the United States and its allies in Europe and the Middle East, and is committed to a strategy of armed conflict.
• Cubert views the organisation's inflexibility as the key factor behind its lack of success. He illustrates this by contrasting the PFLP with Fatah, the dominant faction in the PLO. Fatah did not share the PFLP's rigid, ideological approach; it was primarily concerned to establish Palestinian self-rule on 'liberated land' and it was prepared to compromise with the West, particularly in the years following the collapse of the soviet bloc. This enabled Fatah to transform itself from an underground movement to a quasi-government with strong international ties. The PFLP, by contrast, became increasingly isolated. Today, from its headquarters in Damascus, it can do nothing without the Syrian government's approval and Syria is on the verge of a peace agreement with Israel ...

Subjects

• Jabhah al-Sha'biyah li-Tahrir Filastin
• Fatah
• al- Ǧabha aš-Šaʿbīya li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn
• Munaẓẓamat at-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīnīya
• Jabhah al-Shaʻbīyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn
• Middle East > Palestine
• Israël
• Palestine
• Arab-Israeli conflict
• Volksfront voor de Bevrijding van Palestina
• Nahostkonflikt
• Mouvements de libération nationale
• Problèmes politiques
• Question palestinienne
• National liberation movements > Palestine

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-224) and index.

Contents

Introduction: overview of the PFLP's ideology and aims -- 1. Historical and ideological background -- 2. Western incursions; Ottoman concessions -- 3. Arab nationalism: issues and programmes -- 4. A history of Palestinian nationalism -- 5. The PFLP succeeds the ANM and competes with the dominant Fatah movement -- 6. The Palestinian national movement since 1988 -- 7. Towards an Israel-PLO accord -- 8. Ideology -- 9. Structure -- 10. Operating environments and methods -- 11. The PFLP's role and position within the PLO -- 12. Fatah-PFLP rivalry within the PLO -- 13. Conclusion.

ISBN

• 0714647721
• 9780714647722
• 0714643297
• 9780714643298

LCCN

96042486

OCLC

• ocm35298717
• 35298717
• SCSB-2122692

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library