Red Star Over Palestine: Revolution and Counterrevolution in Lebanon

Jacobin Radio

Jacobin

Socialism, History, News, Left, Jacobin, Alternative, Socialist, Politics

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For many years, Palestine had one of the strongest left-wing movements in the Arab world, represented by prominent figures such as Leila Khaled and Ghassan Kanafani. At the beginning of the First Intifada in the 1980s, Palestinian left groups were the main challengers to the hegemony of Fatah. Although the Palestinian left has lost much of its influence since the 1980s, they still play an important role today.

Red Star Over Palestine: Histories of the Palestinian Left is a six-part series from Long Reads exploring radical movements and progressive organizations of the region. We examine the experience of Palestinian communism and the left-wing currents inside the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization. We also look at the outsized impact of the Left on Palestinian cultural life.

Our fourth episode focuses on the movement’s turn to Lebanon, where Palestinian radicals found a new base and hoped to launch a wider Arab revolution.

Red Star Over Palestine is hosted by Daniel Finn and produced by Conor Gillies. Music provided by Fadi Tabbal.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, my name's Daniel Finn and the Features Editor for Jacobin, and I host the Long Reads
0:08.0	podcast for Jacobin Radio. This is the fourth episode of a series called Red Star Over
0:15.0	Palestine, Histories of the Palestinian left.
0:28.6	In our last episode, we looked at the careers of Gassan Kanafani and Leila Khaled, two of the most prominent figures associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
0:34.6	In 1973, the PFLP leader George Habash told the Associated Press that his group
0:42.3	would no longer be using the tactic of plane hijackings that had made Khaled world famous.
0:48.3	Are there no circumstances under which the PFLP would resume such acts as hijacking? In the foreseen future, no.
0:57.0	When our revolution will be quite well understood all over the world,
1:03.0	of course we feel that war is war,
1:06.0	and we can do any act which will serve our victory in war.
1:13.6	But since at the present moment, world opinion is not able to see our particular case,
1:20.6	we would like all people all over the world to understand us and be with us so that we will ensure victory.
1:29.3	There have been more acts of terrorism by Arabs nonetheless than there have been by Israel in the last few weeks.
1:36.3	I'm thinking of the Japanese Airlines hijack, the attack at Athens airport.
1:40.3	What is your relationship with the groups who organized these attacks? You see, the PFLP is the PFLP.
1:48.0	When the PFLP does anything, she will claim this.
1:54.0	The PFLP actually has relations with the main Palestinian organizations,
2:01.6	namely FATH, the Popular Democratic Front, Arab Liberation Front of Palestine,
2:07.6	As Sa'Iqa, and we are cooperating together in the what you call the PLO,
2:12.6	Palestine Liberation Organization.
2:14.6	Regarding these minor groups, we have no relations with them. But also to be frank
2:21.1	with you and with world opinion, we can only understand them because we know the despair
	...

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