Red Star Over Palestine: The PLO Left

Jacobin Radio

Jacobin

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

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 April 2025

⏱️ 36 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’ll be looking at the experience of Palestinian communism and the left-wing currents inside the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization. We’ll also be looking at the outsized impact of the Left on Palestinian cultural life.

This second episode examines the left-wing movement that took shape under the banner of the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the role of figures such as George Habash and Nayef Hawatmeh.

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 is Daniel Finn and the Features Editor for Jacobin, and I host the Long
0:07.9	Reeds podcast for Jacobin Radio. This is the second episode of a series called Red Star
0:14.5	Over Palestine, Histories of the Palestinian Left. Our last episode looked at the history of Palestinian communism from the 1920s to the 1960s.
0:27.0	Today, we're going to be dealing with a new phase in Palestinian history and a new version
0:32.3	of left-wing politics.
0:37.7	In June 1967, after the Six-Day War was completed, this American newsreel summed up the
0:44.9	results of Israel's victory over its Arab neighbors.
0:49.5	That victory is a swift, smashing and total one, as crack Air Force, infantry, artillery,
0:55.4	and tank corps combine to sweep across the Sinai Peninsula to the Suez Canal, east into Jordan,
1:01.5	north into Syria. Thousands of prisoners are taken, while Jordan announces she lost 15,000 troops
1:08.5	in the sudden and devastating campaign.
1:11.5	Israeli spearheads race to the Gaza Strip,
1:14.2	advance across the entire Sinai,
1:16.3	taking Sharm El-Shake at the mouth of the Gulf of Akaba,
1:19.5	thus breaking the blockade.
1:21.2	The old city of Jerusalem is captured,
1:23.2	as well as Bethlehem,
1:24.6	the west bank of the Jordan,
1:26.2	and the drive into Syria stops just short of Damascus.
1:30.2	The efficient, well-trained Israeli army,
1:32.5	completely demoralizes troops of the Palestine Liberation Army of Egypt.
1:36.7	Egyptians had no support from the air.
	...

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