exclusive
Internal debate as a necessary and healthy means of
revitalizing our party
Outsiders naturally regarding our leaders as fugitives
The assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa inspiring further
resistance
Our people's intifada providing the only viable hope
to end occupation
SUMMARY
Comrade Ahmad Saadat ("Abu Ghassan"), General
Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, confirmed that intellectual, political, and
organizational debate gives life and liveliness to our
party and to any party that seeks to renovate itself
in light of contemporary developments. Saadat told
"al-Hadaf" that among the armed patriotic Palestinian
groups, the Popular Front is the most courageous in
addressing its situation, problems, and
contradictions.
"Abu Ghassan" emphasized that it is a natural
condition for the General Secretary of the Popular
Front to be a fugitive, sought by the forces of
occupation. He went on to explain that the criminal
assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa, a heroic leader who
embodies our struggle, has inspired our comrades,
friends, and all Palestinian patriots to return with
heightened vigor and take active roles in our
struggle.
Regarding the unification of the patriotic democratic
currents, Abu Ghassan called for political and social
programs to augment the quest for a unified
ideological stance. He said that whoever views the
intifada as a means of deliverance for our people must
start with an introspective struggle within himself,
reflect upon the Palestinian Authority's options in
the direction of the popular program, and then direct
all of his or her power and determination against the
occupation. He added that an official declaration of
support by the Palestinian Authority for the intifada
is necessary to encourage the same by Arab
governments. Otherwise, he indicated, many regimes
will continue to rationalize their neglect and avert
their duty to the promote the intifada, the
implications of which are regional or even global in
scale.
The General Secretary noted that the first requirement
for attaining popular participation in the decision
making process must begin with rebuilding the
Palestine Liberation Organization and electing
representatives of the armed organizations and the
institutions to the Palestine National Council
directly from the people.
He elaborated that a policy must be built on the basis
of principles rather than on political illusions and
compromises that provoke self-defeat by undermining
our collective strength and the viability of our
self-defense.
FULL TEXT OF THE INTERVIEW
AL-HADAF: Some observers say that you were elected as
part of a compromise and without real elections. They
are referring to a lack of democracy in the inner
party life of the left-wing Palestinian groups. What
is your comment on this?
SAADAT: If there was a compromise, that would not
bother us at all, if it contained a possible formula
for the internal unity of the Party. Compromise, as
is legitimate, necessary, and appropriate in external
political relations, is also legitimate within the
framework of relations of parties and political
forces.
Compromise also does not invalidate the rules that
govern the work of the leading institutions of the
Popular Front and neither does it harm the democratic
process. Any formulation, whoever proposes it, will
in the final analysis be submitted to the Central
Committee for ratification.
Despite all that, there is no basis for concern
regarding this legitimate question, because the
election process for the position of the General
Secretary and the Deputy General Secretary took place
in accordance with the Party statues for elections
that are followed by the Popular Front and that
constitute one of the fundaments of its internal
political system. If there were complete agreement,
why would we have competing candidates for the post of
General Secretary? Why would ballots have been
distributed, then taken up and counted? If there had
been agreement, it would have been possible simply to
vote by acclamation in less than an hour without any
need for administrative arrangements to bring together
circles of the Central Committee at the same time,
spending a whole day just to carry out an election.
>From another standpoint, the notion of compromise
implies the existence of full-blown factions with
their own positions and members. These do not exist
in the Popular Front. Yes, there are different
viewpoints on this or that issue, and there are
struggles between the different opinions, but there
are absolutely no groups that express their own
opinions as factions inside the bodies of the Front or
outside them.
THE UNITY OF THE POPULAR FRONT
AL-HADAF: A lot has been said about the existence of
different trends within the Front, one moderate and
the other extremist. How do you respond to that? Is
the Front free from internal differences or different
orientations? What are the mechanisms for internal
dialogue within the Popular Front on the different
levels of its hierarchy? Is there any concern about
the Front's unity?
SAADAT: It is not strange or wrong for there to be
struggle over politics and ideas inside the Front. In
fact, that is the natural logic of internal life for
any democratic left-wing party. Stormy debate over
ideas, policies, and organizational matters gives life
and liveliness to any party that strives to renew
itself and to follow the new developments in reality.
It is unnatural and inappropriate for there to be
personal struggles always tied to private interests of
individuals that are expressed most of the time in
primitive, tribalistic ways, in the form of
unprincipled coteries that practice sabotage inside
and outside the party, tossing aside the
organizational rules that govern relations of the
members of the party with its bodies, and the
relations of the party bodies inside the hierarchy and
structure of the party. These bring the subject of
struggles down to the lowest level and prevent their
development and elevation to a level where they
respond to the concerns and needs of the people and
their national and democratic cause.
An end was put to this personal form of struggle in
the life of the Popular Front more than two decades
ago, although features of it reappear in times of
stagnation and crisis. But these are only secondary
and marginal manifestations that do not affect the
course of the Party.
The essential issue that we must emphasize is that the
Popular Front is the most inclined of any of the
organizations in the Palestinian national movement to
muster the courage to address its situation, problems,
and contradictions. This is not only internally, but
also realistically on the political and public mass
level. People who refer to the documents from the
Popular Front's past congresses will see the depth and
responsibility of the political review that the Front
has given itself at every stage. They will see the
courage in its self-criticism of mistaken points of
view. The documents of the Sixth National Congress in
their various political and organizational aspects did
not depart from this basis. In the basic political
document, presented in a programmatic form, diverse
points of view were discussed on the subjects,
details, and principle areas of difference inside the
Front. The convening of the Sixth National Congress
resolved in general the basic details of the Front's
viewpoint and working program for the coming period.
Everyone - cadres, leaders, and members - came
together on the basis of respect for the Congress's
resolutions. At the same time, they practice their
right to have distinct viewpoints and to maintain
dialogue and struggle over different ideas on the
basis of commitment to these resolutions.
Finally I would like to say that we have not yet
reached the level of a model Party. I would say,
however, and with conviction, that we are proceeding
after the Sixth National Congress on the path that
will lead us towards fulfilling this ambition, and to
achieving qualitative changes in our development,
although we may never be able to attain an absolutely
ideal situation. The sea of life is always renewing
itself and whoever wants to swim in that sea must
renew himself at every instant. What is ideal today
will be backward and lifeless tomorrow.
THE NEW ROLE AND MISSION
AL-HADAF: Some people believe that your own personal
situation, as a man wanted by the occupation
authorities, will prevent you from fulfilling your new
role and mission. How can you overcome that?
SAADAT: I am surprised that this question is raised.
Is it necessary that there be one model or arrangement
for work in the leadership, for playing the role of
top official that must apply to every Palestinian
organization? Has not the history of world
revolutionary movements presented examples of leading
bodies in parties, all of whom were fugitives,
outlaws, being pursued by the authorities? In spite
of that, they were able to lead their people towards
victory. If the general secretary of any party can
only work in easy conditions that enable him to hold
meetings, to communicate, to use modern technology,
and to move freely wherever his work takes him, that
would mean either that this leader would be out of the
country, or that he be on the alert against doing
anything that would anger the Israelis. He would have
to declare the peaceful coexistence of his party with
the occupation. In such a situation, the enemy would
facilitate his mission, and he might become even more
famous in the information media that have become adept
at manufacturing leaders in our contemporary world.
In the end, the natural condition of a General
Secretary of the Popular Front and of its leading
bodies is to be wanted people, fugitives of the
occupation authorities, inasmuch as we adhere to the
Front's program of collision with the occupation. At
the same time, necessity dictates that the leaders of
the Front must contrive forms for working arrangements
that allow them to fulfill their national role and not
lag behind in carrying out their obligations to our
people and their national and democratic cause. Just
as every disease has its cure, the revolutionary
knowledge and abundant experience of the Front are a
guarantee that we will overcome all the challenges
that the reality of struggle with our Zionist enemy
places before us.
THE PLACE AND ROLE OF THE POPULAR FRONT
AL-HADAF: The Martyrdom of Comrade Abu Ali Mustafa
has
motivated many members of the Front who have been
hanging back or who had left the Front to come back to
its ranks. The stage that followed Oslo and before
the intifada, on the other hand, witnessed a decline
in the role and activity of the Front. Do you have a
plan to bring back the role and place of the Popular
Front, and what are its features?
SAADAT: What I can say and what reflects reality is
that the Front has correct guidelines in this area,
guidelines it has adopted at three stages: the stage
of holding the Sixth National Congress, the stage of
the intifada, and the latest and most outstanding
stage when the crime of murdering Abu Ali Mustafa
inflamed the feelings of comrades and friends and of
all Palestinian patriots. It motivated them to return
and join the ranks out of loyalty to their leader, to
their party, and to their people. I say with optimism
that our comrades, men and women, who were officially
outside the organizational ranks were never for one
day outside of general patriotic activity. Many of
them did not wait for initiatives or plans to be
issued by the Party. Rather, they signed on and
merged themselves and their activity with party work,
with the party program. Some of them are cadres who
possess gifts and a valuable stock of experience and
who have the ability also to participate in drawing up
the arrangements and programs to win back those who
remain officially outside the ranks of the Party, and
also to attract those among the masses who are ready
to join the activity of the Party, its institutions,
or its associated committees. In the framework of a
thorough evaluation and despite my optimism that is
derived from my knowing the strength of character and
spirit of responsibility that the members of the Party
and its cadres possess, their legacy, and militant
history, I say that until now the arrangements and
programs that have been drawn up do not respond to
what is demanded and necessary to integrate the army
of the Party into an actual organization and to
translate into reality its militant, patriotic, and
democratic program. This requires a serious
examination by all levels of the general cadres in the
Popular Front.
THE PATRIOTIC DEMOCRATIC CURRENT
AL-HADAF: The Palestinian Patriotic Democratic Current
remains divided despite the efforts that have been
made to bring it together and unite it in the course
____________________________________________
___________________
There is less in this than meets the eye.
Tellulah Bankhead
[EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ssz.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED] www.open-forge.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------
