Although the definition of the term 'revolution' does not imply a specific time-frame to accomplish a specific type of change in a drastic manner, however, one would assume that the term 'revolution' should be used when a drastic changes is happening in a short period of time.Many revolutions have occurred in the past that resulted in drastic changes in short periods of time. For example the French revolution (1789-1799), Spanish Revolution* (1936-1939), Cuban Revolution (1953-1959). Although to the start of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as the Palestinian Revolution, it was an unsuccessful one, even though it had the support and backing of many countries and people. Still it is not out of the ordinary that revolutions are unsuccessful since there has been examples of unsuccessful revolutions in the past. But for a revolution that amassed such support and still failed, only points out that there were issues within the Palestinian revolution that rendered it unsuccessful.
The following three factors are believed to contribute to the failure of the Palestinian revolution:
Ideology:
- The main factions that formed and lead the Palestinian revolution were leftist, secular movements that dependent on the ideologies of Arabism and Marxism.
- ideologies were incompatible to the people of the region due to complexity and the different backgrounds of people that live in the region and also due to the traditions and cultures that are deeply rooted in a specific religion.
- many were motivated by those ideologies; they still didn't provide the element that would have unified the people into one organization with one aim.
- lead to different number of factions being created with different ideologies, leaving the leaders of those factions competing against each other rather than against their enemy.
Corruption:
- Corruption of the leaders of the Palestinian revolution lead to many battles being lost.
- in some cases came from the ideologies themselves,
- lead to disastrous events in the history of the revolution, for example Black September, and the Lebanese Civil war. Another good example are the current events within the Fatah movement and the leaders of that movement.
Ineffectiveness:
- leaders of the revolution were not able to use the advantages they had and different tools and means to create a successful revolution.
In some cases the wrong means were used to increase the exposure of the the Palestinian revolution in the West including the hijacking of civilian aircrafts and conducting operations outside the conflict region.
- different Palestinian factions were unable to utilize the privileges they received from different countries such as Lebanon and Jordan where they abused those rights that they were given.
Adaptability:
- Palestinian factions unable to adapt to the different circumstances they found themselves in and were either too late in their response or had unclear vision of consequences to their actions.
Today the 'Palestinian revolution' has been replaced by the 'Palestinian Struggle' symbolizing that the Palestinian cause has gone from one that sought to restore full rights and sovereignty to the Palestinian people to one that seeks to maintain whatever rights and sovereignty that are left, if any.
* Spanish Civil war was during the period of 1936-1939. The Spanish Revolution was during 1936 and lead to the civil war. A better example would have been the 1868 revolution (which I just read about).
10 comments:
One point. That was the Spanish Civil War, not revolution.
ahhhh man.. thanks for pointing that out.. wrote this at four in the morning.. that's my excuse :)
needless to read, i believe the only reason behind the failure is the arab leaders.
I don't believe they were. The amount of support that was given to the Palestinian revolution should have lead to a successful campaign many years ago without the need of having Arab states involved in the war. The Palestinians were given the right to establish headquarters and training camps in different arab countries, they were given safe refuge in other Arab countries in order to prepare and plan, they were backed financially and militarily with equipment and weapons and specialist training yet still were unable to cause any sort of gain throughout that period.
I think those are legitimate reasons as to why the Palestinian revolution was not able to achieve any sort of gain throughout the period of the revolution.
I also think it is a bit naive to blame past Arab leaders for the failure of the Palestinian revolution without looking at the role of the leaders of that revolution in formulating and creating the current status of the 'Palestinian struggle' without completely ignoring the notion that some of the blame and responsibility fell on Arab leaders of some countries.
Bear in mind Jabi that when the Palestinians did get considerably strong enough Assad crushed them in Lebanon. The rationale was that if it was not him then it would be the Israelis and he could not allow them an excuse for over running the country (which they tried to do later).
Still, I don't really hold that much sympathy for the Palestinians apart from my moral support. They are not helpless, poor or without capabilities as many people think. They've just lacked the political will to push through, take land from the Israelis and try to hold it. Notwithstanding the misery in Gaza of course, but again, that is due to the Palestinian house being in disorder rather than anything else.
which relates to the ineffectiveness of the Palestinian leaders at that time and their inability to predict the consequences to their actions. I blame the leadership of the Palestinian factions, and that's the gist of the post.
Anyways the fight for Palestine has now been taken out of the hands of the Palestinians to an extent. If Palestine is to be liberated from Zionism then that will only happen through other states that will adopt the struggle not as a political means to an end and personal gain but as an actual liberation of that land.
Jabi:
exactly what kind of suppot offerd to the palastinians which you believe it should have lead to their victory?
wallah i can't see any .. maybe u both would have a little chat with parents to know what the leaders did and how the land was given to the israelis war after war..
well, like i said earlier. The Palestinians were given all that they needed from weapons to logistical support allowing the fighters of the palestinian factions much freedom in both lebanon and jordan. How did these men use this support? Look back and ask a Jordanian what the Palestinian fighters used to do in Jordan. Even the members of the Palestinian factions such as Fateh admit that what they did in Jordan was beyond acceptable.
What about the support they got from Abdulnasser, along with what they were given from different Arab countries?
All I'm saying was that the Palestinian leadership during the period when the Palestinian cause was referred to as a revolution was in the hands of incompetent men who sought to fulfill their desires before liberating an inch of Palestine; who fought each other more than they fought the Israelis, who fought those who helped them out just because those who did support them had enough of their bullshit.
Palestine would have been liberated a long time ago with people such as the current leaders of Hamas were the leaders of organizations such as fateh during that period.
You make it sound like it was a matter of a 10 year – old conflict, which started from Abdullnaser's time up till now.
I'm not defending them and not claiming to be an expert in the history of the region, I agree that they are to be blamed to, but I know quite well that:
First, if you handed any group of men weapons under the excuse of "liberating" and let them enter any land , these men will simply use these weapons against the owners of this land, like what the Syrians did in Lebanon, and what the Americans are doing now in Iraq.
Second , if a power of four armies, Iraq, Syria , Egypt and Jordan, couldn't defeat one army – the Israeli, in the 67's and the 72's, which we were taught that it was the liberation war , but in the reality , neither we or the Egyptians or the Jordanians have liberated anything, on the contrary , we lost Golan on this war, the Egyptians say they liberated Sinna'a , the fact is they were given back Sina'a during the talks that came after this war, so if a power of four armies couldn't defeat one army , you are expecting small new born guerrillas ,with whatever supplies they were given during the revolution, to liberate a land which has been occupied since 48 by a small power grown up to be a state?
Be fair Jabi, a state needs a similar state to defeat it.
"Palestine would have been liberated a long time ago with people such as the current leaders of Hamas"
Yes but since we always had leaderships like the ones we are having now , crushing down any kind of a real resistance,then nothing will change.
Men in power , west or east , know quite well that liberating Palestine means liberating the rest of the Arab world and I don’t think this is in anyone's interest.
To be honest i cannot disagree with you. you are right. But all im saying is that in order to have a successful revolution you need to have leaders that believe in that revolution. When Castro and a couple of men were facing an entire army they still managed to defeat it, because they beleived in it, and most importantly were not corrupt as were (and still are) the leaders of the Palestinian 'struggle'.
It is very beneficial to go back and look at the history of those wars, not what actually happened between the Arabs and the Israelis but what happened between the Arabs themselves. I cannot disagree either that liberating Palestine would mean the end of most authorities in the region, that is why this should be our aim. The liberation of Palestine is the liberation of ourselves.
and sorry for the late reply!
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