The Damascus-based alliance of Palestinian forces: A primer

Journal of Palestine Studies

Volumn 29, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 60-76

  Strindberg, Anders ^a,b  

^a Brannan and Strindberg Consulting

^b UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ISLAMISM; POLITICAL IDEOLOGY; POPULAR PROTEST;

PALESTINE;

EID: 0034046697     PISSN: 0377919X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2676456     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Imad al-'Alami, interview with author, Damascus, 27 October 1999.
2. Some opposition factions, such as Abu Nldal's Fatah-Revolutionary Council (FRC) and the Arab Liberation Front (ALF) remain outside any coalition structure.
3. Yezid Sayigh, "Armed Struggle and State Formation," JPS 26, no. 4 (Summer 1997), p. 17.
4. The only factions to rally behind the Oslo accords were Fatah, the Palestinian People's Party (PPP), the Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA), and sections of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) and Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF).
5. The PNSF did not dissolve when the APF was established but, instead, represented by its secretary-general, Khalid al-Fahoum, went on to attend APF meetings.
6. Graham Usher, Dispatches from Palestine: The Rise and Fall of the Oslo Peace Process (London: Pluto Press, 1999), p. 25.
7. Abu Khalil, interview with author, Damascus, 5 June 1999.
8. Ramadan 'Abdallah Shallah, Interview with author, Damascus, 10 June 1999.
9. Ibid.
10. Sayigh, "Armed Struggle and State Formation," pp. 22-23. Armed struggle as a determinant of Palestinian national identity is one of the main themes in Sayigh's seminal book, Armed Struggle and the Search for State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
11. Sayigh, "Armed Struggle and State Formation," pp. 22-23. Armed struggle as a determinant of Palestinian national identity is one of the main themes in Sayigh's seminal book, Armed Struggle and the Search for State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
12. Shallah, interview with author, Damascus, 10 June 1999.
13. Quoted in Patrick Seale, Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East (Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1995), p. 124.
14. Ibid., 348.
15. 'Arabi 'Awwad, interview with author, Damascus, 16 June 1999.
16. Abu Khalil, interview with author, Damascus, 5 June 1999.
17. 'Alami, interview with author, Damascus, 27 October 1999.
18. Political Program of the PFLP's Fifth Congress, Damascus, February 1993, p. 4.
19. George Habash, interview with author, Damascus, 13 June 1999.
20. Leila Khaled, interview with author, Amman, 23 October 1999.
21. For an interesting overview of DFLP history from inside the organization, see 'Ali Badwan, al-Yasar al-Filastini al-Musallah (Damascus: al-Ahali, 1999).
22. Nayif Hawatimah, interview with author, Damascus, 16 June 1999.
23. APF statement broadcast on al-Quds Palestinian Arab Radio, 26 February 1997.
24. At the time of the incident, several senior APF cadres suggested to the author that it was not pressure from the Israeli public but from Arafat that led Barak to revoke the permit Arafat, it was argued, was concerned that Hawatimah's "ambition and opportunism," as well as his charisma, would threaten his own hold on power.
25. Hawatimah's (current) views on political violence are most clearly spelled out in Nayif Hawatimah Yatahaddath (Damascus: Dar al-Katib, 1996), chapter 13.
26. 'Awwad, interview with author, Damascus, 16 June 1999.
27. 'Awwad, interview with author, 27 October 1999.
28. Ibid.
29. Talal Naji, interview with author, Damascus, 30 May 1999.
30. Abu al-Abbas later gained notoriety for orchestrating the hijacking of the Achille Lauro ocean liner in 1985.
31. Abu Nidal al-Ashqar, interview with author, Damascus, 28 October 1999.
32. Khalid 'Abd al-Majid interview with author, Damascus, 18 October 1999.
33. The FRC, due to its mercenary character, has been forced to remain on the move. Abu Nidal left Damascus for Libya in 1989 and is now reported to reside in Baghdad.
34. Abu Fakhr, interview with author, Damascus, 25 October 1999.
35. Abu Fakhr, interview with author, 30 October 1999.
36. Farhan Abu al-Haija, interview with author, Damascus, 28 October 1999.
37. Anonymous source, telephone interview with author, September 1999.
38. Abu al-Haija, interview with author, Damascus, 25 October 1999.
39. The rally was organized in commemoration of the anniversary of the assassination of Fathi Shiqaqi, 29 October 1999.
40. See Fathi Shiqaqi, "Al-Khomeini: al-Hal al-Islami wal-Badil," in al-'Umal al-Kamila al-Shahid al-Doktor Fathi al-Shiqaqi: al-Majalad al-Awwal (Cairo: Markaz Yaffa lil-Dirasat wal-Abhath, n.d).
41. Shallah, interview with author, Damascus, 10 June 1999.
42. Anonymous source, interview with author, Damascus, May 1999.
43. 'Alaml, interview with author, Damascus, 2 June 1999.
44. According to polls conducted by the Center for Palestine Research and Studies (CPRS), Hamas regularly receives the support of about 11 percent of Palestinians inside the West Bank and Gaza. For a perceptive analysis of CPRS polls, see Mark Tessler and Jodi Nachtwey, "Palestinian Political Attitudes: An Analysis of Survey Data from the West Bank and Gaza," Journal of Israel Studies 4, no. 1 (Spring 1999), pp. 22-43.
45. 'Alami, interview with author, 27 October 1999.
46. Naji, interview with author, Damascus, 30 May 1999.
47. 'Alami, interview with author, Damascus, 27 October 1999.
48. For a more detailed overview of these proposals, see Anders Strindberg, "APF Seeks Chinks in the Peace Process," Jane's Intelligence Review 12, no. 1 (January 2000), pp. 23-26.
49. 'Awwad, interview with author, Damascus, 27 October 1999.
50. Tahsin al-Halabi, interview with author, Damascus, 29 October 1999.
51. 'Abd al-Majid, interview with author, Damascus, 18 October 1999.
52. 'Awwad, interview with author, Damascus, 27 October 1999.