George Habash on war and peace in the Middle East ON SEPTEMBER 15,1990 the Congress of Arab Popular Forces took place in the Jordanian capital of Amman. The sole common theme of this vast meeting of groups with very different outlooks was opposition to Western intervention in the region. After being banned for 20 years, this meeting saw the return of the leaders of the left of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to Jordan. Under pressure from a growing mass movement of both Palestinians and Jordanians, Jordan's King Hussein has been forced to open up the flood-gates of political self-expression in the kingdom.
The very fact that George Habash, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was present shows the change in the atmosphere in Jordan over the past months. Since the start of the crisis, Dr. Habash has been distinguished by an uncritical attitude of support for "the people and army of Iraq and to the Iraqi political leadership and our brother Saddam Hussein." Such uncritical support is all the more surprising in that it comes after a decade of embittered relations between the PFLP and the Iraqi regime. George Habash's long speech to the Congress, of which gers that would arise from a military option in the region, his courtiers presented him as an "anti-imperialist." And when he supported the UN Security Council resolutions, the same people justified his choice. Respect for international law on this question, they said, called for doing the same on the Palestinian question.
With some popular sections getting ideas about arming themselves, the king tried to get ahead of them by calling for a "people's army" (that is, the training of civilians by the royal army). On the other hand, increases in the prices of necessities, supposedly because of the needs of the struggle, were got through with the support of the left. Imperialist pressures to get the king to line up clearly against Baghdad have increased, along with promises of compensation for the losses incurred by the interruption of exports to Iraq. The king has won some real victories domestically. He has been able to pull the wool over the eyes of the mass movement, as attested by the appearance of his por trait alongside that of Saddam Hussein in the demonstrations that have taken place in Jordan but also on the West Bank. This is a new coronation for the sovereign, but this time he is disguised as a "left-wing monarch," who has made his peace with George Habash and Nayef Hawatmeh at 26 the Congress of Arab Popular Forces in Amman in September 1990. * extracts are printed below, also Jaber). DOCUMENT
IT would be a big mistake to treat the Gulf crisis lightly or in a sentimental fashion. It is useful - and I say this from a point of view of total support to our Iraqi brothers — to state certain things directly — our enemy, that is the US administration, has won a battle in its "cold war" , led since the end of the Second World War, against the socialist bloc and the Soviet Union.
It is preparing to act in a world with a sole pole, dominated by the United States, rather than a multi-polar or bipolar world. This new fact must be integrated in our analyses.
We must also take into account the difficulty of the battle that we are leading in the current world situation. The changes at a world level over the past year mean that the national liberation forces of the whole world are from now on compelled to count above all on themselves...
After having benefited from these changes, after having won the "cold war" with the collapse of some of the socialist regimes and the inability of the Soviet Union to aid the national liberation forcraises other issues - (Salah es, the United States dares to speak of a "new world order"
•
I do not know if you have read or heard the recent speech of George Bush a few days ago in which he speaks of this.
For the first time the American administration speaks of a "new world order" based on an agreement between the two great powers. If you look at this speech, you will clearly see how the US intends to organize the new international situation. Woe to all those Third World countries which cannot be milked....
Prepared for war or settlement
If the American administration wants war at any price, we are ready for it. And if there is any possibility of a political settling of accounts that would permit Iraq, as well as the Palestinian cause and the Arab nation to realize certain of their objectives, I say that we can take this road... The initiative taken by Iraq [the proposal to exchange Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait for Israeli withdrawal from
International Viewpoint #195 • November 26, 1990
the Occupied Territories] has opened a door for us that will allow us to present our case to the whole world... What does this initiative say?
It says that if the US administration is attached to international legality, then this legality, embodied in UN resolution 194, has recognized the right of the Palestinian people to return to Palestine. But this has not taken place. I am myself from the town of Lod, but I certainly am not living there. There is another UN resolution (3236) which recognizes our right to self-determination and another (3276) our right to set up a state.
And, if someone were to point out that these are only resolutions of the General Assembly, there are also Security Council resolutions - thanks to the Intifada the Security Council has adopted resolutions 605, 607, and 608 which speak, at least, of the application of the Geneva convention. But despite all this, the US has not moved There have been no threats, no fleet dispatched and no blockade imposed [on Israel].
International legality is two way process
We now dispose of an argument in the face of the world, and the US administration in the first place. We can say to them: "Understand us; if you want to sort out the Gulf question on the basis of international legality, we also have something to say on this question."
We are all ready to sit around a negotiating table to discuss all the questions of the Middle East in the light of international legality. But if you want to separate these questions, we are not idiots. We do not accept that the Americans act only on their own account.
We say that we will accept international law if the United Nations intends to seriously apply its resolutions. That includes those relating to Israeli withdrawal from the south of Lebanon and the occupied territories, as well as resolution 660, on Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait.
They must all be applied; otherwise we will allow ourselves to say that we have our Arab revolutionary legitimacy". *