George Habash in his letter of resignation: "Why have we been defeated?"

Comrades!  What I have lived through and the experience I have accumulated over the course

of these militant decades is not a small matter.  Therefore it is the right of the comrades

and the coming generations to review the contents and lessons of this experience with all

its many successes and failures.  For we cannot seize the future without having read our

history well, not so that we might be nailed down to that history, but so that we might

benefit from that expertise and experience as a necessary precondition for dealing with the

future.  The present is a qualitiative extension of the past, while at the same time, it

constitutes the material and intellectual foundation for the building of the future.

On this basis, I have something to say.  And I can say it better if I am free of the chains

of leaderhip positions.  Reading history requires objectivity.  This is not possible so long

as one is engrossed in the burdens of the details of daily party life. . . .

As an example, looking deeply into past experience, and in spite of all the sacrifices and

achievements which we have accumulated -- and they are not few -- our experience has been

characterized by giving pecedence to slogans and emotion at many times and in many of the

positions we have taken.  Although these slogans were right and legitimate, they were not

evaluated from the standpoint of their attainability and success, although that is the

vehicle for the course and success of those slogans.

Scientifically we know that slogans and strategic goals by themselves are not enough to

direct the struggle and achieve victories.  Rather that requires a deep use of the intellect

and thought in analyzing the facts and the real social economic and political movement.

Such an analysis should not only take into account our own party and our own people, but

also must follow the changes that the opposite side lives through and accumulates.  In this

way we can come to know the reasons and factors for our opponent's strength and victories

and also what his weaknesses are . . . in order to arrive at the talent for grasping the

key link and ability to build the vanguard instrument capable of carrying out our thought,

our programmes and our slogans.

From here the idea of establishing a center for studies took root in my mind and thought.

This would help to confront such shortcomings, with no illusion that this center would answer

all the questions.  But it would be a step that I think would be an appropriate act and at

an appropriate time.  I know that the success of the center depends on the availability

of funds, ideas, and organization, and I hope I will succeed in my attempts to provide

the bases for the success of this project.  I deal with this issue as an organic component

part of political and militant national work, and as a new effort to be added to the efforts

of the other similar Arab and Palestinian institutions -- with the necessary addition here

that the aim of this center would be focused on studying the past Arab nationalist and

Palestinian patriotic experience with special emphasis on the reasons for defeats and failures,

alongside a similar emphasis on the experience of the Zionist movement and reasons for its

continuation and victories.

A basic question that beats upon the wall of our reality, that comes from our past to reach

our present and travel into our future is: Why have we been defeated -- as a Front, as a

liberation movement, as Arab states, and as the Arab Nation as a whole?  In spite of all

the sacrifices, pain, and suffering?

And although this is an important question, for it means a readiness to look critically,

to review ourselves, and re-read our history; that only takes us half of the way.  Preparing

to respond to the question is what will pave the rest of the way.

Let no one imagine that this is an easy, mechanical matter.  It is a matter with complex

and dialectical dimensions surrounded on all sides by difficulties and dangers.  By itself

the question opens up the spheres of politics, the economy, and the organization, just as

it opens them up to their relationship with the overall social movement.  It comes back to

address the dialectic of thought, vision, and practice.

From here the answer becomes a matter of thought with both social and practical depth; it is

not merely an intellectual luxury or outward formulations.

That is one side of the matter.  On the other side, the effort to answer the question must

be linked to the national aims, tasks, and aspirations.  If it is not, it will easily fall,

being transforming and melting into the current torrential flow becoming just another part

of it.  Yet at the same time this effort must remain linked to reality, lest it turn into

a socially isolated effort of utopian fanstasy.

In light of the above, the three-dimensional nature of the answer takes form: vertically,

horizontally, and in depth.  It is an embodiment of the interaction of thought with reality

and of both with social practice, whether on the level of the movement of society, or on

the level of the movement of political parties.

In this sense, although an individual or individuals might take part in answering the

question, it is not only the effort of one individual or one organization, or of one front.

Rather it is a Palestinian-Arab effort, indeed in part it is an effort of all the world

progressive and liberation forces.

It is everybody's effort.  And it is an on-going, cumulative effort.  To the extent that it

answers some of the questions posed by reality, to the same extent new questions emerge

before it.  Practice enriches it with new visions and studies.  Therefore we must encourage

our intellects to take part in this continuing, social, intellectual, dialectical operation.

For pointing out the reasons for our defeat is a beginning step on the path of moving to

the sphere of attaining achievements, leaving behind the realm of failure, and getting closer

to victory.

Here I feel I must point out the specially important role played by thinkers in one way or

another.  The time has come for the Arab and Palestinian mind to play its role as it should.

But this will not happen unless this mind becomes a part of the movement of socio-political

reality.

Personally, and after this long militant experience, I shall be trying in my way, by deep thought

to participate in the attempts to answer this central question.

In that context, I would like to make the following points:

1-Reviewing the course of a century of struggle, in particular the last fifty years of it.

I have already treated this subject in "al-Hadaf" magazine in two articles.  The first

attempted to say what kind of review we should have and how we should carry it out.  The

second treated the basic mistakes that accompanied the course of the experience of the

Arab liberation movement and the Palestinian revolution, on the one hand, and the patriotic

regimes on the other.

2-An attempt to set up a center for study, when all the preconditions for this are available.

The importance of this center will lie in its ability to attract Arab and Palestinian

intellectuals interested in the causes of the Arab Nation, chief among them the Palestine

cause, so that the center with its abilities, activities, and work will constitute an extension

of the organizations of the Arab and Palestinian liberation movement, and of course of the

Popular Front.

As I see it and imagine it, this center will provide all its intellectual output to these

organizations and parties so that hopefully it might help them to make correct resolutions

and positions.  In this connection the nucleus of the center has tried for some time to hold

a conference, particularly in Egypt to address the question of "why have we been defeated?",

but it has not succeeded in holding the conference there.  We hope that the conference and

the studies presented at it, and its results would contribute to attempts to answer this very

important question.  The studies that were prepared on this subject are ready, and we will

publish them whether we succeed in holding the conference or not.

So I hope to be able to lay the first brick for this center.  After that the continuity of

this project and this effort will be the responsibility of those Palestinians and Arabs who

believe in this idea, and of the coming generations.

What is important is that we use all the weapons at our disposal, first and foremost, the weapon

of the intellect and thought so that we might be able to attain victory.  And we are obliged to

win because our cause is just.

The subject of women.  The Palestinian woman, throughout the course of the long struggle, has

played a pioneering and enlightening role.  She has been mother, sister, wife, and comrade.

She has carried weapons and fought.  On many occasions she has been a model, more than the men.


I am reminded now of the image of the Palestinian woman during the heroic Palestinian intifada

in the occupied homeland.  The intifada released the creativity of the woman and her hidden

and repressed energies.  She has an enormous strength that rises from the field of battle to

take shape in epic examples of resistance, steadfastness, production, patient perseverence,

giftedness, and martyrdom. . .

Now, inspite of all of that, the Palestinian woman is subjected to all sorts of oppression.

Palestinian and Arab oppression, class oppression, and male social oppression.

What have we done in defense of the cause of the woman, her rights and freedom?

On the theoretical level we have said much.  But in practice there was a yawning gap in general

between what we said and our actual practice.  All of us have heard or know of unfortunate stories

about our treatment of the women in our midst.

The liberation of women and the release of their energy is basically a socio-economic, historical

matter.  Things like this don't happen just because we preach them.  It is, in a reality, a matter

of struggle to the end.  It is linked with the social structure and the development of productive

labor, but what have we who call ourselves the progressive and leftist vanguards done?  Have we been

able to present a higher example in our daily social practice?  Have we succeeded in freeing

ourselves from the role of masters which we practice over women?

How can we attain real progress and approach the attainment of our national goals while we enslave

and ignore half the engergies of our people?  I don't want to review here the experience of other

peoples and revolutions that were victorious as to how they dealt with the subject of women.

Suffice it to remember the pioneering experience of Cuba in this area.  This is a big subject

and a real challeng.  Rather it constitues a criterion of the credibility of our program

and our social vision.  Any failure here shows that there is a structural failure and crisis

in our vision and institution.

The subject of the youth.  The youth are the generation of the future, the generation of

victory.  As statistics demonstrate, more than half of our society consists of young people.

How we deal with the cause of the youth is an indication of how serious we are about the future.

It is an expression of our continuity and development, or of our stagnation and annihilation. 

The subject of the youth is also a great challenge lying before us.  They are the leaven,

they are a gigantic energy, distinguished by their vitality and zeal.  Let us remember the

following examples:

- The role of the young generation, in fact of children, during the intifada.

- Let us remember the role of the student movement (the General Union of Palestine Students) and

the student movement in the occupied homeland.  It was consistently a factor heating up and

enflaming the confrontation.

- Let us remember the role of the student and youth movements in the 1960s in Europe where they

changed the face of the movement of societies at that time.

Thus the youth constitute another field where our program, institutions, and practice are to be

tested.  Will we be able to meet the needs of this vital group, do you imagine?

Let us now look at our situation in the Front.  Let us try to assess the proportion of our members

who are young and the extent that they are reflected in the leading bodies.  What do we see?

Comrades, both men and women, do not ever allow the party to grow old, for that really means

death and the end.  You must never allow dispair to seep into the younger generation, if

we really want to secure the preconditions of the coming victory.

These two subjects reflect broader thought, that is our social outlook which is not limited to

the subject of women and youth.  Rather, it extends to cover the whole of society including

the workers, education, democratic demands, our developmental outlook, the rights of

professionals and peasants, human rights and freedom of expression, in particular in the context

of the globalism that I alluded to earlier in my speech.

Dealing with these issues and with dozens besides them is what reflects the dynamism and creativity

of the Popular Front and its ability to renew its programmes, structure, and institutions.

This subject has come to occupy an important place at a time when grievances and criticism among

the people are increasing as their criticism and rejection of the example set by the Palestine

Authority grow both as regards the content of the Authority's programme and as regards its insitutions.


We must boldly advance here to be an active part with initiative in this social movement of rebellion

against and rejection of everything that could harm the interests and rights fo the popular

classes, groups, and strata.  This demonstrates the dialectical nature of our understanding of

our progressive thinking.

The importance of financial affairs.  You know, comrades, that in the decade of the 1990s we faced

and we are still facing a severe and difficult financial crisis.  This is not the first in the

history of the Front, but this time it has been exceptionally long, and it has left its deep and

negative mark on various aspects of our lives and our work as a party.  To a great extent it has

crippled our ability to carry out our tasks and programmes.

Permit me here to record my pride and hight esteem for your steadfastness and endurance in spite of

the exceptionally hard conditions that we have been facing.

Naturally, financial matters require treatment in depth.  Although I am aware of all the difficulties

that surround us and of the serious attempts and efforts we have made to increase our abilities, I

believe nevertheless that the financial blockade will continue for political reasons.  This demands

from us that we rely on ourselves and concentrate our efforts by using the collective intelligence of

the party to put an end to this crisis, drawing on the lessons learned from our past negative

experience.  I want note that I don't want the Congress to stop and come up with a solution to this

issue.  This is one of the tasks of the new incoming leadership.

I very much hope that the incoming leadership will consider the financial subject the chief of their

tasks, and I hope that they will succeed in finding the effective solution to get out of this crisis

because the subject of finance, as practice has shown us, has a clear effect on one's political stance.

Now, as I come to the end of my speech, I would like to remember martyrs of the Front, the martyrs

of Palestine and of the Arab Nation.  I remember Wadi` Haddad, Ghassan Kanafani, The Guevara of Gaza,

Shadia Abu Ghazzala, and Abu Jihad Khalil al-Wazir.  I remember each of the martyrs, one by one,

and without exception.  Those martyrs to whom we are indebted, for whom we must continue the

struggle, holding fast to the dream and hope, and protecting the rights of the people for whom

they shed their blood.  Their children and their families have a right to be honoured and cared for

This is the least we can do for those blazing stars in the skies of our homeland.

I also remember now the heroic prisoners in the jails of the occupation and the prisons of the

Palestine Authority.  Those militants who remind us morning and night of our patriotic duty

by the fact that they are still there behind bars and by the fact that the occupation still

squats on our chests.  For the sake of each prisoner and in his name go the noblest signs of respect.

I conclude my work and duties as General Secretary, but this does not mean that I will be far

from you.  Rather I will remain with you, sticking by you, following your march.

The Popular Front has given much and accumulated much.  It has the energy, the potential, and the

brains that enable it to overcome the difficulties it is facing in order to remain a valiant, and

advanced organisation with initiative, striking out as befits its programme and practice for the

rights and interests of the Palestinian people wherever they live.

I have given my life and efforts to the Front for many long years and I am content that the Front

will continue along its path, that its track with cross the field of reality and that it will renew

itself.  I know well what material its members are made of, the value and the depth of its traditions,

and the ethics and values that the Front has planted all these years.  I have faith that you will not

squander these national treasures, for the generation of the future that will carry the banner and

continue the march forward will be able to attain its goals.  Be asssured that you are not beginning

with nothing, rather you have an accumulation of energy and power than cannot be belittled.

Hereby I shift the burden of responsibility to you to preserve this militant inheritance which

will remain a trust upon your shoulders.

Now permit me to greet all the comrades who have worked with me and helped me, whether in the

Arab Nationalists' Movement or in the Popular Front.  They stood beside me in the hardest

conditions and blackest times, and they were a great help and support for me.  Without them

I would not have been able to have performed the tasks I was supposed to perform.  They have

been true comrades, in all that that word implies.  Those comrades helped to create a comradely

atmosphere, an environment of political, theoretical, and intellectual interaction that left

a deep impression on my ability to carry out my tasks completely.  Those comrades have a big

place in my heart and mind.  I offer all my thanks and appreciation to each one of them by name.

Also to the comrades who vigilantly guarded me, looking out for my safety, all these long years.

You too, I salute and thank.

Permit me also, and in keeping with what I have said in this speech on women and their role,

permit me to single out particularly the woman who has been my companion for nearly forty years

through all the big events, crises, and difficult times with great patient perseverance, and at

enormous sacrifice -- she has been up to the responsibility.  She shares my life and my path

of struggle, Umm Maysa', who has remained proud and enduring with a high spirit of defiance, she

still stands with me and gives me the determination and persistance with all faithfulness,

self-denial, and sincerity.  I offer her all my love, esteem, and respect.

One last word I say to you is that I know well that the goals for which I worked and struggled

have not been attained.  And I cannot say how or when they will be attained.  But on the other

hand I know in light of my scientific study of the march of history in general, and Arab and

Palestinian history in particular, that they will be attained.  In spite of this bitter truth

I leave my task as General Secretary of the Front with a contented mind and conscience.  My

conscience is content because I did my duty and worked with the greatest possible effort and

with complete and deep sincerity.  My mind is content because during my years of work and

as I carried out my tasks I continually based myself on the practice of self-criticism.  Here

I must also say that I will pay close attention to all your observations and assessments of

course the Popular Front took while I was its General Secretary.  This is a very important

matter for me.  Yet I must emphasise that with the same close attention, if not with greater

attention will I follow and take to heart the observations and assessments of the Palestinian

and Arab masses on this course and my role in it.

My aim in this closing speech has been to say to you -- and not only to you, but to all the

detainees, or those who experienced detention, to the families of the martyrs, to the chidren

of the martyrs, to those who were wounded, to all who sacrified and gave for the cause -- to say

your sacrifice cannot have been for naught.  For the just goals and legitimate rights which they

have struggled and given for will be attained, sooner or later.  I say again that I don't know

when, but they will be attained.  And my aim, again and again, is to emphasise the need for

you to persist in the struggle in the service of our masses, for the good of our Palestinian

and Arab masses.  The good of the masses that lies in the just and legitimate cause, as it does

in the realisation of the good of all those who are oppressed and wronged.  You must always be of

calm mind, and be of contented conscience, with a strong resolve, and a steel will for you have

been and are still in the camp of justice and progress, the camp whose just goals will be attained

and which will inevitably attain its legitimate rights.  For these are the lessons of history and

reality, and no right is lost so long as there is someone fighting for it.