George Habash, a revolutionary life
In his
1944 speech, ‘Serve the people’, Comrade Mao Zedong said these famous words:
“All men must die, but death can vary in its significance. The
ancient Chinese writer Szuma Chien said: ‘Though death befalls all men alike,
it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather.’ To die for the
people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for
the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather”.
Today,
we meet, at a time when the heroic Palestinian people are continuing to resist,
whether in the breaking of the barrier with Egypt to alleviate the genocidal
siege of Gaza, or in the martyrdom operation at Dimona, the nuclear site where
imperialism and its stooges do not demand inspections, to express a sense of
grief at the loss of Al-Hakim, Dr George Habash, one of the greatest leaders of
the Palestinian people, but more importantly to celebrate his glorious life and
give real political vitality and clarity to the essential work of building
solidarity with the Palestinian people in the British working class and in the
anti-war and other progressive movements.
Comrade
George Habash, who has passed away at the age of 82, gave more than six decades
of his life to the revolution. He was born into a prosperous Greek orthodox
family in the Palestinian city of Lydda.
At
that time, the Palestinian people were under the rule of the British colonial
mandate, which was systematically preparing the way for the creation of a
zionist settler colonial state, which, in the words of Sir Roland Storrs, the
first British governor of Jerusalem in the 1920s, would form “for England a
‘little loyal Jewish Ulster’ in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism”.
In
the summer of 1948, whilst studying medicine in Beirut, Comrade Habash went
back home to help organise resistance to the zionist catastrophe that was
sweeping over the Palestinian people, driving them from their ancestral homes
and lands into exile and dispossession.
At
this time, he and his whole family, along with 95 percent of the inhabitants of
his native city, were forced out at gunpoint by the zionist terrorists and
ethnic cleansers commanded by Yitzhak Rabin. Years later, Habash was to
observe:
“It
is a sight I shall never forget. Thousands of human beings expelled from their
homes, running, crying, shouting in terror. After seeing such a thing, you
cannot but become a revolutionary”.
During
al-Nakba, the catastrophe, more than 700,000 Palestinians were driven
from their homes and lands, made stateless and refugees.
Graduating
as the first in his class, Dr Habash eschewed the chance to pursue a lucrative
career, opting instead to open a people’s clinic offering free treatment and a
school for refugees in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Around
this same time, he and his comrades founded the Arab Nationalist Movement
(ANM), the first pan-Arab movement to take up armed struggle against
colonialism and to win back the lost lands.
The
significance of the ANM should not be underestimated. Not only was it to be the
root of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); from its
ranks also came revolutionary forces in many parts of the Arab homeland,
including the National Liberation Front in Aden and South Yemen, which not only
defeated British imperialism in a revolutionary armed struggle to win national
liberation, but, later as the Yemen Socialist Party, leading the People’s
Democratic Republic of Yemen, stood in the vanguard of to date the only real attempt
to build an Arab socialist state on the basis of the scientific principles of
Marxism Leninism and the dictatorship of the proletariat.
In
the 1960s, Comrade Habash, like many other anti-imperialist fighters then,
before and since, came to accept that the liberation struggle of the oppressed
people, if it was to be crowned with success and carried through to the end,
needed to be based on Marxism Leninism. Lamis Andoni, an analyst for
al-Jazeera, who knew Comrade Habash well, expressed matters this way in his
tribute to his friend:
“He
belonged to a generation influenced by Franz Fanon, Mao Zedong, General Vo
Nguyen Giap and later by Che Guevara. In their views, colonialism epitomised
systematic, institutional violence and subjugation of people under its control
. . .
“In
the early 1960s, George Habash, already a paediatrician in Amman known for
treating the poor for free, endorsed Marxism as he grew convinced that the
national struggle should not be separate from the struggle for social justice”.
After
the founding of the PFLP in December 1967, following the Arabs’ bitter defeat
in the June 1967 war, Habash declared that the struggle was “not merely to
free Palestine from the zionists but also to free the Arab world from remnants”
of Western colonial rule. All Arab revolutionaries, he said, “must be
Marxist, because Marxism is the expression of the aspirations of the working
class”.
In a
1969 interview, he declared: “By 1967, we had understood the undeniable
truth, that to liberate Palestine we have to follow the Chinese and Vietnamese
examples”.
Indeed,
Comrade Habash paid close attention not only to the Chinese and Vietnamese
revolutions, but to the experience of all the socialist countries and the
revolutionary movement in all parts of the world.
Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were also two countries close to his heart and with which he and the
PFLP forged tight bonds of active solidarity. In the memorial hall for Comrade
Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, the Korean comrades proudly display the several
awards and medals presented to their great leader by the PFLP over the years.
Under
Habash’s leadership, the PFLP forged close and active ties of combat solidarity
with national liberation movements in all parts of the world – the ANC in South
Africa, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and the Irish Republican Movement, to
name but a few, embracing training, material assistance, joint operations and
moral encouragement.
In
the September 1970 hijackings that gave the PFLP worldwide fame, Leila Khaled was
joined by Patrick Arguello Ryan, a militant of the Sandinista National
Liberation Front and the only martyr of those operations. In 1983, after the
Nicaraguan revolution, the Sandinistas commemorated Arguello by renaming the
Geothermal Plant at Momotombo in his honour. A poster still available on the
PFLP website describes Arguello as the “symbol of common
Nicaraguan/Palestinian struggle”.
Comrade
Habash sought to translate into reality, and himself embodied, these inspiring
words of Che Guevara, which go to the very essence of proletarian
internationalism: “Let the flag under which we fight be the sacred cause of
the liberation of humanity so that to die under the colours of Vietnam,
Venezuela, Guatemala, Bolivia, Brazil will be equally glorious and desirable
for a Latin American, an Asian, an African and even a European.”
Comrades,
The Palestinian revolution is a complex and difficult one, throwing up many
challenges and inevitably differences of view. Equally inevitably, Comrade
Habash often found himself embroiled in internal controversy, particularly in
terms of the sometimes painful compromises, concessions and retreats that have
been forced on the Palestinian people at various times. But what shines out is
the fact that he never lost sight of the importance of unity in the national
liberation movement.
In
their own tribute to their leader, the PFLP put matters this way:
“In
1987, with the outbreak of the great Intifada, Dr. Habash called for upholding
Palestinian national unity, and convening the Palestinian National Congress in Algeria in 1988. Comrade Al-Hakim always understood national unity as a necessary condition
for the continuation of the struggle and the national liberation movement,
whether in Beirut during internal fighting among Palestinians and after as
well, recognising that the internal contradictions among Palestinians could not
be solved through military mechanisms, but rather through the democratic
processes of the liberation movement.”
Lamis
Andoni, to whom we have already referred, wrote:
“‘His
message to the Palestinians was to restore our unity,’ Issam Al Taher, a senior
aide, who saw him a day before his death said.
“‘Unity,
unity, unity – that was his only message,’ said Al Taher.”
Andoni
notes of the relationship between George Habash and Yasser Arafat: “The two
men never severed ties and continued a complex relationship of camaraderie and
rivalry until the end.”
Andoni
continued:
“Tall
and handsome, Habash exuded a certain charisma that disarmed his distracters
who admired his persistence but criticised what they saw as rigidity. A stroke
that partially paralysed half of his body changed his appearance later but did
not affect his ardour for the cause.
“It
was that Habash that I saw and met for the first time in Tunis in 1983. The PLO
was expelled from Beirut too and most its leaders moved to this northern
Mediterranean capital of Tunisia. Habash moved to Damascus, Syria instead.
“On
that day the PLO was holding a meeting. Most of the leaders had arrived and
then there was a stir and silence. Habash entered slowly on crutches, hampered
and subdued by his physical disability.
“The
hall, filled with hardened fighters, stood on their feet while Arafat hugged
Habash and escorted him to his seat.”
Of
the final period of Habash’s life, Andoni notes:
“He
would get so distressed during conversations discussing the events in Palestine and most recently in Iraq, that his wife, and closest friend Hilda, would
interfere to stop it.
“When
Israel besieged Arafat in 2002 in his compound in Ramallah, Habash stood by
his rival. When Arafat died, amid Palestinian suspicion that Israel may have been involved, Habash deeply mourned him.
“The
few times I was able to see him over the last three years, he never stopped
monitoring and learning every detail about Palestinian life. His physical
ailment deepened the sense of soulful pain he internalised.
“Those
who were with him during his last days recall how disturbed he was by the rift
between Fatah and Hamas. He opposed the strategy of Mahmoud Abbas, the current
Palestinian president, of accommodating US and Israeli demands but did not
endorse Hamas’s military take over of Gaza.
“His
main concern was the damage brought upon the Palestinians by the most serious
internal rift in their history.”
It
is not surprising, therefore, that the mourning for Comrade Habash has
transcended the differences in the Palestinian ranks. President Mahmoud Abbas
declared three days of national mourning, noting that Habash had dedicated his
life to struggling for his people. Hamas leader Ismail Haneya said: ‘Dr George
Habash spent all his life struggling for the cause of the Palestinian people.’
Islamic Jihad described him as a ‘real leader’ and other Palestinian
organisations paying their tributes included the Democratic Front for the
Liberation of Palestine and the Palestine Popular Struggle Front, who said that
his path was and is one of liberation for the Palestinian and Arab people.
In
its December 1967 founding statement, the PFLP declared:
“The
masses are the authority, the guide, and the resistance leadership from which
victory will be achieved in the end. It is necessary to recruit the popular
masses and mobilise them as active participants and leaders . . .
“The
only language that the enemy understands is the language of revolutionary
violence . . .
“The slogan of our masses must be
resistance until victory, rooted in the heart with our feet planted on the
ground in deep commitment to our land. Today, the Popular Front is hailing our
masses with this call. This is the appeal. We must repeat it every day, through
every breakthrough bullet and the fall of each martyr, that the land of Palestine today belongs to all the masses. Every area of our land belongs to our
masses who have defended it against the presence of the usurper, every piece of
land, every rock and stone, our masses will not abandon one inch of them
because they belong to the legions of the poor and hungry and displaced persons
. . .
“The struggle of the Palestinian people is
linked with the struggle of the forces of revolution and progress in the world,
the format of the coalition that we face requires a corresponding . . .
coalition including all the forces of anti-imperialism in every part of the
world.”
Much
more can be said on the life, work and legacy of Comrade Habash, but in summary
these are some of the things he advocated and taught:
That
the fundamental way to liberation lies through armed struggle and people’s war
based on the masses.
That
for the struggle to be successful and carried through to the end it needs to be
based on Marxism Leninism, the scientific world outlook of the working class.
That
the oppressed peoples must uphold proletarian internationalism in their
struggle for liberation, based on militant unity within and between the three
major currents of the world revolutionary process, the socialist countries, the
national liberation movements, and the working-class movement in the
imperialist heartlands.
That
the liberation of the nation necessitated the principled and democratic unity
of all the forces of the nation, even though major differences will also exist
and must be struggled over.
Clearly,
all these are not just lessons for the Palestinian people alone.
In
June 2000, age and ill health led Comrade Habash to step back from the day-to-day
leadership of the PFLP. Giving an inspiring speech on that occasion, in many
respects he wrote his own epitaph. He told his comrades:
“What
I have lived through over the course of these militant decades, and the rich
experience I have acquired, is not a matter to be taken for granted. It is your
right, and the right of coming generations to review the content and lessons of
this experience with all of its many successes and failures.”
As
befits a man who gave all of his own life and strength to the revolution,
Comrade Habash said of the martyrs, the prisoners and his comrades, and it is
with Comrade Habash’s own words that we conclude this tribute:
“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 holding fast to 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 Palestinian 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. Each
prisoner deserves the noblest signs of respect . . .
“Now
permit me to express my gratitude to all the comrades who have worked with me
and helped me, whether in the Arab Nationalist Movement or in the Popular
Front. They stood beside me during the hardest conditions and the darkest of
times, and they were a great help and support for me. Without them I would not
have been able to carry out my responsibilities. They have been true comrades,
in all that the word implies. Those comrades helped to create a congenial
atmosphere, an environment of political, theoretical, and intellectual
interaction that enabled me to do all that was required. 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. In addition, to the comrades who vigilantly guarded me,
looking out for my safety, all these long years, I offer my gratitude . . .
“As
a last word, I feel it necessary to say that I know well that the goals for
which I worked and struggled have not yet been attained. And I cannot say how
or when they will be attained. But on the other hand, I know in light of my
study of the march of history in general, and of 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 throughout my working years, I continually based myself on the
practice of self-criticism. It is important to say also that I will pay close
attention to all your observations and assessments of the course taken by the
Popular Front while I was its General Secretary. I must emphasise that with the
same close attention, if not with greater attention, I will follow and take to
heart the observations and assessments of the Palestinian and Arab people 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 children of the martyrs, to those who
were wounded, to all who sacrificed and gave for the cause – that your
sacrifice has not been in vain. The just goals and legitimate rights which they
have struggled and given their lives 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 to serve
our people, for the good of all Palestinians and Arabs – the good that lies in
a just and legitimate cause, as it does in the realisation of the good for all
those who are oppressed and wronged. You must always be of calm mind, and of
contented conscience, with a strong resolve and a steel will, for you have been
and still are 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 as long as
there is someone fighting for it.”