‘From The River To The Sea’ Harks Back To The Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Concept Of A Secular Democratic State
By Dr.
James M. Dorsey for New Age Islam
7 May 2024
Newly
elected Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin was furious. The blood drained
from his face as he stood up to signal an end to the conversation. ‘How dare you?’ Mr. Begin growled before
leaving without a further word.
Menahem Begin in 1978. Credit: Wikipedia
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It was 1977
and Mr. Begin had just become Israel’s first-ever right-wing leader. He took
issue with a reporter asking what the difference was between the prime
minister’s mainstreaming of references to Judea and Samaria, the Biblical names
for the West Bank, that he claimed were part of the Jews’ historical land, and
the Palestine Liberation Organisation or PLO’s call for a secular democratic state
in Palestine.
Yet, the
two propositions have much in common. Both envision one state in historic
Palestine.
They differ
about who would be the top dog in the unitary state. That fundamental
contradiction remains at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and
efforts to end the Gaza war, even if the terminology and its definitions have
evolved.
Mr. Begin
and his right-wing successors, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,
believed Palestinians should be, at best, a tolerated minority with a limited
degree of autonomy under Israeli tutelage.
The PLO’s
concept was nebulous until 1988, when the group’s leader, Yasser Arafat,
recognised the state of Israel and agreed that the creation of an independent
Palestinian state alongside its Jewish counterpart in the territories Israel
conquered in the 1967 Middle East war would resolve the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Before
1988, the PLO's notion of a secular democratic state envisioned a state that
would be neither Muslim nor Jewish and grant all citizens equal rights,
irrespective of ethnicity or religion.
Yet, at the
same time, various PLO leaders called for Israeli Jews to return to their
‘homelands’ from which they or their parents had migrated, often to escape
persecution.
Pro-Palestinian demonstration in the UK: Credit: The Conversation
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‘From the
River to the Sea, Palestine will be free’ is today’s successor to the notion of
a secular democratic state with a substantial difference. It is no longer
simply a call for the replacement of the Israeli state.
The slogan
is undergirded by Israel’s loss of moral standing in the Gaza war and its
settlement policy in the West Bank, which many believe renders an independent
Palestinian state alongside Israel no longer feasible, even if that may not
necessarily be accurate.
Those who
believe that Israeli policy has made the notion of two states in historic
Palestine impossible, one state for Jews and Palestinians is the only remaining
realistic resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As a
result, ‘From the River to the Sea’ harks back to the PLO’s concept of a
secular democratic state, but with a greater emphasis on Jews and Palestinians
having equal rights with no suggestion that Jews could be expelled.
The problem
is that words have a long shelf life in the Middle East. The damage had already
been done. It prompted Mr. Netanyahu to
insist that Palestinian recognition of the state of Israel was no longer good
enough. Instead, he demanded that the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish
state.
Hamas and
Israel cemented the damage in the last seven months with the group’s October 7
attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent devastation of Gaza.
Speaking
last month to great applause at New York’s Columbia University, Norman
Finkelstein, a scion of Holocaust survivors, critic of Israel, and an
anti-Zionist, advised protesting students to craft their slogans carefully.
Norman Finkelstein at Columbia University. Source: YouTube
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“It really
takes a lot of hard work and a lot of sensitivity to the constituency that
you’re trying to reach to figure out the right slogans… My own view is, some of
the slogans of the current movement don’t work… You’ve got to pick the slogans,
which are A not ambiguous, leaving no room for misinterpretation, and B have
the largest likelihood at any given political moment to reach the largest
number of people.,” Mr. Finkelstein said.
“I don’t
agree with the slogan, ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.’
It’s very easy to amend and just say “From the River to the Sea, Palestinians
will be free.’ (With) that little amendment you drastically reduce the
possibility of being manipulatively misunderstood. You have.to adjust to the
new political reality that there are a large number of people, probably a
majority, who are potentially receptive to your message… Always keep in mind
what we are trying to achieve at this particular moment,” Mr. Finkelstein
added.
As a
result, Mr. Finkelstein suggested that “Free Gaza, Free Speech’ would be the
most effective slogan the students could adopt.
Without
referring to it explicitly, Mr. Finkelstein appeared to acknowledge that many
Israelis associate ‘From the River to the Sea’ with Ahmed Shukairy, Mr.
Arafat’s predecessor as PLO leader, who, in the 1960s, insisted that
Palestinians would "throw Jews into the sea."
Hamas’ 2017 Charter. Credit: The New Arab
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They also
associate it with Hamas’ amended charter, adopted in 2017 that endorsed the
principle of a Palestinian state in territory occupied by Israel since 1967,
but at the same time rejected Palestinian recognition of Israel and insisted
that the movement’s goal was "complete liberation of Palestine, from the
river to the sea."
Hamas’
targeting of civilians in its October 7 attack has reinforced Israelis’
interpretation of the term, ‘From the River to the Sea.’
Further
muddling the debate about what Hamas may be willing to accept is the difference
in strategy and tactics between today's Hamas and the PLO of the 1980s.
To gain
recognition by the United States, Mr. Arafat agreed to recognize Israel and
renounce the armed struggle without a negotiated settlement in place.
Almost 40
years later, Palestinians are far worse off and nowhere closer to realising
their aspirations.
That has
led Hamas to conclude that Palestinians should play their trump cards of
recognition of Israel and renunciation of the armed struggle only when
agreement on a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been
achieved.
That has
not prevented Hamas leaders from entertaining formulas that would amount to
recognition before a settlement and hinting that the group saw a Palestinian
state alongside Israel as a long-term arrangement.
Against the
backdrop of Hamas’ reference to ‘from the river to the sea” and the slogan’s
embrace by pro-Palestinian protests potentially echo the words in the late
1970s of Mr. Begin’s defense minister and former Israeli president, Ezer
Weizman.
Ezer Weizman meets Yasser Arafat in South Africa in 1994. Credit: Israel
Government Press Office
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Standing in
front of a since abandoned emblem of the Likud Party that showed Jordan and the
West Bank as part of Israel, Mr. Weizman said concerning the Palestine
Liberation Organization charter that at the time called for Israel's demise:
"We can dream, so can they."
At the
time, roughly a year after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s historic 1977 visit
to Jerusalem, Mr. Weizman and other Israeli leaders were contemplating granting
Palestinians a degree of autonomy in the occupied territories. The notion of an
independent Palestinian state was nowhere on the Israeli horizon.
The Israeli
terminology has since changed, but today’s Israeli outlook is not much
different from Mr. Weizman’s days, with Mr. Netanyahu insisting on “total
victory” in Gaza and that “Israel must have security control over the entire
territory west of the Jordan River” once the guns in Gaza fall silent.
Mr.
Netanyahu’s phrasing, coupled with his public rejection since October of the
notion of a Palestinian state and Israel’s Gaza war conduct, has in Palestinian
ears the same ring that ‘From the Sea to the River’ has in Israeli ears: the
rejection of the other’s rights and eradication of the other’s national
existence.
And that is
part of the problem. Slogans live lives of their own.
Mr Begin,
as much a true believer in the tradition of the father of right-wing Zionist
ideology, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, as he was a wily politician, understood that.
So does Mr.
Finkelstein, even if he, like Mr. Begin, would likely shudder at being
mentioned in the same breath.
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Dr. James M. Dorsey is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological
University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the author of
the syndicated column and podcast, The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey.
Original Headline: The Politics Of ‘From The River To The Sea’
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-politics/plo-concept-secular-democratic-state/d/132272
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