On October 7, several Palestinian resistance factions carried out the largest offensive against Israel in years, which they dubbed “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”. The Israeli response has been termed by major international bodies and human rights groups as genocidal, with more than 27,000 Palestinians in Gaza killed.
Although the right to resist occupation, including through armed struggle, is enshrined in international law, Palestinian resistance organizations have been labeled as terrorists. This includes the Palestinian Marxist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is designated as a “terrorist” organization by the chief imperialist powers of the world—the United States, the European Union, Canada, and Japan.
But what is the perspective of those actively resisting occupation about the current moment in the war against Gaza and how it relates to the world?
Brian Becker of The Socialist Program podcast interviewed Haytham Abdo, a leader of the PFLP, for an exclusive perspective on the struggle for Palestinian liberation:
Brian Becker: Today we’re talking with Haytham Abdo. He is a representative of the PFLP in Lebanon.
There is a mass movement in the United States in opposition to the US support for the Israeli genocidal campaign against the people of Gaza. The US is deeply involved in this war, it funds the war, it arms the Israeli military. One of the major problems for people in the United States is that we don’t get to hear from the representatives of the Palestinian side. And in fact many of the organizations in the Palestinian resistance, including the most important ones, are labeled by the US government as terrorist entities, as terrorist organizations. In fact, this is an official label put on these organizations by the US government. And as a result it’s almost a prohibition against talking to people from Palestine.
That’s why we wanted to talk to you, because you are a leader of one of the trends within the Palestinian resistance.
How do you respond to this allegation, this labeling, this characterization by the US government, that PFLP and the other resistance organizations are terrorist entities?
Haytham Abdo: When we talk about the terrorist, we should know what is the definition of the terrorist. Is the terrorist [the one] who defends on the ground? Is the terrorist the one who makes battle for our people?
[Or] is the terrorist the one who divides our lands and carries out massacres and genocide in ‘48? The one who killed the children and the women? In Gaza now, more than 27,000 people killed in the past four months.
Who is the terrorist? The terrorist is the Zionist occupation, the terrorist now is the one who supports this occupation, which is imperialism which is the United States of America and the western [powers]. This is the terrorist, and not our people. Not our resistance.
We have the right to resist, to return [to] our land.
BB: What are the major demands that the resistance forces are making in order to have a long-term ceasefire agreement? What will it take for this agreement to be reached?
HA: First of all, we need to stop the aggression against our people. This is the first thing, stop the aggression against our people. Second, lift the siege, and then bring in relief and medical supplies, all the necessary needs of our people in Gaza. Also we affirm that any attempt to circumvent the demand for the cessation of aggression fails to meet the demands of our people and serves the occupation.
What we need is to break the siege on the Gaza Strip, and begin to supply our people with all the necessities of life, while at the same time enabling us to rebuild institutions and infrastructure, providing the supplies to reactivate and support the system, which [is] about to collapse under the weight of the barbaric acts of the Zionist aggression. And transferring serious cases of the wounded in the Gaza Strip to treatment abroad, in brotherly and friendly countries.
This is what we need as an initial thing. And the second thing after this, after [stopping] the aggression, [and] the occupation leav[ing] the Gaza Strip, then it’s about the prisoners.
They need to do three phases about the release of prisoners and the ceasefire. We affirm that the first thing is to cease the fire, then we can negotiate about the prisoners. This is what we, the resistance, understand.
BB: Do you think the Netanyahu government and Netanyahu as an individual leader actually wants the war to end? Or does he look to a longer war and perhaps a wider war, a regional war?
HA: I think Netanyahu needs this war to continue, for this war to extend to the whole region. Because he knows well that after this war, the first day after the war ends, he will go to jail. Because of this he is trying to extend this war. He is trying to go to other countries like Lebanon, like Syria, like all these countries. But he didn’t succeed in these issues. He needs to go far, through the assassination of the resistance commanders, like Arouri, and like the [Iranian] commander in Syria.
And what did he do? He did not want to stop this war. This is the reality.
BB: Global public opinion has turned so demonstrably against Israel, and against their patrons, against their sponsors in Washington, and yet so far, the Biden administration has not insisted on a ceasefire.
What’s your assessment of where the Biden administration or where the US government stands on this? What are they hoping for? What are they looking for? Why are they taking the position that they’ve taken so far?
HA: I think if Biden wants a ceasefire in Gaza, he can do this in hours, but he doesn’t want to stop this war in Gaza. And on the other hand, he doesn’t want to extend this war in the region. He wants to continue the aggression in Gaza, but on the other hand he doesn’t want to extend war in the region. And we saw that through the visits of Blinken and Hochstein to this area. What they want from Lebanon or from Syria, or from the area, to not extend the war. But he didn’t [mention] a ceasefire in Gaza.
This is what Netanyahu needs. And all the American administration. The American Administration, they have strategic relations with them. Yes, they have some problems with Netanyahu as an individual, but they don’t have a problem with them as a base for imperialism in our region. Because Israel plays a role for imperialism in our region. Not only for America also for the Western [powers] because they know that Israel is for this in our region.
BB: The Israelis are very successful at killing civilians, but so far it seems to the world that [Israel] has not succeeded, in spite of its military superiority, in accomplishing its primary military objectives. Why is that?
HA: From the beginning of this aggression on the Gaza Strip, the Zionists put forth two goals: the first one, to return the prisoners and the second thing to end Hamas or to end the resistance in Gaza. After four months now from this aggression, what did they achieve on the ground? Did they return the prisoners? Did they end Hamas or the resistance and Gaza? Surely not. And they will not achieve these goals, because the resistance is all. All our people in Gaza are a resistance. Everyone in Gaza is a resistance, because [the Zionist] doesn’t recognize the difference between one who shoots and a civilian. He kills everyone. He kills everything in the Gaza Strip.
BB: The mass media in the United States portrays Hamas as the Palestinian resistance. In other words, Hamas and resistance, one and the same. There are in fact several resistance organizations, including your own, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Can you comment on the level of cooperation and coordination among the various resistance organizations?
HA: Sure. There is a truth on the ground. And this is true, that in the first hours of the 7th of October, Hamas started this resistance. But now, from the second day of this war, all of the resistance is sharing and participating on the ground in this war, because this war is not against Hamas. This war is against all the Palestinian people.
All the parties, all the resistance parties, PFLP, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others, they contribute with each other on the ground against this occupation, against this aggression.
But the media in the West and the USA says that this is a war against Hamas, against terrorists. But this is not true. The truth is that this aggression is against all the Palestinian people, not only in Gaza.
We see what happened in the West Bank. And we see what happens in other places. Everyday this occupation kills, this occupation destroys, this occupation arrests. And we can see that since the 7th of October until now: in the West Bank there are more than 6,300 prisoners, new prisoners.
This is against all the people. This is against Palestinian people. And every one of the Palestinian people now resists this aggression, resists this Zionist occupation.
BB: The United States and some other major Western powers have announced that they are cutting all aid and funds to the UNRWA, the UN relief agency that has tens of thousands of employees in Gaza, and has been a principal way that aid has been able to be provided for the people of Gaza for quite a number of years.
The reason they’re cutting the funds is that they’ve identified or the Israelis actually said that 12 employees of the relief agency out of tens of thousands of employees, were actually either members of Hamas, or participants in October 7th.
Given the fact that the funding is being cut for the UN relief agency, let’s have a realistic assessment of what its impact will be on the people in Gaza.
HA: I think what they say about the 7 or 12 members and Hamas who participated in the 7th of October, this is not really true. This is a political issue.
First, one of the most important things [for them] was to end the UNRWA, because the UNRWA or the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees is the witness of the Palestinian refugee. Because the UNRWA was established with Resolution 194, which means that the UNRWA remains until the return to Palestine. This is the first thing.
Now they want to end the UNRWA. And Trump cut the budget of the UNRWA when he was the president of the USA. He cut it, and he obliged other countries to do the same thing, to stop the donations for the UNRWA.
I think this is a political issue. I think this political issue will greatly affect the Palestinian people. Because, you know, millions of Palestinian people benefit from the UN services. If you stop these services, what will happen? What will happen? I think that there will be more problems in the Middle East. Not only in Palestine, not only in Gaza, not only in the West Bank. Also in Lebanon, also in other countries. All the Palestinian refugees will be affected.
They’ve had discussions in Congress for 2 or 3 years about the definition of a refugee. Who is a refugee? They need the refugee to be only someone born in Palestine before 1948. And all the others are not refugees. In all, what they do is they end the main issue, the main problem in the Palestinian issue, which is the refugee.
This is the thing. They use the 7 or 12 numbers in Hamas here, and they use something else in some other place to get what they want or their goals.
BB: From your point of view, what is required to bring about the unification of the Palestinian resistance on both the national and on the political level?
HA: Each stage, the Palestinians become more strong. Become more focused on rights.
October 7th did not start on October 7th. October 7th starts before 17 years, when they make a siege on Gaza. They started 57 years ago, when they occupied Gaza.
On October 7th, it came in a process of resistance, not isolated from the previous and will not be isolated from the coming actions and coming resistance.
Now we need all the Palestinian parties to be unified, with their struggles, with their resistance, because this is the only one who will win.
We need unity in order to…, after the war, rebuild Gaza. We need unity in order to continue the resistance against this Zionist occupation. [We need] unity in order to be strong against anything that will be pushed against [us].
As you see, the United States says a lot of things about the day after the war ends. But if we are unified, we will not do anything. The one who decide what will [happen] after the first day after the end of this war, only the Palestinians will and the resistance will decide what will happen after this day.
According to us, the day after the end of this war will be the victory. Will be the one that wins this war.
And the PLO, we need to rebuild the PLO. We need the PLO. We need to be a party to the PLO. According to the resistance not according to the negotiations. This is what we need.
First of all, all the Palestinians in Gaza, or in Lebanon, or in any other countries, the Palestinians [as] one unit, one people.
BB: Since October 7th, as I mentioned in the beginning, millions of people outside of Palestine have been in the streets demonstrating. In Washington DC on November 4th, we were part of a coalition that brought out 500,000 people. One half million people for the biggest demonstration ever in support of Palestine. On January 13th there was another massive demonstration in Washington. Every day there are big protests all over the United States. Nothing like this has ever existed before in support of Palestine. It’s a brand new era, brand new. And it’s not just in the United States, it’s everywhere.
From your point of view as a Palestinian, and part of the resistance, obviously the struggle is in the West Bank, and it’s in Gaza, it’s in historic Palestine, it’s in the refugee camps, but now it has this other global phenomena of mass protest and support of Palestine.
Is it significant? Why is it significant? Do the Palestinian people know about it? I want to just get your view because from our point of view, where we are, I’m in New York City it seems like we’ve entered a new political era, but how does the Palestinian community in Palestine or in the region view this development politically.
HA: I think [the protests] in the USA and in all the world in general are very important. Why is it very important? Very important because the first time, in the USA we saw this massive demonstration for this action.
The first thing that this massive demonstration gives us is strength. It gives us the now, the Palestinian story in the world is the dominant [one]. Before we say, the Zionist story was the dominant [one] in all the world.
[The Zionists] now have a big problem. We saw what happened in the Hague. This is the first time. From the beginning of the Zionist occupation, they always talk about that genocide of Jewish in the [Second World War]. But now what? What happened? They went from the one who was [the victim of] genocide, to the one who are the genociders.
Now, in this war, more and more people know the Palestinian issue.
They are more clear about the Palestinian issue. For example, in the USA, more than 50% of the young people in the USA are now with the Palestinian issue.
And people now are more conscious, more clear about the Palestinian issue. The media does not affect people like before.
This is very important for the Palestinians. For the first time, the Palestinian issue or the Palestinian story is spread in all the world. Spread to everyone.
And we see that the Biden or the American administration, now, [is] affected by this transformation in the US people. This is very important for our people. All the Palestinian refugees here or in Gaza talk about this position for the people inside the USA and inside all the other countries.
For example, in Europe, every week like New York or Washington, there is a massive demonstration. This is very important for us. This is very important solidarity with the Palestinian people.
If something will affect the Biden administration, it will be these massive demonstrations in the USA and in other countries.
Watch the rest of the interview with Haytham Abdo here.
