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<h1 class="reader-title">A Century-Old War: Palestine’s Class
Struggle and the ‘Three Separate Enemies’</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">Ramzy Baroud - August 29,
2019<br>
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<p>At the heart of the Palestinian struggle for basic
human rights is the enduring fight of Palestinian
workers. While they currently find themselves at the
forefront of several battles, extending from Israel to
the Occupied Territories and Lebanon, the roots of this
war, one that aims at breaking the very will of the
Palestinian people, go back decades.</p>
<p>Renowned Palestinian novelist and intellectual, Ghassan
Kanafani, was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad in
Beirut, Lebanon in July 1972, but only after he left
behind a wealth of literature and unparalleled
historical analyses. In his essay, “The 1936-39 Revolt
in Palestine”, Kanafani <a
href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/kanafani/1972/revolt.htm"
target="_blank">believed</a> that the “principal
threat” to the Palestinian national movement comprises
three enemies, “the local, reactionary leadership; the
regimes in the Arab states surrounding Palestine; and
the imperialist-Zionist enemy”.</p>
<p>However, little focus is often placed on Palestinian
working classes, whether in Palestine or in the Middle
East, which is required to develop a coherent analysis,
one that is able to link the historical roots of the
Palestinian struggle to its present manifestations.
Kanafani, however, was aware of these dynamics, which
remain in place until this day.</p>
<p>“The change from a semi-feudal society to a capitalist
society was accompanied by an increased concentration of
economic power in the hands of the Zionist machine and,
consequently, within the Jewish society in Palestine,”
Kanafani wrote shortly before he was assassinated. In
his <a
href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/kanafani/1972/revolt.htm"
target="_blank">essay</a>, he linked the collective
interests of Palestinian “urban upper bourgeoisie” to
the Zionist settlers, due to shared economic objectives.
Subsequently, this meant the marginalisation and
targeting of Palestinian workers and peasants, who found
themselves excluded from the new economic patterns, thus
left abandoned and penniless.</p>
<p>The general strike and <a
href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263207508700292"
target="_blank">rebellion</a> of 1936-39 is very much
an outcome of that reality. Eventually, “[Palestinian]
Arab proletariat had fallen”, according to Kanafani,
“victim to British colonialism and [Zionist] Jewish
capital, the former bearing the primary responsibility”.</p>
<p>The Nakba – the “Catastrophe” and destruction of the
Palestinian homeland in 1947-48 – has done more than
forcefully separate most Palestinians and their
ancestral homeland. It has also ushered in a new, even
more tragic chapter in the war on Palestinian workers,
who became wholly reliant on international handouts. The
loss of Palestinian land was accompanied by the loss of
Palestinian dignity, as exemplified in the <a
href="https://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/2010011791015.pdf"
target="_blank">plight of refugees</a>, standing in
long lines to receive a small ration of food and other
negligible supplies so that they could merely survive.</p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were also forced
to <a
href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60101-X/fulltext"
target="_blank">seek safety</a> outside Palestine.
While each refugee population found itself subject to
the unique social, economic and political circumstances
of its respective, host Arab country, they all carried
the same, common denominators: a deep sense of
vulnerability, disempowerment and loss.</p>
<p>To further diminish Palestinians politically, the
“three separate enemies” of the Palestinian national
movement, as described by Kanafani, conspired to make
the issue of refugees a mere humanitarian matter,
delinked from any meaningful political strategies. To
sustain this dismaying state of affairs, Palestinian
workers had to remain economically dependent and
politically isolated.</p>
<p>In Lebanon, for example, Palestinians <a
href="http://www.arabnews.com/node/1526591/middle-east"
target="_blank">are denied</a> the right to work in 72
professions. Over the years, this has left Palestinian
refugee workers vulnerable to exploitation, as they were
forced to seek employment in construction and other,
less financially-rewarding fields. Lacking opportunities
and job security, a majority of Palestinian refugees in
Lebanon simply left the country. According to a 2017 <a
href="http://www.lpdc.gov.lb/DocumentFiles/Key%20Findings%20report%20En-636566196639789418.pdf"
target="_blank">census</a> conducted by the Lebanese
Central Administration of Statistics, the number of
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon has significantly
dwindled from nearly 500,000 to 175,000.</p>
<p>The war in Syria has worsened conditions in the Lebanon
camps due to the <a
href="https://www.aub.edu.lb/Documents/Politics-and-the-Plight-of-Syrian-Refugees-in-Lebanon.pdf"
target="_blank">massive influx</a> of a working-class
population, whether Palestinians or Syrians that fled
the horrific war. With more skilled and unskilled
workers, the Lebanon market was saturated, leaving the
already struggling Palestinian working class at a
greater disadvantage.</p>
<p>The breaking point came in June when Lebanese Minister
of Labor Kamil Abu Sleiman decreed that Palestinians in
Lebanon must obtain work permits like other foreign
workers. While Palestinian refugees <a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/palestinians-lebanon-protest-crackdown-unlicensed-workers-190716183746729.html"
target="_blank">protested</a> en mass in Beirut and
throughout the refugee camps, they were not only
demonstrating against what they rightly saw as an unfair
decision, but they were also decrying long, protracted
official policies that have created an atmosphere of
economic and political alienation.</p>
<p>However, none of this should be analysed separately
from the larger struggle facing Palestinian workers
elsewhere. The Lebanon story is part and parcel of
regional political dynamics, instigated by a shared <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fnews%2fworld%2fwp%2f2018%2f11%2f18%2ffeature%2ffor-palestinians-in-lebanon-u-s-move-to-cut-aid-adds-to-misery%2f%3f"
target="_blank">US-Israeli view</a> that sees the very
existence of Palestinian refugees as a problem that must
be countered one way or another. While the right of
return for Palestinian refugees is a moral imperative
and an “inalienable” right that is <a
href="https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/palestinian-refugees-and-the-right-of-return-in-international-law/"
target="_blank">guaranteed</a> by international law,
Washington, Tel Aviv and now even some Arab governments
are <a
href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/03/trump-palestinians-israel-refugees-unrwaand-allies-seek-end-to-refugee-status-for-millions-of-palestinians-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-unrwa-israel-palestine-peace-plan-jared-kushner-greenb/"
target="_blank">plotting</a> ways to dismiss that
right altogether.</p>
<p>Indeed, many measures have already been taken on that
front, such as the US decision to <a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/unrwa-funding-cut-deeply-regrettable-shocking-180901071620633.html"
target="_blank">defund</a> the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). While
all Palestinian refugees who rely on UNRWA for various
health, educational and job services are suffering the
consequences of this financial crisis, Lebanon refugees
are feeling the brunt the most. In Lebanon, Palestinian
refugees feel “<a
href="https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1855201/palestinians-ain-al-hilweh-continue-their-protests-against-imposition-labor"
target="_blank">harassed</a>” and targeted for merely
living in the country where <a
href="https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/ba872d26/bi-brief-090718-cme-carnegie-lebanon1-1.pdf"
target="_blank">sectarian demographics</a> plays a
major role in politics.</p>
<p><img data-attachment-id="180771"
data-permalink="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160515-everything-israel-does-is-part-of-a-plan-not-a-forced-response-to-terrorism/dissapearing-palestine-map/"
data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/dissapearing-palestine-map.jpg?fit=1875%2C1350&quality=75&strip=all&ssl=1"
data-orig-size="1875,1350" data-comments-opened="0"
data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}"
data-image-title="Dissapearing Palestine map"
data-image-description=""
data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/dissapearing-palestine-map.jpg?fit=463%2C333&quality=75&strip=all&ssl=1"
data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/dissapearing-palestine-map.jpg?fit=933%2C672&quality=75&strip=all&ssl=1"
src="https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/dissapearing-palestine-map.jpg?resize=463%2C333&quality=75&strip=all&ssl=1"
alt="" data-recalc-dims="1" data-lazy-loaded="1"
width="463" height="333"></p>
<p>Similarly, demographic politics have in fact served as
the raison d’être for Israel’s policies towards
Palestinians for generations. The ethnic cleansing of
historic Palestine in 1947-48, which <a
href="http://www.jordantimes.com/opinion/hasan-abu-nimah/israels-ethnic-cleansing-palestinians"
target="_blank">persists</a> in different forms till
today, has been carried out for the purpose of ensuring
a Jewish majority in Palestine. Not a single political
strategy concerning Palestinians that Israel undertakes
fails to keep the subject of the Palestinian “<a
href="https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/israels-exaggerated-fears-of-a-demographic-threat-1.1541784588244"
target="_blank">demographic threat</a>” in mind. The
construction of illegal Jewish settlements, Jewish-only
bypass roads, the <a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/israel-judaisation-palestine-failing-190212113024316.html"
target="_blank">Judaization</a> of Jerusalem, the
siege on Gaza, the <a
href="http://www.dialogue-review.com/en/affiche_page.php?page=article_for_dialogue.php5&titre=Palestine;%20A%20Secular%20Democratic%20State%20..."
target="_blank">bantustanization</a> of the West Bank
and even the “<a
href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/controversial-citizenship-law-that-bans-palestinians-married-to-israelis-from-living-in-israel-10327385.html"
target="_blank">citizenship law</a>” are all designed
to repel that imagined Palestinian threat.</p>
<p>Israel, as is often the case, is not the only culprit.
The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s manipulation of jobs
and salaries as a way to ensure political allegiance or
to punish dissidents is a strategy most pronounced in
the besieged Gaza Strip. As the PA’s main faction,
Fatah, continues its clash with its Hamas rivals in
Gaza, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly <a
href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/PA-cuts-salaries-to-hundreds-of-Palestinians-in-Gaza-580026"
target="_blank">slashed salaries</a> and altogether
denied employment to thousands of struggling Gazans,
prompting <a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/thousands-protest-palestinian-authority-pay-cut-gaza-170408125050217.html"
target="_blank">mass protests</a>, similar to the ones
underway in Lebanon.</p>
<p>In fact, Gaza is the perfect illustration of Kanafani’s
three enemies of Palestine argument, as the hardship in
the Strip has been engineered through three, major
players: “the local reactionary leadership (the PA); the
regimes in the Arab states surrounding Palestine (Egypt)
and the imperialist-Zionist enemy (Israel)”.</p>
<p>It is as if history continues to repeat itself in all
of its sordid details. Colonizing Israel, conspiring
Arabs and self-serving Palestinian leaders are still
playing the same old game, while Palestinian workers,
the overriding class within Palestinian refugee
communities, remain the primary target.</p>
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