With the agreement on the strategic goals of defeating the Zionist State of Israel and establishing a democratic secular state, there is still an important question of appropriate tactical goals. The one that comes up most frequently is the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state in part of Palestine, alongside Israel. This question comes to the fore in any discussion of current proposals from U.S. Imperialism or the Arab regimes and in discussing the appropriate tactical goals of the Palestinian movement. The study guide does not draw out our position on the tactic of establishing an independent Palestinian state in one part of Palestine as a transitional demand towards the strategic goal of a democratic secular state in all of Palestine.
The establishment of a Palestinian state would be an important step forward for the Palestinian struggle if it was a genuinely independent state. By “genuinely independent” we mean having its own national sovereignty and national military–with the right to establish state-to-state relations with other countries and to get assistance from other countries (either economic or military aid). A genuinely independent state would also have to be headed by the PLO which is generally recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. And it could not be required to explicitly recognize Israel.
The establishment of such a genuinely independent state would be a step forward because it would provide a more stable, more easily defended base area for the Palestinian struggle. The struggle against Zionism would surely continue. There would still be displaced Palestinians seeking to return to their homes inside the pre-1967 borders and there would be ongoing resistance to oppression by Palestinians within Israel. These struggles could rely on a more stable rear base if there was a Palestinian state. (Note a limited analogy to North & South Vietnam)
But having outlined more explicitly the basic criteria for an independent state, we can also see why the present balance of forces precludes a realistic possibility of establishing such a state. It helps to smash any illusions that U.S. imperialism or the Arab regimes can be relied upon to set up a genuinely independent state. As long as these forces hold the dominant power in the region and its negotiations, only some form of puppet state would result. The PLO and the Arab liberation movements generally will have to become stronger, through the advancement of a protracted people’s war in order to win an independent state from the reactionary forces.
Tactically this means that we can and should advance the demand for an independent Palestinian state on some part of Palestine. But this has to be clearly qualified–we are talking about genuine independence with the conditions outlined above and we are talking about such a state as a step towards the establishment of a democratic state in all of Palestine. The PFLP interview points to these qualifications: “While establishing an independent state in part of Palestine as a step towards total liberation is a correct transitional aim, bourgeois forces have raised this slogan as a deception, to gain mass acceptance of stopping the liberation struggle”[…]”Thus we are fighting for an independent state as part of the struggle for a popular democratic state in all of Palestine.”
