What The Hell America!

A new podcast series from Jacobin Radio called Red Star Over Palestine tackles the histories of the Palestinian left and the influence of socialist ideas on Palestinian politics and culture. You can hear the first three episodes of the series now.

Episode one takes a close look at the history of Palestinian communism and the work of Emile Habibi, one of the Arab world’s great modern novelists who was also a communist MP. Episode two covers the foundation of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the emergence of its left-wing currents. Episode three focuses on the role of two important figures, Leila Khaled and Ghassan Kanafani.

For the last twenty-five years, the rivalry between Fatah and Hamas has dominated the political stage in Palestine, overshadowing a different tradition. At its peak, the Palestinian left-wing movement in its various forms was one of the strongest in the Arab world, and its influence can still be felt today.

The origins of Palestinian communism date back to the 1920s under British colonial rule, although the party was a marginal force in its early years. After the Nakba of 1947–48, the communists attracted support from the Palestinian minority inside the new state of Israel by defending them against an oppressive military regime similar to the one in the West Bank today. The communist parliamentary group in the Israeli Knesset included Habibi, whose celebrated novel The Secret Life of Saeed The Pessoptimist was a dark comedy about the Palestinian experience.

After Israel occupied Gaza and the West Bank in 1967, a new form of left-wing politics came to the fore. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) included renowned figures such as Khaled and Kanafani among its leading members. Drawing inspiration from the anti-colonial movements of Cuba and Vietnam, it argued that the Palestinian national struggle should be part of a wider Arab revolution.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) also stressed the importance of socialist ideas for the Palestinian struggle. Yet it took a different view from the PFLP on a question that is still widely debated today: whether to support a one-state or two-state model for Palestine. From the events of Black September in Jordan to the Lebanese Civil War, these left-wing groups played an important role in the turbulent history of the Palestinian national movement.

Find Red Star Over Palestine on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Stay tuned for all six installments by subscribing to Jacobin Radio, where remaining episodes will be released every fortnight in the coming weeks.