Armed struggle and the search for state : the Palestinian national movement, 1949-1993 /

This is the best book on the Palestinian nationalist movements from al-Nabka (the catastrophe), their 1948 defeat by Jewish nationalists, to the Declaration of Principles (DOP) signed in 1993, in which the PLO accepted political jurisdiction over Jericho and Gaza. It is based on rich and original sources and accompanied by an unprecedented number of oral interviews with most of the major figures of the nationalist movements. The three major organizations are discussed, but the emphasis is on Fateh and the PLO, both dominated by Yasir Arafat. Sayih's revisionist thesis is that the armed struggle of the Palestinians, primarily against Israel but against Arab countries as well, was the major factor that contributed to the creation of nation- and state-building institutions. He argues that the PLO was able to maintain control of the Palestinian national movements because it stressed nationalism over radical leftist ideologies. As a result, it was able to create a "state" in diaspora. The dilemma is that the Palestinians abandoned the armed struggle when they signed the DOP in 1993. Sayigh argues that the acceptance of political jurisdiction over only three percent of the West Bank and Gaza with no further extension of sovereignty will jeopardize the further development of state-building institutions. The continued expansion of Israel suggests this eventuality. All major libraries and anyone interested in the Arab-Israeli conflict will want to read this book. R. W. Olson; University of Kentucky