1960s Palestinian Resistance Movement

[Palestinian Liberation] [Radical Ephemera] Archive of Two Publications on Palestinian Resistance. New York and Beirut: Young Socialist and the Palestine Arab Delegation, 1969. Two items. Illustrated magazine, 31 pages, and pamphlet, 8 pages. A rare pairing of two ideological publications that frame the Palestinian liberation movement within the global revolutionary ferment of the late 1960s. These documents situate Palestinian anti-colonial resistance within both Marxist and Third Worldist contexts, emerging at a time when the Palestinian cause gained international visibility in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War and during the height of Arab guerrilla (truncated) activity.

The April 1969 issue of Young Socialist, the journal of the Socialist Workers Party-affiliated Young Socialist Alliance, features a striking photo cover of a Palestinian woman in military fatigues holding a Kalashnikov rifle under the headline "Defend the Arab Revolution." Inside, the magazine opens with an interview with a student member of the Arab Students Union who had recently traveled to the Middle East. The student explains the broader context of the Palestinian struggle, locating it within the "worldwide fight of oppressed peoples against colonialism and imperialism," and specifically opposing the U.S. and Israeli alliance. He declares: "The Palestinian people will never abandon armed struggle until they regain their homeland" (p. 4). The issue also includes a brief update on OSPAAAL (Organization of Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia, and Latin America), further underscoring the revolutionary internationalist perspective.

Accompanying the magazine is a scarce pamphlet issued by the Palestine Arab Delegation in New York: The Liberation of Palestine is Supported by International Law and Justice by Issa Nakhleh, a Palestinian lawyer and prominent legal advocate for Arab causes at the United Nations. Nakhleh outlines the legal basis for Palestinian sovereignty, invoking the Mandate for Palestine under the League of Nations and the U.N. Charter. He argues: "Under International Law, Palestine was recognized as a state, with territory, with fixed boundaries, and with a population whose well-being and development formed a sacred trust of civilization" (p. 13). The pamphlet also includes a controversial historiographic section quoting various Western figures comparing Zionist policies with Nazi tactics, aiming to sway liberal Western audiences through legal and moral argumentation. Together, these items represent both the grassroots radicalization of American youth sympathetic to Third World struggles and the diplomatic outreach of Palestinian advocacy within international legal frameworks. Very good condition overall. (Inventory #: 22007)