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Palestine National Council, 7th Session: Final Statement

Palestine National Council

Seventh Session

Final Statement

Cairo, 4 June 1970

At its Seventh Session, held in Cairo from May 30 to June 4, 1970, the Palestine National Council concentrated mainly on national unity, which is the goal the Palestinian masses are so anxious to achieve. This was embodied in the emphasis laid on the importance of and necessity for unity as an indispensable foundation for escalating the Palestinian Revolution, expanding its field of activity, strengthening its striking forces and ensuring that it moves forward to new and more advanced stages.

This emphasis took definite shape in the important decisions taken by the Council when it adopted the communique issued on June 5 by the Unified Command, which, comprising as it does all sections of the Palestinian resistance, is a propitious start on the road to unity, and when it formed the Central Committee, which includes members of all these sections, in addition to members of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the President of the National Council, the Commander of the Palestine Liberation Army and three independents. The Council has vested in this Committee the powers it requires to act as a supreme command for the struggle in such matters as are referred to it.

One of the most prominent of the resolutions embodying the cause of unity is that which provides for the formation of a single military command for the Revolution, which will be responsible for commanding the forces placed at its disposal, developing and deploying them, directing their operations and unifying their training.

In the course of this Session the Council once again stressed how important it is that the Arab masses should be linked to the Palestinian Revolution, as constituting a vanguard movement of the Arab Revolution. Inasmuch as Palestinian struggle is based on the belief that the people of the Jordanian-Palestinian theater are one people, that the people of Palestine are part of the Arab nation, and that Palestine is a part of Arab territory, the Council resolved that all necessary measures shall be taken to affirm this principle at political, organizational, mass and trade union levels in this theater, in cooperation with the national forces in the East Bank, and that a Higher National Committee shall be formed, whose members shall include representatives of the Palestinian Revolution and the Jordanian national forces.

In affirmation of this basic principle the Council also adopted another resolution, providing for the formation of another similar committee consisting of members representing the national forces in Lebanon, and for every effort to be made to achieve the highest possible level of coordination with these forces in order to ensure that the Arab-Lebanese masses play a greater part in protecting the Palestinian Revolution and Arab territory in Lebanon. The Council saluted the Lebanese people for the heroic role they have played, and called on the Arab countries to provide the necessary financial support to strengthen the endurance of the Lebanese masses.

In view of recent moves in the international field on the part of the forces of world imperialism, led by the United States of America, and on the part of the Zionist enemy, aimed at imposing peaceful solutions involving liquidation, the result of which has been continued conspiracies with subservient forces directed against the Palestinian revolution, the National Council, after affirming its absolute rejection of all solutions involving liquidation, resolved to call on all the Arab masses in general and the Palestinian masses in particular to escalate the struggle against the hostile forces to the greatest possible degree, and to stand in a single rank with the Palestinian Revolution in order to frustrate the conspiracies which confront it and to protect its rear.

The Council affirmed that the role that world imperialism, led by the United States of America, is playing in Arab territory, is an integral part of· its aggression against the freedoms of peoples in all the continents. By the same token it is obvious that the Palestinian Revolution is organically linked with national liberation movements throughout the world, which the National Council saluted, praising their heroism.

Inasmuch as the endurance of the masses in the occupied homeland is one of the mainstays of the Palestinian Revolution, the Council resolved to salute them and to extol the heroism they have shown, especially in the Gaza Strip, and to employ all ways and means at the disposal of the Revolution to support them in their endurance.

The Council also resolved to call on the Arab governments and the masses of the Arab people everywhere to fulfil their responsibility to support this endurance and to support the Palestinian Revolution and consolidate its resources and capacities.

Finally, the Council saluted the world struggle for freedom. It also saluted friendly countries, in particular the socialist countries which support the Palestinian Revolution in its struggle to achieve its goal of complete liberation of the territory of Palestine.

In the course of this Session the Council also affirmed that the Revolution is advancing along its long hard road towards the achievement of this goal, and that it must inevitably prove victorious in the end, for victory belongs to the will of the people.

 

Source: International Documents on Palestine, 1970. Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1973, p. 827-28.