‘Coalition Politics’ and Regional Steadfastness. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Between 1983 and 1984

After the evacuation from Beirut in late 1982, the PFLP tries to formulate new policy patterns, both at the Palestinian and the regional level, in order to present its own alternative, opposing Arafat’s attempts to start direct negotiations with Israel under US sponsorship. Despite all the efforts made, the PFLP fails to effectively implement its agenda and results weakened at the end of this phase vis-à-vis Fatah-PLO leadership. From this, stems the necessity to report and assess PFLP’s line and narrative during such a critical phase. The systematic study of PFLP’s official publications (communiqués, congress resolutions, interviews released by the leaders, etc.), in the framework of the broader historiography on the Arab-Israeli conflict, is the methodology employed to achieve these goals.