-----Original Message----- From: Noam B. Asherr <noamish at home.com>
>[S]hooting him [Ze'evi] was just fucking dumb. The PFLP is toast, and
>the Palestinians in general are in a worse position, both in terms of
>bargaining if talks resume, and in terms of support from the international
>community if they don't. If I was a Palestinian I'd want the PFLP people
>rounded up and jailed for life.
If you were Palestinian, who knows what you would want? You might be a lot more infuriated with the Israeli state than you are. You might be at a demonstration organized by Hamas yelling "Osama, drop a bomb on Tel Aviv!"
If you were a Palestinian PFLP member, you would be dealing with the fact that Israel is conducting a war of assassination upon you and murdering you with modern U.S. technology. You would also be dealing with your concern that Islamist forces like Hamas were moving into the forefront of the struggle, and that secular forces like the PNA police were being forced into the role of policing the struggle on behalf of Israel. It is a bad thing when Marxists lag behind the mass struggle, because who knows who will end up leading it?
You apparently believe that the killing of Ze'evi will bring about a revulsion against the PFLP on the part of the Palestinian masses. If you are right in your prediction, then it will show that the tactic was indeed bad. But what if it turns out that the PFLP becomes immediately more popular and influential among the Palestinian masses on the strength of this?
Lou Paulsen