The Arab Socialist Action Party – Arabian Peninsula ( ''Ḥizb al`Amal al Ishtirākiy al-`Arabiy-Al-Jazīra al`Arabiyyah''), was an underground oppositional

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. It was founded in 1972 by elements of the erstwhile

Arab Nationalist Movement The Arab Nationalist Movement (, ''Harakat al-Qawmiyyin al-Arab''), also known as the Movement of Arab Nationalists and the Harakiyyin, was a pan-Arab nationalist organization influential in much of the Arab world, particularly within the Pales ...

.MERIP Reports, No. 130
, The Contest for Arabia. (Feb., 1985)

Profile of the party

The party was able to attract a following amongst intellectuals and middle class elements, and became a prominent force of the

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

opposition. Ideologically it adhered to

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and

Arab nationalism Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...

. It considered armed struggle as the only option to overthrow the ruling system of Saudi Arabia.http://cdhrap.net/text/tqarer/alaafoo/001/011.htm The membership was predominantly

Shi'ite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood to ...

. The party was able to attract former members from the People's Democratic Party, which ceased to function in the mid-1970s. The party raised three main demands, introduction of political liberties, nationalization of oil resources, and the end to foreign military presence in Saudi Arabia. It also opposed discrimination against Shi'ites.

Press

The party published ''al-Masira'' as its central organ. It was printed inside Saudi Arabia clandestinely on an irregular basis. Moreover, until the 1982 crackdown, the cadres of the party were well represented amongst the staff of the legal newspaper ''al-Yaum'' (اليوم).

Relations with PFLP

The party was a section of the

Arab Socialist Action Party The Arab Socialist Action Party () was a Pan-Arab political party, formed by the right-wing faction of the Arab Nationalist Movement after the latter's disintegration. The general secretary of the party was Dr. George Habash and the organ of the pa ...

, a Pan-Arab party led by the

PFLP The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation ...

general secretary Dr

George Habash George Habash (1 August 1926 – 26 January 2008) was a Palestinian politician and physician who was the founder and first general-secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) from 1967 to 2000. Habash was born in Ly ...

. But unlike other sections of the Arab Socialist Action Party, the linkage to PFLP was weaker due to the lack of a strong PFLP presence in Saudi Arabia. By 1975, the linkage between the Saudi party and PFLP began to decline and in 1978 the Saudi party broke its affiliation with PFLP. Instead the party began orientating itself towards cooperation with other groups in the region. In 1981, the party established relations with the

Communist Party in Saudi Arabia The Communist Party in Saudi Arabia (, ''al-Hizb ash-Shuyu'i fi as-Sa'udiyah'') was a political party in Saudi Arabia. History The Communist Party in Saudi Arabia (CPSA) was formed on August 31, 1975. It had its origins in the National Renewal Fro ...

and the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain The Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain () was an underground political party in Bahrain with origins in the Arab Nationalist Movement. Its members were inclined towards the leftist Marxist trend within the ANM. It was created after the ...

in exile.

Mecca Siege of 1979

Five days after Islamic insurgents had seized the Grand Mosque in

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

on 20 November 1979, the party issued a statement in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, clarifying the demands of the insurgents. The party, however, denied any involvement in the act.

1982 crackdown

In April 1982 the party was dealt a severe blow, as Saudi state forces arrested hundreds of its members. Many of the arrested were journalists connected to the ''al-Yaum'' newspaper. In the end of 1982 an amnesty was declared for the arrested. However, several of the released had problems returning to government services or were denied travel abroad. ''Al-Yaum'' was closed down. Following the 1982 crackdown, the party critically reviewed its past performance. In January 1984 a provisional leadership was reconstituted. By 1987 there were reports that the party had begun to reconstruct its organizational structure.

Amnesty and dismantling

In the 1990s, the party agreed with the government to disband, in exchange for amnesty of political prisoners. Five jailed party members were pardoned in April 1990. A group of militants of the party were pardoned on

Eid-ul-Adha Eid al-Adha () is the second of the two main Islamic holidays, festivals in Islam alongside Eid al-Fitr. It falls on the 10th of Dhu al-Hijja, the twelfth and final month of the Islamic calendar. Celebrations and observances are generally carri ...

1991.MEW2
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arab Socialist Action Party - Arabian Peninsula 1972 establishments in Saudi Arabia 1990 disestablishments in Saudi Arabia Arab nationalism in Saudi Arabia Arab nationalist militant groups Offshoots of the Arab Nationalist Movement Arab socialist political parties Defunct political parties in Saudi Arabia Left-wing militant groups Marxist parties in Saudi Arabia Pan-Arabist political parties Political parties disestablished in 1990 Political parties established in 1972 Republicanism in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian opposition groups Secularism in the Arab world Secularism in the Middle East Socialist parties in Saudi Arabia