The Palestinian People's Party (PPP; ''Hizb ash-Sha'b al-Filastini''), founded in 1982 as the Palestinian Communist Party, is a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

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, ...

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

and among the

Palestinian diaspora The Palestinian diaspora (, ''al-shatat al-filastini''), part of the wider Arab diaspora, are Palestinian people living outside the region of Palestine and Israel. There are about 6.1 million members of the Palestinian Diaspora, most of whom live ...

History

The original

Palestine Communist Party The Palestine Communist Party (, ''Palestinische Komunistische Partei'', abbreviated PKP; ) was a political party in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine formed in 1923 through the merger of the Palestinian Communist Party (192 ...

was founded in 1919. After the foundation of the state of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and the

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

ian annexation of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, the West Bank communists joined as the Jordanian Communist Party, which gained considerable support among Palestinian Arabs. It established a strong position in the Palestinian

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

movement and retained considerable popularity in the West Bank during the 1970s, but its support subsequently declined. In the Egyptian-occupied

Gaza strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

a separate Palestinian communist organization was established. In February 1982, prominent Palestinian communists held a conference and re-established a Palestinian Communist Party. The new party established relations with the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

, and joined the PLO in 1987. A PCP member was included in the Executive Committee of the PLO in April that year. PCP was the sole PLO member not based amongst the

fedayeen Fedayeen ( ''fidāʻiyyūn'' "self-sacrificers") is an Arabic language, Arabic term used to refer to various military groups willing to sacrifice themselves for a larger campaign. Etymology "Fidayun" is the plural of "fidayi" ( ''fidāʻiyy'' ...

organizations. The PCP was one of the four components of the Unified National Leadership of the First Palestinian Intifada, and played an important role in mobilizing grassroots support for the uprising. The party, under the leadership of Bashir Barghouti, played an important role in reevaluating Marxism-Leninism as a political philosophy earlier than many other communist organisations in the region. It was renamed in 1991, after the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, to the Palestinian People's Party, arguing that the

class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

in Palestine should be postponed as the Palestinian people are still waging a struggle of national liberation in which elements of all classes should unite."Interview with Palestinian People's Party"
''The Terminator Line'' The renaming also reflected a move by the party to distance itself from the image of communism, an ideology perceived as antagonistic to religion in the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

world; however, party members still identify with

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, ...

. The party was an enthusiastic advocate of the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995. They marked the st ...

; however, it now criticizes the "failure" of the peace process, while still defending the goal of an independent Palestinian state in the

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. In 2002, the party's then general secretary, Mustafa Barghouti left it with some supporters to found the Palestinian National Initiative. In the January 2005 presidential election, the party's candidate Bassam as-Salhi received 2.67% of the vote. At the

2006 Palestinian legislative election Legislative elections were held in the Palestinian territories on 25 January 2006 in order to elect the second Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The result was a victory for Hama ...

PPP formed a joint list called '' Al-badeel'' for the left wing parties with Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Palestine Democratic Union and independents. It received 2.8% of the popular vote and won two of the Council's 132 seats. For the 2016 Palestinian local government elections that were initially scheduled for October 2016, the PPP was one of the five left-wing Palestinian factions that formed a joint list called the

Democratic Alliance List The Democratic Alliance List (), also referred to as the Democratic Alliance Forces () or just the Democratic Alliance (), was a coalition launched before the Palestinian local government elections that were initially scheduled for October 2016, ...

. At the elections, which took place on 13 May 2017, the Alliance won 5 of the 3,253 contested seats, gaining 0.32% of the votes. In the lead up to the 2021 Palestinian legislative election, the PPP took part in negotiations with the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine 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 ...

, Palestinian National Initiative, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Palestinian Democratic Union, to form a joint leftist list for the elections, however differences between the PPP and the PFLP caused the negotiations to break down. The PPP ultimately formed a joint list with the Palestinian Democratic Union called "United Left", led by Fadwa Khoder, a member of the PPP's Politburo.

Party leaders

* Bashir Barghouti (1982–1998) * Hannah Amireh, Abdel Majid Hamadan, Mustafa Barghouti (1998–2002) * Bassam Al-Salhi (since 2003)

Other notable members

* Suleiman Al Najjab, member of the

PLO Executive Committee The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO EC; ) is the highest executive body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and acts as the Palestinian government, government of the State of Palestine.

References

External links

* , in Arabic but with some pages in English.
The Political Program
2000 {{Authority control Communism in Palestine 1982 establishments in Palestine Communist militant groups Communist parties in Palestine Factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization Political parties established in 1982 Socialist parties in Palestine International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties International Peoples' Assembly

History

Party leaders

Other notable members

See also

References

External links