THE WORST thing about Phil Hearse's and Ros Kaplan's articles (SC 19 August) was not their concentrating on tactical advice best left to those on the spot. It was the way this let the PLO off the hook on its main weakness - its strategic orientation.
posed their struggle in sectoral and classless terms:
Palestinian people. separated out the Palestinian question from the other problems of the Arab East. They pose the solution mechanically military means, and now, more and more. by diplomacy.
dinate its activity to the interests of the petty bourgeois and semi-feudal Arab regimes. And more recently to European imperialism.
in the Lebanon, these lessons are going to have to be learned by the Palestinian vanguard. The articles in question not only failed to make these points but actually disguised the truth in two ways.
Palestinian militia's, the articles give the impression that these were Israel. In fact, this ceased to be the case some some time come from the Arab population in the occupied territories and within the 1948 borders. As such, the fate of the Palestinians fighters only beats indirectly on the future of the Palestinian struggle according to how it af fects the morale of the internal resistance. For the PLO to fight to the last in Beirut, taking thousands civilians therefore have been a fairly futile gesture.
Secondly. the articles decision to evacuate would be an accomodation to imperialism. actly what the PLO majority has been seeking for some time.
the PLO using every tactical division within imperialism to obtain the best possible terms for their withdrawal.
its counting on the European political leaders and for all its 'moderation', the PLO ultimately had no friends.
tinue its rightward evolution in its scattered bases. But the hope must be that a new leadership will draw the lessons and give fresh impetus to the struggle.
HANNA KHAMIS, HEMEL HEMPSTEAD. The majority within the PLO have always La struggle for the liberation by the They have in practice originally by This has lead the PLO to partially suborif anything is to be salvaged from the wreck Firstly, by stressing the importance of the still a nuisance to The main threat to Israeli strategy has for would suggest that any Unfortunately, this is exIn fact, there is no principled objection to The point that must be made is that for all The PLO leadership will undoubtedly con-