“In summary, Fayyad and the cultural nationalists draped themselves in the mantle of nationalism, but upon examination it is seen that their programs, far from aiding in the achievement of Arab liberation and freedom from exploitation in Palestine, would instead weld the Palestinian communities more firmly into the structure of Zionist capitalism. The reformist or bourgeois nationalism–through its chosen vehicle of Palestinian capitalism–may line the pockets and boost the social status of the Palestinian middle class and Palestinian intelligentsia, but it will not ease the oppression of the ordinary refugee. What Fayyad and the cultural nationalists seek is not an end to oppression, but the transfer of the oppressive apparatus into their own hands. They call themselves nationalists and exploit the legitimate nationalist feelings of Palestinian people in order to advance their own interests as a class. And chief among those interests is their desire to become brokers between the Israeli rulers and the Palestinian ruled.”

This is a selection from Robert L. Allen’s Black Awakening in Capitalist America, published in 1969, re-printed in The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, however the terms Israel/Palestine and have been substituted for white/black.

Is the frame a useful way of understanding the co-optation of the intifada and grassroots movements by the Palestinian Authority, and its lobbying arm the American Task Force on Palestine? Is it a useful way to look at Fayyad’s endorsement of the Likud proposal for “economic peace“?

Related posts:

1. Introducing Birthright Palestine
2. More Bloodshed in Israel-Palestine
3. Doritos Recognizes Palestine!?!
4. Introducing….
5. When the Wall Street Journal Supports Palestine