El meu poble viurà. Autobiografia d’una revolucionària palestina

by Leila Khaled, George Hajjar (Editor), Ares Dalmau (Translator)

«Sóc de la ciutat de Haifa, però gairebé no recordo la llar de la meva infància. Puc veure la zona on jugava de petita, però de casa nostra només en recordo l'escala. Se'm van endur amb quatre anys, i no vaig tornar a veure Haifa fins molt temps després. Vaig tornar a la meva ciutat vint-i-un anys més tard, el 29 d'agost de 1969, quan el camarada Salim Issawi i jo vam expropiar un avió imperialista i vam tornar a Palestina per retre homenatge al nostre país ocupat i per mostrar que no havíem abandonat la nostra pàtria. Irònicament, l'enemic israelià, impotent, ens va escortar amb els seus avions francesos i americans.»

Leila Khaled és una més de les milers i milers de palestines que han crescut entre l'ocupació militar israeliana i la resistència palestina, i que al llarg de la seva vida han hagut de decidir, sense gaires opcions, quin camí prenien, assumint-ne totes les conseqüències.


El seu pas a la lluita armada, i la participació en operacions destinades a cridar l'atenció del món davant l'opressió invisible que patia Palestina, com el segrest d'avions, l'han convertida en un personatge molt conegut. Estimada, apreciada i admirada per generacions de palestines i solidàries d'arreu del món; i temuda, odiada i criminalitzada per les defensores del sionisme i les seves aliades internacionals.


El llibre Leila Khaled, el meu poble viurà s'escriu l'any 1971 i s'edita l'any 1973, a partir de les converses que George Hajjar manté amb Leila Khaled.


«Jo sabia que hi havia de jugar un paper: em vaig adonar que la meva missió històrica era com la d'un guerrer en l'inevitable batalla entre opressors i oprimits, explotadors i explotats. Vaig decidir convertir-me en una revolucionària per poder alliberar el meu poble i a mi mateixa.»

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Biography, Middle East, Feminism, Memoir

226 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Leila Khaled is a Palestinian refugee and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Khaled came to public attention for her role in the TWA Flight 840 hijacking in 1969 and one of the four simultaneous Dawson's Field hijackings the following year as part of the campaign of Black September in Jordan.

Reviews

[e☆]

you can read the book here: https://leilakhaled.files.wordpress.c...

"As a Palestinian, I had to belive in the gun as an embodiment of my humanity and my determination to liberate myself and my fellow men. Every self-respecting Palestinian had to become a revolutionary.

Leila Khaled gives a thorough account of events that took place during her life filled occasionally with her own brand of humor. Overall, inspiring and deeply emotional. Definitely a must-read.

[Sleepless Dreamer]

Yesterday, San Francisco State University had intended to hold a meeting with Leila Khaled. Zoom refused to host it. SFSU managed a 20 minute livestream on Youtube before it was also taken down. Since they spent those twenty minutes congratulating Khaled, she did not even have the time to speak. I found myself following all of this with so much curiosity (who needs sleep when you can follow political drama in the states?).

Leila Khaled is a terrorist. And not in a political slandering way. She literally hijacked two planes. And yet, organizations that claim to believe in non-violent resistance like BDS and JVP supported her. The organizers of the event claimed that the event was being targeted by extreme right wing Zionists, by racists and antisemitism, by people who want to silence Palestinian voices. It was bizarre to hear because opposing terrorism is a pretty mainstream position (and come on, it can't be antisemitism when no Jews are involved). None of us want to find ourselves in a hijacked plane, even if it's for Palestinian freedom.

The organizers of the event suggested that academic freedom also means letting Khaled speak and it is here that I agree with them. I genuinely can't think of a single person that I wouldn't be okay with hearing on Zoom. I understand why social media platforms shouldn't be a space for promoting violence but it's a shame that voices were silenced this way. The problem is that no sane organization should be supporting violence against civilians, especially the kind that doesn't yield any positive results (like, come on, what would a plane hijacking bring? more security on Israeli flights! that's it). 

In any case, I cannot fathom the mental gymnastics one has to go through in order to end up claiming an actual plane hijacker is a hero and a symbol of feminism. I had hoped to go to the webinar in order to understand how you can possibly be a leftist who fights against racism and homophobia but is okay with attacking civilians. Since the webinar was cancelled, this book is perhaps the closest I'll get.
 
In thick and clumsy prose, Khaled (with the help of Hajjar) recounts her life. This was published in 1973 so it ends with Khaled as a 29 year old. In between anecdotes of her life and radicalization, she weaves in big chunks of heavily biased history. I mostly feel bad for her that she sees the world as if it is a battlefield between the West and the Arab world, as if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a global battle between imperialism and oppressed people. 

The thing is, no matter how many Palestinians I hear, I still haven't heard a solid counter argument for the basic Israeli claim: Palestinians started the war in 1948 and they lost it. I realize that losing her home has brought much hardship and pain for Khaled and Palestinians in general but at the end of the day, they insisted on getting into military battles with Israel and then lost every single one (kind of, the Lebanon wars seem to be a loss for everyone and nothing was really achieved with the 2014 war). 

The highlight of this book for me was hearing her description of the plane hijackings themselves. It's wild to hear her rationalize it to herself. She tries so hard to convince us that a plane hijacking is harmless, that it's a way to make her voice heard. She attempts to shrug away the terrorist label but it's just so unconvincing. Those people on that Amsterdam-New York flight didn't have anything to do with Palestine and it's wrong to put them in danger for any kind of ideal. That's really what terror is.

Khaled is pathetic in her desire to pretend her terrorist organization is an organized army. Saying that she's a commando, claiming that she's a prisoner of war when she's in prison for her deeds is just silly. As I see it, the difference between an army and a terrorist organization is that the army is limited by some sense of morals, by laws. An army is limited by its government (this is really why I did not continue with the army and instead chose to study politics). The PFLP aren't limited by anyone. 

In general, reading this book in 2020 highlights exactly where Palestinian leadership went wrong. Palestinians are going to have to compromise. This Palestinian nostalgia of the past is going to leave Palestinians stuck. People like Leila Khaled simply do not want to compromise. They want everything and they're willing to do whatever it takes to get it. That just creates more military battles and well, in 2020 it's not a fair fight and Israel keeps winning. Is this progress?

It's hard to separate between Khaled's opinions about Palestine and her thoughts about a pan-Arab socialist country. I don't know if this is a generational thing or a me thing but I no longer feel excited by revolutionaries. We don't need people blowing stuff up. What we need is policy and community work. Those things aren't as glamourous but I really do believe slow and steady changes are lasting while revolutions often end in more bloodshed. What can Khaled bring to the table that isn't violent?

Khaled spends much time talking about "ending the Zionist regime" but doesn't bother discussing how the future state will actually function. Sure, she says that it'll be a democratic state with rights for Jews and Arabs but she doesn't clarify how socialism will work or how the heck it will function. Not to mention that you can't ignore that Jews have nationalist desires which won't be curbed by giving them minority rights. There are actual problems here that aren't going to be solved simply by toppling the Israeli government.

There's a part of me that regrets the webinar was cancelled because I have questions for Khaled now. If she excuses her own hijacking, does she excuse other acts of terror? Where does she stop? When does it stop being okay? How did she move to Jordan and why? Apparently she has kids now, did she tell them about this? What do they think? How have her opinions changed since writing this book? As a seventy year old now, what does she think will happen?

To conclude, this book isn't well written. It's interesting but my low rating comes because I think Khaled does not deserve our admiration. At its best, Khaled manages to describe her strong emotions but for the most part, this book is just not built very well and also supports terrorism (but doesn't even manage to grapple with the morals of it, I can admire and respect different moral arguments when they're well thought).
 
What I'm Taking With Me
- I just finished a two hour Zoom call with my Palestinian and Israeli friends from the seminar and wow, there's such a difference. Like, hey Leila, a Palestinian from Bethlehem just invited us, a group of Zionists, to visit his home and promised he'd make us knafeh. 
- Let's take a moment to talk about that one person during the event who said "everyone keeps focusing on one moment from Leila's life" and I'm just here like, first of all, it was two moments.
- You know, if anything, this book convinced me that Israeli security is important. Like, without those two air marshals on the El-Al flight, Khaled would have succeeded yet again. That's unfortunate because I really want to believe our security is overdone. 
- Khaled's best attempt at excusing her actions is that part when she says that the oppressors can't determine the morality of the oppressed. Say I accept that, who can? Does being oppressed grant you the right to behave in whatever way you want? 
-This book pinpoints why Israelis from my parents' generations believe peace is impossible.
- Wow, feminism, first woman to hijack a plane. Really breaking barriers for women.

-------------------------------
I just signed up for a uni course about Palestinian nationalism but looking at the way things are going this summer, I'll be really bored of learning about Palestinian things by the time I get to that course. Review to come!

[Noel نوال]

“As a child of four, I found myself burdened by the adult problems of life and death, right and wrong. I, as a dreamer, living on the bare subsistence provided by a UN blue ration card, in a crowded room, on a side street in Sour, stand as a witness to Zionist inhumanity. I charge the world for its acquiescence in my destruction.”~Leila Khaled

I finally was able to read this book. It's difficult to find since it is no longer in publication and banned in many places across the world. Thankfully, there are digital copies in circulation online since any physical copy sells for upwards of $600 on eBay, meanwhile Hitler's autobiography can be found in any American bookshop in all formats including leather-bound collector's editions. Leila Khaled is primarily known for her role in the PFLP where she hijacked two planes, getting plastic surgery to reconstruct her face in between both events, without harming anyone in order to gain the world's attention. When we look at how in 2022 Palestinians are being shadow-banned and silenced in mainstream media and all social media platforms you cannot imagine how much harder it was to get Palestine on global radar in 1969. You cannot talk about decolonization, fighting oppression, apartheid, occupation, or genocide without also noting a people's right to armed struggle. You cannot criticize the actions of the oppressed without criticizing the oppressor, which is what many imperialists do when it comes to indigenous people fighting against their colonizers. You cannot support the violence of the colonizers and expect non-violence from the colonized. Until you note the violence, dehumanization, and horrors that an oppressed people are subjected to that led them to the desperation of needing to hijack a plan in order to get the media attention on the genocide and takeover of their country you should remain silent. No civilians were harmed.
From Palestine to the First Nations of North and South America to the Khoisan of South Africa to the Irish of Northern Ireland all people have the right to armed resistance in the face of oppression, most especially in asymmetrical power dynamics. In many of the books I've read about the Irish Troubles the Irish of occupied Northern Ireland have always held solidarity with Palestinians and many looked up to Leila Khaled for partaking in armed struggle much like they did against the British army. However, as we have clearly seen within recent events unfolding in Ukraine imperialism deems armed struggle acceptable or noble only when those resisting occupation are the 'right kind of white' (i.e. applause for use of molotov cocktails, suicide bombing against the Russian army, support of Ukrainian paramilitary groups, etc).
Leila Khaled was a child when the Nakba began and this is her story of becoming a refugee and what led to her role in the resistance of the Israeli occupation. It was interesting to read about the formation of the PFLP, PLO, and other Palestinian resistance groups. I really liked reading the parts about how she fought for her place in the resistance as a woman, much like how many women in the Black liberation movement fought against the underlying sexism from their comrades. It just goes to show that no movement of resistance against racial oppression is complete without also including sexism and classism. This book is an important read. I plan on reading Sarah Irving's biography on Leila which seems to have updated information about her life beyond the PLO and global infamy as an icon of Palestinian liberation.

[Hamza]

This is a pretty cool book. I had added it to my "to read" list over a decade ago, and then, like so many other books I own, I put it on the back burner. Given recent events in Palestine, I decided to dust it off and finally check it out.

To start with the negative, the main thing that kind of irked me about the book was the overt Communist rhetoric. That might've been more appealing to me back when I first added the book to my list, but I've changed a lot since then. Back then, I was a practicing Muslim but also had some extreme Leftist beliefs. Nowadays, my political views come mainly from Islam rather than either extreme in modern secular politics. I don't claim to be the best Muslim, but I try not to follow anything that contradicts my religion.

That is really my only gripe with this book, and given the time period in which it was written, I can't be too upset about it. Leila Khaled was a brave warrior for the cause, and I have a lot of respect for her for that reason. Her verbal takedown of Israeli, American, and Arab governments are on-point and well-said, and I liked the fact that she went into the history of many modern political issues in the Middle East rather than solely her own life story. Given the fact that the book was published in 1973, however, a lot would change about the leadership of the region not long after.

I was a bit taken aback by the negative way she described the Syrian Ba'ath Party and then-future-President Hafez al-Assad, given that she now allegedly supports the continuation of that government through Assad's son Bashar. But, as my opinions have changed in the last decade, I'm sure hers have changed in the last 50 years.

I really just recommend this book for anyone trying to get into the mindset of a Palestinian resistance fighter from the late '60s and early '70s peak of revolutionary fighting against Israel. At time of writing, Ms. Khaled is still with us, so I'm just kind of disappointed that we don't have a Part 2.

[Pandèmia de llibres]

Visca Palestina lliure!

(3,5)

[rie]

this book doesn’t end definitively, it ends with a reminder that there is more. that people will keep fighting. the revolution will live on and the people will win. not just palestine but there will be a day when all colonized people will know total liberation. stories like hers are brilliant but let’s not fall into the mindset that they’re a one in a million tale, we CAN do it. perhaps not exactly in her steps but we can do SOMETHING!

“revolution and peace. greetings to all lovers of the oppressed!”

there really is such a deep sense of love in this book. love for the land the people and the comrades. it made me emotional at times. it perfectly illustrates che’s wonderful quote: “At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality”!

amazing read. 10/10 and i will come back again!

[Taylor]

this was so inspiring. leila khaled is truly an inspiration for every revolutionary and more people should know not only about her revolutionary work but also her dedication

[qamar⋆｡°✩]

leila khaled isn't a name that is new to me, i have come across her name and revolutionary work so many times and i can never stress how important her feats and dedication are, especially considering the many barriers she faced as a woman, an arab woman, and as an arab palestinian woman. the ferocity of her assertions and spirit is clear from the text and reflects what we see even today in so many palestinian journalists and individuals in general. she narrates the chronology of her life within the larger framework of all the important political developments within the arab world and imperial core, and is very useful if one would like a place to begin on when it comes to palestine and the place of women such as her in the liberation of palestine

[llibresidones]

La Leila ens fa un repàs social i històric que ens ajuda a entendre la situació a l'Orient Mitjà des de la seva visió com a dona.
Va néixer a Haifa i amb quatre anys la seva família i ella es van veure obligats a abandonar Palestina i s'estableixen als camps de refugiats del Líban. Això la marca de per vida i adquireix des de ben petita un compromís amb el seu poble. Lluita per l'alliberament de Palestina i tot això la construeix com a militant i revolucionària.
Coneguda internacionalment pel segrest de dos avions, els anys 1969 i 1970, el primer amb èxit i el segon acaba amb la mort del seu company nicaragüenc i el seu arrest.

Ens parla de l'autodeterminació, de la consciència política, de la resistència i de la construcció d'una societat socialista.

🍉 Que aquest 2025 sigui l'any que aturem el genocidi a Palestina!

[raluca]

Palestine, my love!
for you I shall fight
fight
and open the road
the road of return
victorious return
to all parents
to all lovers.
Today I am a volcano
a revolutionary volcano
the Front-Volcano
the Front-revolution.
Yes-the revolt of return
(...)
Yes, we have lost everything:
we have lost life and its meaning;
we have lost the humanity of man;
we are a people that lost its land;
and he who loses his land
loses his life-for land is
the source of life.
My beloved, I shall return on the
wings of eagles to you;

[Molsa Roja(s)]

- Humanitat? Quins pebrots! —vaig cridar—. Haurien d'estar avergonyits de pronunciar aquesta paraula a Occident. Si tenen ni que sigui una engruna de dignitat, retiraran aquesta paraula dels seus diccionaris i la declararan una paraula estrangera. p.192 EMPV

La història de Leila Khaled és la història de la desesperació i, alhora, de la resistència i la revolució com a fruit de la desesperació. Cal comprendre que el desig revolucionari, la necessitat de resistir o oposar-se al món, és tant natural per alguns com per a d'altres ho és el menjar. Una no tria ser revolucionària: una esdevé revolucionària i no pot deixar de ser-ho, quan una observa l'status quo del món amb deteniment. El cas del poble palestí és el d'un poble empès a l'odi, a la resistència i a la revolució: perquè quan un imperi t'empeny a la mort, la única dignitat que et resta és la de morir amb el ganivet entre les mans, la de resistir a l'obediència, a esdevenir joguina. I així diu Leila Khaled:

- Si entra algun tanc al campament, que sigui perquè ja no queda ningú per tallar-li el pas. p.10-11 EMPV

M'ha resultat tremendament interessant, sobretot a nivell històric. En observar el genocidi que està patint el poble palestí una no ha deixat de demanar-se: on és el poble àrab? on són els germans musulmans, els veïns històrics de Palestina? I amb el llibre de Khaled, la resposta és clara, estenent-se al món la taca que és la mort del poble palestí. En el cas de l'alliberament de Palestina conflueixen, en una mateixa banda, interessos econòmics imperialistes d'Estats Units o Gran Bretanya, els ideològics i religiosos d'Israel i, finalment, els penosos interessos conservadors de la gran majoria d'estats àrabs, règims eminentment conservadors. Com diu Leila Khaled,

- "Actuem heroicament en un món covard per demostrar que l'enemic no és invencible. Actuem violentament per treure la cera de les orelles dels liberals occidentals sords i per treure'ls la palla que tenen als ulls. Actuem com a revolucionaris per a inspirar les masses i provocar l'agitació revolucionària en una era de contrarrevolució." p.126 EMPV

El poble palestí, des del moment en què és envaït i desplaçat, especialment després de la Nakba, espera amb ànsia que la comunitat àrab compleixi amb les seves promeses. I és que en múltiples ocasions es formen coalicions panaràbiques, primer sota la bandera de l'Islam i, més tard, sota la de la resistència a l'agressió estrangera. Per contra, el poble palestí experimenta, un i altre cop, que les promeses de les diverses coalicions i unions només queden en això, en meres promeses, i es veu empès a formar cèl·lules d'autodefensa, de resistència, de recuperació del territori promès, de Palestina.

El problema del poble palestí és: a) que la comunitat àrab, durant dècades, no té un interès prou fort com per dedicar els recursos suficients a la recuperació del territori palestí; b) que quan es constitueix un grup de resistència palestí, el Front Nacional per l'Alliberament de Palestina, aquest és revolucionari. A priori semblaria que la lluita palestina és una lluita nacionalista, per la recuperació d'un territori perdut i que, per tant, no tindria per què ser revolucionària en un sentit marxista: per contra, l'experiència palestina és la de l'enfrontament contra el sionisme, contra l'imperialisme americà i, alhora, contra els governs conservadors àrabs que no han mogut un dit per ajudar al poble palestí, absorbits en trames econòmiques amb els Estats Units i la Unió Soviètica.

- Hem estat condemnats a l'aniquilació. Per això, sense resistència el poble palestí no pot viure. Perquè sense resistència el poble palestí no existeix. p.12 EMPV

De fet, el poble palestí adquireix únicament visibilitat, a nivell mediàtic, en els moments en què ataca, i en vistes a legitimar unes represàlies infinitament superiors. Quan Khaled segresta un avió, quan un revolucionari s'immola, quan s'ataquen els territoris ocupats, el palestí existeix: només l'arma, la violència, el torna al focus occidental. Només la resistència el retorna a la vida, a la llum, a ser considerat com agent ètic en un espai-temps catastròfic:

- La lluita armada és el camí cap a la salvació. Com a palestina, havia de creure en les armes com a encarnació de la meva humanitat i la meva determinació per alliberar-me a mi i als meus companys. Cada palestí que es respectava a si mateix havia de convertir-se en un revolucionari. p.18 EMPV

La violència palestina s'oposa al silenci imposat pels poders mediàtics, s'oposa a l'aniquilació sistemàtica dels periodistes palestins o estrangers que gosen grabar el genocidi, s'oposa al lent però metòdic esborrat històric que du a terme Israel amb l'ajut dels Estats Units. La violència és un mode d'expressió, d'alocució d'un malestar revolucionari que trenca amb els discursos hegemònics que tracten de l'afer palestino-israelí com un esdeveniment merament històric, acadèmic i, fins i tot, polític però simultàniament aliè i d'impossible solució.

- Condemno el món per la seva aquiescència en la meva destrucció. p.35 EMPV

La violència permet recuperar la veu, ni que sigui parcialment, forçant-nos a preguntar el per què de la violència:

- La imatge que es presenta al món exterior és la comunicada a través de les buides declaracions polítiques i militars dels estats àrabs, o la feta pels conqueridors israelians sionistes i l'Organització Sionista Mundial. Els palestins no han parlat per ells mateixos: els seus autoproclamats confidents i mediadors actuen sense autorització. La meva generació pretén parlar per si mateixa amb una veu autènticament àrab i revolucionària. L'eco se sentirà durant les dècades posteriors; és la mateixa veu que les forces de reacció i obscuritat —àrabs, israelianes i imperialistes, totes— volen silenciar per sempre. p.23 EMPV

La lluita del poble palestí existeix simultàniament contra l'ocupant imperialista i contra el sector conservador de tot cos social: recordem, per exemple, la infàmia de la burgesia palestina cercant la seva supervivència en els primers compassos de la invasió israeliana. Així,

- No n'hi ha prou odiant i creient en el passat per fer una revolució. L'odi i la creença en el passat són esperons suficients per a la fase de la rebel·lió. Hem d'estimar i centrar-nos en el futur si volem dur a terme la revolució. p.13 Ghassan Kanafani EMPV

Perquè la lluita palestina és enterament revolucionària els països àrabs, sota la pressió de la ONU i els Estats Units, dedicaran els seus recursos no a ajudar a la resistència palestina, sinó a destruir-la, en vistes a la fabricació d'un ordre conservador on els diners del petroli segueixin fluint. La història de l'Orient Mitjà és una història horrible que posa en aliança diabòlica el sionisme, l'imperialisme americà i el conservadurisme tradicionalista islàmic a partir de la riquesa del petroli, l'or negre. Tinc ganes de llegir el llibre d'Andreas Malm, on em sembla posa millor en el focus el tema del petroli. Com diu Khaled,

- Ara l'objectiu no és la restauració, sinó la construcció d'una nova república socialista que englobi la totalitat del món àrab. p.49 EMPV

Per suposat la història de Leila Khaled és, com la història de tot autèntic revolucionari, parcialment delirant. Caldria investigar la relació entre el deliri i el desig de revolució: vertaderament cal al·lucinar, cal arribar a un estat fabulós d'agitació interior per tal d'arribar a determinar-se com a revolucionària, a viure una vida revolucionària. Cal que aquesta vida, vida que opera sota la normativitat imposada, no valgui res: que sigui un mer fantasma davant del possible, que s'erigeix en la imaginació com l'únic vivible. La revolució és delirant en un sentit psíquic: ens allibera de cadenes, ens emplena d'entusiasme, i ens empeny a cotes insospitades de potència, d'electricitat interior, de coratge. Leila Khaled delira particularment en la seva creença fervent en el que no deixa d'anomenar, curiosament, ideologia, que és un materialisme històric marxista-leninista del qual se sent agent històric necessari:

-...em vaig adonar que la meva missió històrica era com la d'un guerrer en la inevitable batalla entre opressors i oprimits, explotadors i explotats. Vaig decidir convertir-me en una revolucionària per poder alliberar el meu poble i a mi mateixa. p.30 EMPV

M'ha cridat l'atenció el concepte de fedaï: "..."aquells qui arrisquen la seva vida voluntàriament". Els fedaïns són els guerrillers de Palestina, a imatge dels algerians, el vietnamistes, els xinesos, els xilens i els cubans; en definitiva, els revolucionaris. En qualsevol cas, és un relat interessantíssim sobre la sempre polèmica figura de l'heroi revolucionari, en aquest cas encarnat per Leila Khaled en la lluita per l'alliberament de Palestina davant la indiferència convenient del món, d'Orient a Occident.

[Stephen]

Leila Khaled is a revolutionary in the fullest sense of the word. This is a deeply important account in the ongoing fight for Palestinian liberation. Even before her political radicalization she makes the statement, “I was eleven years old and Israel was seven.” This was a meaningful reminder to me that contrary to the insistence of Zionists and their imperialist allies, Israel is a recent machination.

I enjoyed her discussion about halfway in, when she is prompted “to recognize and think about our obligations to our people…. We must act, not just talk and memorise the arguments against Zionism.” For the remainder of the memoir it becomes clear that she has taken up this task with serious conviction. She has a deep love for her people—and for all exploited, marginalized people—and has committed her life to fighting the forces that target these people. I feel fortunate to have read this book.

[Shreeparna Mitra]

"How miserable can one become
when one thinks only of oneself and no others.
How despondent can one become when one
imagines that one is the third pivot of the world;
How insipid life becomes when one remembers
that one's life is coming to an end.
Oh my soul, how I hate your
rebelliousness when all of me aches.Be merciful, my soul, for a moment.
Have I not been your obedient slave?
I feel a very strange feeling ... how childish!
I long for love ... love ... love
I shall resist this longing, but I am overcome
I shall hearken to the voice of love.
I shall embrace my beloved and sleep.
I am in union with my humanity - with Palestine."

[Crazytourists_books]

Δεν ήταν αυτό που περίμενα. Περίμενα ένα προσωπικό κείμενο και διάβασα πολιτικές διακηρύξεις και αναλύσεις. Δε θα σταθώ περισσότερο στο περιεχόμενο του βιβλίου, θα πω όμως ότι με κούρασε πολύ: υπερβολικά ξύλινη γλώσσα (για τα γούστα μου) στο μεγαλύτερο τμήμα, ενοχλητικό ύφος στα πιο προσωπικά κομμάτια και οριακά χαοτική αφήγηση με αλλεπάλληλα χρονικά μπρος πίσω.

[eli]

the love with which leila khaled writes for palestine and its liberation is overwhelming and i had to put this down so many times because my eyes were blurring with tears, especially when she was describing seeing haifa again. there is so much revolutionary activity across SWANA that i have to read more about and particularly the activity of woman militants. i found all of khaled's insight into her struggle into the PFLP as a woman and her love for her fellow girls and women admirable. her gifting the young girl in hospital with her a necklace of bullets and wishing her a long revolutionary career....

'In seconds he did so as we swung around my beloved Haifa. The pilot asked, "What shall I do now?" I said, "Let's take a seven-minute tour of the fatherland." My father's image appeared before my eyes, and I could hear his voice saying "When will we return home?" My whole world came together. I was silent. I looked out at the greenery and mountains of Palestine. I could see Tel Aviv below. I wept out of affection and longing, and said softly, "Father, we shall return. We shall redeem your honour and restore your dignity. We shall become the sovereign of the land some day."

[Sam]

If you want to understand the existential indignation, rage, passion and intellectual reasoning that pushes a dispossessed people into violent struggle against their oppressors (through a lens of socialist class warfare) this is a good place to start.

My feelings on this book (and many other things) are complicated, for reasons better explained to a therapist than here. Let's just say as a pacifist (coward?) who hates violence but longs for a free Palestine, in a world where diplomacy stalls time & again and violence against the oppressed is applauded while violence against the oppressors is condemned, I'm a mess of emotions and identity crises.

It's depressing and infuriating that, even though so much has changed, almost nothing at all has changed in 50 years. Imperialism and neo-colonialism still reigns and a true peaceful solution seems nowhere on the horizon.

[Pablo]

«Our struggle will be long and arduous because the enemy is powerful, well-organised, and well sustained from abroad. We shall win because we represent the wave of the future, because we are the immense majority of the oppressed, because mankind is on our side, and above all because we are determined to achieve victory».

Leila Khaled debe ser un espejo en el que mirarnos. Qué persona tan integra, tan fuerte, tan inteligente y encima tan divertida. (Pequeño spoiler: ¿sentido de que después de tratar de secuestrar un avión y ser extraditada en un helicóptero militar le comente al piloto que ve más difícil secuestrar el helicóptero?).

He aprendido mucho con esta lectura, que es absolutamente inspiradora. Qué vida tan digna y qué valentía para hacerle frente a –literalmente– el mundo entero. por una causa tan noble.
Palestina será libre desde el río hasta el mar. 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[Jarh L. Rodriguez]

A far-left progressive female revolutionary that fights for a secular state for both Arabs and Jews in Palestine, is unheard of in today’s media. And definitely not in the agenda.

Her methods I believe were not the most effective, and had irreparable backlash on the movement’s image. Though at the same time it reminds me of Nelson Mandela’s description of the impatience of the youth. She just wanted to take action somehow somewhere.

Similar to Shafiq Al-Hout’s story from inside the PLO, this story also sheds a light on the myriad of Palestinian movements that sprung up after 1948 in different refugee camps around historical Palestine, lead by people forcefully exiled from their homes. Even if all of them have a similar origin story, they don’t all agree on what methods should be used to achieve what.

It is important to know the methods of violence used and why - regardless of which side to support - to better understand the conflict. What one side paints as terrorism, is described as guerilla warfare by the other to take back stolen land. After all, how can a people “invade”the place were they grew up?

[Maryam]

I read this thinking about Fanon's "On Violence" and this quote specifically stuck out to me:

“I do not see how my oppressor could sit in judgment on my response to his oppressive actions against me. He is in no position to render an impartial judgment or to accuse me of air piracy and hijacking when he has hijacked my home and hijacked me and my people out of our land. If the enemy defines morality and legality in his own terms and decides to apply his ethical and legal doctrines against me because he has the power as well as the means of communication to justify his inhumanity, I am under no moral obligation to listen, let alone obey his dictates. Indeed, I am under a moral obligation to resist and to fight to death the enemy’s moral corruption. My deed cannot be evaluated without examining the underlying causes” (pp. 126-127).

Probably the biggest difference here is Khaled writes as a direct member of the oppressed and as a revolutionary, rather than a scholar, meaning more lived experience than Fanon writing in the context of Algeria.

[Pep]

Bona aproximació ja no a la qüestió Palestina, sinó a la història recent d'Orient Mitjà. Un testimoni en primera persona d'uns anys en què tot encara pareixia possible. Potser se m'ha fet massa impostat el personatge. Jo hi anava cercant una autobiografia i això són més unes memòries polítiques, però entre soflames s'hi entreveu una personalitat exuberant i una passió romàntica per la revolució que vista des del cinisme millenial astora.

[Eye]

i can feel her deep love for her land. i'm in awe of her ferocity that is informed by her nuanced understanding of the dynamics and i never felt that she has a disregard for human life which seems to be the implication in the statements of people who critique her. the biography was very insightful to my understanding of the Palestinian struggle. it's always shocking how far the CIA spread its wings. too many people have betrayed the pure cause for a free palestine. i hope we are lucky enough to witness this phrase becoming a reality in our lifetime.

[jac]

essential for anyone wanting to understand palestinian struggle today!

[Laia Genestar]

Una noia de 25 anys amb la seva kufiya i el seu AK-47 soviètic segrestant un vol amb destí a Tel Aviv als anys 60, moguda per una capacitat d’anàlisi marxista i d'emancipació feminista que res té a veure amb la propaganda que Occident vol vendre del món àrab i les seves dones.

[Rana Rafeh]

A powerful exploration of what makes a revolutionary, this autobiography also encouraged a re-examination of the history I’ve learned and the opinions I’ve inherited about certain historical figures.

[guerrillagf]

leila's work details a life lived for her people and a life spent fighting oppression. those critiquing this text and her as a person seem to have no understanding of the realities of settler-colonialism and how an apartheid state functions. i would suggest educating yourself before siding with colonizers- it's a bad look.

[mar]

no sé què dir sense que soni un cliche, recomanadíssim, com a dona, com a persona a qui li interessa aquell tema com es deia? ah si els drets humans, etc. informatiu, emotiu. m'ha agradat com sempre apel·la a la col·lectivitat com a mitjà i com a objectiu, la simplicitat a l'hora de justificar la lluita armada, la seva capacitat per transmetre passió pertot.

[Jaime]

I can’t imagine a better first person narrative of the Palestinian liberation movement. She also helped me understand Palestine in the greater context of Nasserism, Baathism and Pan Arabism. Most importantly she uses the lense of class analysis to understand the liberation struggle.

[البندري]

forever thinking of this book, highly recommend it to anybody interested in Palestine

[warren]

so incredible. like other radical autobiographies, it was really compelling reading the way Khaled politically grew throughout her early life, and made especially interesting since i'm not as familiar with the political context she grew up in. i knew about the Nakba and Zionism which are of course central, but i didn't know about pan-Arabism, Egyptian president Nasser and 'Nasserism,' and all these other ideologies that also had an impact on Khaled early in life.

she has some very sharp & valuable criticisms of state leadership, celebrity, traditional gender roles, and "revolutionism without ideology" on the left. it was also very interesting to read a bit about how Palestinians continued to organize even as most live in exile, scattered across various lands and hostile governments. her descriptions of her plane hijackings are vivid, stressful, and incredible. there are also long descriptions of her imprisonments post-hijacking that are so brutal to read, but her astonishing strength, intelligence, creativity, and humor somehow shines throughout everything.

in all, an inspiring book where Khaled narrates her growth into an ever-more formidable fighter for liberation from "national, social, sexual, and class oppression."

it's free to read online here: https://leilakhaled.files.wordpress.c...

[Comrade Zupa Ogórkowa]

I love books that give you the intimate and personal experiences and motivations of revolutionary freedom fighters. Leila Khaled’s fiery personality and dedication to the revolution are apparent in her life’s story but she also touches on the geopolitics of the region that either helps or hinders the resistance. Ultimately during this time in her life the Palestinians were much abandoned to their struggle, as best summarized in the concluding chapter:

“Thus the present Arab ruling cliques returned to the positions held by their predecessors on the eve of 1948: Islamic funda-mentalism, class collaboration, anti-communism. It would seem that the Arab ruling classes would rather embrace Zionism, live under the yoke of American imperialism and retard the historic evolution of their societies, than submit to the will of the masses, abdicate power, or let other forces of progress lead the revolution.The petit bourgeoisie of the Arab world has become a spent historic force; it is incapable of coping with such crucial issues as oil, Israel, poverty.”