The Right to Resist

The Right to Resist combines two historic speeches by Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian national liberation movement, to the United Nations General Assembly in 1974 and 1988, which reify the right of the Palestinians to resist until their final liberation from the Israeli Zionist and U.S. imperialist yoke. The first speech was delivered amidst the exile of Arafat's organization, the Palestine Liberation Organization, in Lebanon, and excellently defended their armed struggle as a just cause supported by all measures of international law, and their movement as one of national liberation and not of terrorism. The second speech took place amidst the First Intifada and defended the rebellion as a direct result of the violence and terror of the Israeli occupation. The Palestinians have always extended the olive branch, he notes in this speech, but Israel has always taken the road of aggression. For better or worse, it bears the stamp of the prevailing detente policies of the superpowers during this period and the illusory visions of peace under imperialism.