Summary
The charter adopted by the Palestinian National Council in its session of 1-17 July 1968, revising the 1964 charter: Palestine with its British Mandate boundaries is the indivisible homeland of the Arab Palestinian people, armed struggle is the only way to liberate it, solutions that are substitutes for total liberation and proposals aiming at liquidation or internationalization of the Palestinian problem are rejected, the partition of 1947 and the establishment of Israel are entirely illegal and the Balfour Declaration and Mandate null and void, Zionism is a racist, expansionist movement organically associated with international imperialism, and the Palestine Liberation Organization, representative of the Palestinian revolutionary forces, is charged with the struggle in all military, political and financial fields — with no provision disclaiming territorial sovereignty over the West Bank, the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area, as the 1964 text had provided (The Palestinian National Charter (1968), lines 1-240).
What the file is
The Avalon Project reproduction headed “The Palestinian National Charter: Resolutions of the Palestine National Council July 1-17, 1968”. 33 articles, about 2,123 words; 240 lines in the text copy including the Avalon navigation menus and article index at the head and the Lillian Goldman Law Library footer (copyright 2008, 127 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06511) at the tail. The text is clean and legible throughout; wording recorded as printed includes “This it is the overall strategy” (Article 9), “vis-a-vis to” (Article 29), and “National Congress” in the amendment article (Article 33), where the Avalon text carries bracketed insertions “[vote of]” and “[taken]”. The file gives no attendance or vote record beyond the heading’s session dates.
Section by section
- Articles 1-3, homeland and right. “Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people; it is an indivisible part of the Arab homeland, and the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab nation” (Article 1); Palestine with its Mandate boundaries is an indivisible territorial unit (Article 2); the Palestinian Arab people possess the legal right to their homeland and the right to determine their destiny after achieving liberation, of their own accord and will (Article 3).
- Articles 4-6, identity and who is a Palestinian. Palestinian identity is genuine, essential and inherent, transmitted from parents to children, and neither the Zionist occupation nor dispersal negates it (Article 4). Palestinians are the Arab nationals who until 1947 normally resided in Palestine, evicted or stayed, and anyone born after that date of a Palestinian father, inside Palestine or outside it (Article 5). “The Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians” (Article 6).
- Articles 7-11, revolutionary upbringing, armed struggle and mottos. A Palestinian community with material, spiritual and historical connection to Palestine is an indisputable fact; upbringing must be in an Arab revolutionary manner, the Palestinian prepared for armed struggle and ready to sacrifice wealth and life to win back his homeland (Article 7). The present phase is national (watani) struggle; conflicts among Palestinian forces are secondary to the basic conflict with Zionism and imperialism, and the masses at home and in diaspora (mahajir) are one national front working for liberation through armed struggle (Article 8). “Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. This it is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase” (Article 9, as printed), with the right to normal life, self-determination and sovereignty asserted. “Commando action constitutes the nucleus of the Palestinian popular liberation war” (Article 10), requiring escalation, mobilization and unity of the national struggle. The three mottoes are national (wataniyya) unity, national (qawmiyya) mobilization, and liberation (Article 11).
- Articles 12-18, Arab unity and the viewpoints. Belief in Arab unity, with Palestinian identity safeguarded at the present stage (Article 12); Arab unity and liberation as complementary objectives (Article 13); Arab existence itself depends on the Palestine cause, the Palestinian people in the vanguard (Article 14); liberation as a national (qawmi) duty aiming at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine, the Arab nation to mobilize all capabilities and support the armed revolution (Article 15); the spiritual viewpoint — safety and tranquility, sanctuaries safeguarded, freedom of worship and visit without discrimination (Article 16); the human viewpoint — restoring the Palestinian individual’s dignity, pride and freedom (Article 17); the international viewpoint — a defensive action under self-defense, seeking freedom- and peace-loving states’ support (Article 18).
- Articles 19-24, illegality, Zionism and principles. “The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the state of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time” (Article 19). “The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void” and Judaism, a religion, is not an independent nationality (Article 20). “The Arab Palestinian people, expressing themselves by the armed Palestinian revolution, reject all solutions which are substitutes for the total liberation of Palestine and reject all proposals aiming at the liquidation of the Palestinian problem, or its internationalization” (Article 21). “Zionism is a political movement organically associated with international imperialism and antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist, and colonial in its aims, and fascist in its methods. Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement, and geographical base for world imperialism” and a constant threat to peace (Article 22); all states are required by security, peace, right and justice to consider Zionism illegitimate and outlaw it (Article 23); belief in justice, freedom, sovereignty, self-determination and human dignity (Article 24).
- Articles 25-33, the Organization and the revolution. The PLO will perform its role under its Constitution (Article 25) and, as “representative of the Palestinian revolutionary forces, is responsible for the Palestinian Arab people’s movement in its struggle - to retrieve its homeland, liberate and return to it and exercise the right to self-determination in it - in all military, political, and financial fields” and on the inter-Arab and international levels (Article 26). It cooperates with all Arab states, adopts neutrality among them and does not interfere in their internal affairs (Article 27). “The Palestinian Arab people assert the genuineness and independence of their national (wataniyya) revolution and reject all forms of intervention, trusteeship, and subordination” (Article 28). Attitudes toward states and forces are determined by the stands they adopt toward the Palestinian revolution (Article 29). Fighters and carriers of arms are the nucleus of the popular army (Article 30). Flag, oath of allegiance and anthem under a special regulation (Article 31); the annexed Constitution of the PLO defining its organs and competences (Article 32). Amendment only by two-thirds of the total membership of the “National Congress of the Palestine Liberation Organization” at a special session (Article 33, as printed; see Open questions).
Key passages
- “Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine” (Article 9).
- “The Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians” (Article 6).
- “reject all solutions which are substitutes for the total liberation of Palestine and reject all proposals aiming at the liquidation of the Palestinian problem, or its internationalization” (Article 21).
- “The Palestinian Arab people assert the genuineness and independence of their national (wataniyya) revolution and reject all forms of intervention, trusteeship, and subordination” (Article 28).
Evidence the work relies on
A constitutive and programmatic text, not an evidentiary work. It invokes the Charter of the United Nations (particularly self-determination) and the right of self-defense, the 1947 partition and the establishment of Israel, the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate for Palestine, and the annexed Constitution of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which it names in Article 32 and does not reproduce.
Analysis
Against the 1964 charter this text is a revision toward armed revolution: a new Article 17 (the human viewpoint), armed struggle as overall strategy (Article 9) and commando action as the war’s nucleus (Article 10), rejection of substitute solutions (Article 21), independence of the revolution from intervention and trusteeship (Article 28), a fighters’ popular army (Article 30), and a redefinition of which Jews count as Palestinians (Article 6, residence until the beginning of the Zionist invasion, replacing the 1964 willingness test). Its limits are those of a programme: it gives no session record, no list of amendments as moved, and no definition of “the beginning of the Zionist invasion” on which Article 6 turns.
People, organizations, places and events
Palestine Liberation Organization, Palestinian National Council, Balfour Declaration, Mandate for Palestine
Concepts
Self-determination, Partition, Zionism, Liberation of Palestine
How it relates to other sources
This is the revised successor to Palestine National (qawmi) Charter (1964), held side by side with it: the changes listed under Analysis, and the absence of any equivalent to the 1964 Article 24 disclaimer of territorial sovereignty over the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Himmah Area, are differences between the two primary texts themselves. Its Article 21 rejection of substitute solutions and its armed-struggle strategy stand against the framework of Resolution 242 (1967) (22 November 1967) adopted between the two charters, which the charter does not mention; the The Khartoum Resolutions (1 September 1967), also between them, share its insistence on Palestinian rights while committing the Arab States to united political efforts. Its characterisation of Zionism is the programme-side counterpart to the analyses of Zionism in ingested secondary sources such as Zionist Colonialism in Palestine.
Open questions
- Article 33 as printed names the “National Congress of the Palestine Liberation Organization” as the amending body, where the 1964 text (Article 29) names the National Council and this charter’s own heading names the Palestine National Council; the discrepancy is recorded as printed and not resolved.
- “The beginning of the Zionist invasion” (Article 6) is not dated or defined in the text.
- The file gives no attendance, vote or amendment-by-amendment record for the 1-17 July 1968 session, and no venue.
- The annexed PLO Constitution (Article 32) is not reproduced in this file.
Coverage
lines 1-240 of 240, read in full.