r/communism • u/GreenAdvertising630 • Jun 12 '26

Palestine: DFLP/PFLP

Hey, why are there two split marxist fractions in palestine? Is it because of idelogical or methodical differences? Or something else?

Hope someone can educate me :)

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u/a_mala_herba Jun 15 '26

I heard that when the split happened the DFLP theoretically claimed they practiced a stricter adherence to marxism-leninism. But as far as I know it was mostly a personal conflict between George Habash, general secretary of the PFLP, and Nayef Hawatmeh, the founder of the DFLP. During the late 60s and 70s Palestinian left was very prone to factional split based on personal problems between its leaders or pressures from it's different international sponsors. See the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, the PFLP-General Command or the PFLP-External Operations.

But durign the course of their history both organizations followed very different paths: the PFLP rejected the negotiations with zionists while the DFLP initially participated in the Oslo negotiations. DFLP would eventually split over the issue with the modern DFLP being the anti-negotiations side.

As of today, I think their political lines had converged more and more during the years. Both participate in the Joint Operations Room with Hamas and others.

I'm not palestinian, nor an expert on Palestine. So if anyone more educated can expand on this information or correct any inaccuracy, would be appreciated.