SUMMARY
The Rejectionist Front (Front of Forces Rejecting Capitulationist Solutions; Jabhat al-Qiwa al-Rafida li al-Hulul al-Istislamiyya) was a loosely organized Palestinian umbrella organization, recorded in UCDP data 1974-1988 as a separatist rebel group fighting an intrastate armed conflict over territory against the Government of Israel.
The Rejectionist Front came into existence during the early 1970s as a protest against the increasingly moderate policies of the PLO. The groups comprising the Rejectionist Front were united by their demand for a unified Palestinian state, and unwillingness to accept negotiations with Israel as such moves could potentially allow for a partition of Palestine. In 1973 and 1974, the PLO adopted a more moderate stance towards the creation of a Palestinian state, and towards the possibility of negotiating with Israel. The culmination of this shift was the adoption of the “Ten Point Plan” during the twelfth session of the Palestinian National Congress in June 1974. This Ten Point Plan stipulated that PLO could accept Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and the West Bank before all historically Palestinian lands could be liberated. Notable groups in support of this plan was Fatah, Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Al-Saiqa. The more hardline Palestinian groups refused to accept such a compromise, and therefore opted to break away from the PLO. The Rejectionist Front also had a pronounced pro-Syrian stance.
The primary driving actor behind the creation of the Rejectionist Front was the left-wing, pro-Arab unity group PFLP, and its leader George Habash. At its inception in 1974, the Rejectionist Front included not only PFLP, but also PFLP-GC, Arab Liberation Front (ALF), Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF), and several smaller guerilla groups; in 1975, also the Fatah Revolutionary Council (FRC) joined the front. However, membership in the Rejectionist Front fluctuated as different Palestinian groups shifted their allegiance between the PLO and Rejectionist Front umbrella movements. As such, rifts within the PLO at any given point have largely determined the membership of the Rejectionist Front. For example, by 1981 the PFLP had left the front and rejoined PLO; in 1988, the Rejectionist Front included the ALF, PFLP-GC, PPSF, and FRC. For the duration of its existence, the Rejectionist Front was a more loosely connected umbrella organization, rather than a unified group with a centralized command structure.
Note that from 1989 and onwards, some of the constituent groups of the Rejectionist Front were also recorded in their separate capacities in UCDP data (see PFLP-GC). This shift in the level of analysis was possible given the proliferation of more detailed information available to the UCDP on different Palestinian groups from 1988 and onwards.
It should be noted that the terms “Rejectionist Front” and “rejectionist” have been used to denote Palestinian groups opposed to negotiations with the Israeli government and concession in general. For example, while Hamas was not included in the constellations of the Rejectionist Front described here, it has at times been labeled as “rejectionist” on merit of its opposition against various rounds of negotiations between PLO or PNA, and the Government of Israel.
The Rejectionist Front was in the 1970s closely linked to those Arab states that were opposed to a negotiated settlement in the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly Iraq and Libya. These two states, as well as Algeria and South Yemen, supplied the Rejectionist Front with both financial and material aid. Libya was most likely the group’s most persistent benefactor, providing also advanced weapons and the training necessary to use them. Some of the Rejectionist Front’s constituent groups also received funding from the Arab League.
Furthermore, Syria conducted several arms transfers to the Rejectionist Front in 1978, and also gave PFLP guerillas special commando training. Syria also allowed the free transfer of troops and volunteers into Lebanon during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, so as to shore up the fighting power of the Palestinian forces. Several countries, such as the Soviet Union, Cuba, Algeria, and South Yemen, supplied the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP, at the time a part of the Rejectionist Front) with arms in 1978. Transfers included heavy mortars, light field guns, multiple rocket launchers and howitzers.
