FEDAYEEN: The Arab-Israeli Dilemma

Fedayeen, in Arabic, means men ""who sacrifice themselves"" yet ironically, according to Laffin, journalist and military strategist, their terrorist efforts have been counter-productive or without effect. ""The Palestinian Fedayeen organizations -- the force that never was -- could more benefit their own people by going out of business altogether."" Divided in their goals -- are Israel or the conservative Arab states the real enemy? -- the various factions squabble among themselves, plot inter-group assassinations, alienate world opinion by bloody acts, misjudge Israeli strength (""What little knowledge they possess is distorted to fit preconceived ideas""), try to boost their image and their egos by making ill-founded comparisons with more successful revolutionary movements. ""Resistance has become an industry"" in which every groupuscule has a vested interest; the leadership is ""neurotic and apprehensive, given to fits of despair,"" and for the rank and file -- ill-trained, ill-equipped, half-educated, unprepared for any peacetime trade -- ""Fedayeenism is a way of life, a trade and a state of mind."" Decidedly pro-Israel, heatedly anti-Palestinian, Laffin can find praise only for the Movement's efforts to involve and emancipate Arab women. His book is little more than an attempt to deflate an already tattered revolutionary mystique.