The Policy of the Bulgarian Communist Party and of the Arab Communist Parties Regarding the Palestinian Problem (mid-1960s – early 1970s) Cover Image
  • Price 4.50 €

Българската държавно-партийна линия и арабските компартии по палестинския проблем (Средата на 60-те – началото на 70-те години на ХХ век)
The Policy of the Bulgarian Communist Party and of the Arab Communist Parties Regarding the Palestinian Problem (mid-1960s – early 1970s)

Author(s): Nadya Filipova
Subject(s): Diplomatic history, Political history, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Cold-War History, Conference Report
Published by: Институт за исторически изследвания - Българска академия на науките
Keywords: Bulgaria; Arab Communist Parties; Palestinian problem;

Summary/Abstract: In the decade after the establishment of the first Palestinian quasi-state entity – Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Bulgarian diplomacy significantly but not radically changed its positions on the Palestinian issue. In the early 1970s Sofia carried out official contacts with the organization due to increased authority of the organization and personally of its leader Yasser Arafat in the Palestinian resistance movement and in the Middle East as a whole. Expanding the relationship should be seen as an attempt to balance the loss of Egypt for the anti-Western Middle Eastern front and as a decision coordinated with the local Communist parties. In the context of the changed Soviet position, the PRB recognized the identity of the Palestinian Arab people in the early 1970s, which was a tactical move, taken in the context of the global confrontation and “under the pressure of circumstances” and not a manifestation of a principled position, as decade previously there was no such recognition from the Soviet bloc. The decision, combined with the subsequent expanding dialogue with PLO made Bulgarian diplomacy take the official decision to stand for the sovereign rights of this people of its own state. Moving was slow and cautious because the destruction of convenient Middle East standstill did not guarantee the achievement of the objectives of the Soviet bloc in the region.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 5-6
  • Page Range: 144-160
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Bulgarian