Palestinian Political Discourse in Lebanon (2023-2025): Fatah and the PFLP

Abstract

This thesis explores the discourse of Palestinian factions in Lebanon, specifically the PFLP and Fatah, since the advent of the events of October 7, 2023. It explores whether and how these two factions adapted their alliances, behavior, and strategies through their public statements, press releases, and communiques over the past 3 years (2023-2025), in response to what can be described as the ‘new’ local and regional political reconfigurations following October 7, 2023. Drawing on these primary resources, my research situates their discourse within Lebanon’s complex local landscape and the socio-political framework that shapes the relationship between the Lebanese authorities and these factions, and Palestinian presence more generally. In this sense, discourse becomes the primary means through which these factions attempt to reclaim their agency and reconfigure their political positioning. In his context, press releases and communiques constitute political actions in themselves and become the primary instruments wherein these factions assert and reposition themselves.

Based on the analysis of Lebanon’s post-civil war socio-political and economic context through the lenses of sectarian patronage, external dependency, and financial redistribution, and situated within the broader literature on the Palestinian presence in Lebanon, this thesis examines the structural relevance/irrelevance of Palestinian political factions to the functioning of the Lebanese political system.

My thesis adopts the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) method to analyze the relationship between language, ideology, text production, and the socio-political context in which this discourse operates. This analysis focuses on two interconnected critical junctures: 1) the October 7, 2023, Hamas operation and 2) the 2023-2024 Israeli war on Lebanon, through which I trace the emergence of disarmament and sovereignty as central discursive themes.

My analysis of official statements, press releases, and communiques reveals that, despite their differences, Fatah and the PFLP have both reached what I refer to as “strategic paralysis” regarding their national goals, vision, and objectives, similarly to what Iqtait (2025) dubs “political stagnation.” Neither faction has offered or presented a coherent strategy or vision to adapt to the changes defining the regional political order following October 7th. It was, in fact, quite the contrary: they both clung to their pre-existing ideologies and sources of legitimacy, which had notably deteriorated following Israel’s targeting of Hezbollah leadership and consequent Israeli operations in Lebanon between 2023 and 2024, and the systematic destruction and genocide in Gaza. This research concludes that understanding factional discourse includes analyzing not just what was said and written, but also what is left unsaid.