Falastin Al Thawra () was an official weekly periodical of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which was published between 1972 and 1994 first in Beirut, Lebanon, and then in Nicosia, Cyprus. It was the major media outlet of the PLO.
History and profile
Falastin Al Thawra was established in 1972, and its first issue appeared on 28 June that year. The magazine succeeded another PLO publication entitled Fatah which appeared between 1970 and 1972. Falastin Al Thawra was started when a Unified Information Unit was formed by the PLO to have a consolidate communication and media strategy. The magazine came out weekly and was based in Beirut. The founding editor-in-chief was Kamal Nasser who held the post until 10 April 1973 when he was assassinated by the Israeli agents. Then Ahmad Abdel Rahman edited the magazine for a long time.
Yasser Arafat read each editorial to be published in the magazine. He had a regular column in the magazine entitled The Leader of the Revolution. Mahmoud Abbas also published artciles in Falastin Al Thawra. The Palestinian poet Ezzedine Al Manasara served as the editor of the culture section of the weekly. One of the sections of the magazine, The Refugees Write, featured statements or poems by the Palestinian refugees from different countries.
Yusuf Al Haytham, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, argued in 1976 that the magazine was close to the Fatah group. Falastin Al Thawra was distributed in the Arab countries. It was also clandestinely distributed in Palestine where the Israeli authorities arrested those who read, carried or owned it. Its headquarters moved to Nicosia immediately after the PLO left Beirut in 1982. The last issue of the magazine appeared on 17 July 1994.
The issues of Falastin Al Thawra are archived by the Palestinian Resource Center.