Il Partito Comunista Italiano e la questione palestinese (1945-1956): "l'Unità" e "Rinascita"

Abstract

This essay examines the evolution of the Italian Comunist Party attitude towards the Arab-Israeli conflict from the end of the World War II up to the Suez crisis in 1956, mainly through an analysis of the Comunist official press. The article intends to focus on the importance of that decade in contrast with the emphasis placed on the Six-Day War in 1967 in determining a shift in the Comunist position on the Palestinian question from an initial support of the Jewish cause to an increasing solidarity with the Arab States. This change cannot be explained without taking into account the Cold War international context and the links of international Comunism to Soviet foreign policy. The author argues that the defeat of Israeli Comunist Party in 1949 elections, the raise of the Arab nationalist movements, Nasser’s rise to power in Egypt, Stalin’s antisemitic campaign (which led to the show trials in Prague and Moscow and to the Israeli-Soviet diplomatic relations breakdown in 1953), as well as the Suez War, were all fundamental events that led to this turnover and forged the image of Israel as an ally of imperialism.