I recommend the new book by Dhafi Al-Jam`ani titled Mina Al-Hizb Ila As-Sijn, 1948-1994 (From the Party to the Prison, 1948-1994). I hear that the Jordanian government is also dispeased with this book, and it could be withdrawn (as happened in the case of the memoirs of Nadhir Rashid). Jam`ani was a Ba`thist who later became active in the Syrian branch of the Palestinian resistance, As-Sa`iqah. He was imprisoned as soon as Hafidh Al-Asad took power in 1971 (because he was close to Salah Jadid (now, we need a book on Salah Jadid. Politics aside, he was an interesting guy. Hanna Batatu once told me that his appeal among the Syrian army continued to exist for years after the seizure of power by Hafidh Al-Asad and that this explains why he was kept in jail for so long. Somebody told me that he was a broken man in jail. That he would barely talk. When in power, he was quite austere and ascetic and hated publicity. He genuinely believed in "people's liberation war". Yes, he was oppressive and all but he was probably one of the strictest secularists in the contemporary history of the Arab world. People may not know that there always existed a pagan current (represented by Zaki Arsuzi who died a sad man because he felt that his "contribution" to the formation of Ba`th was always obscured by the Aflaq-Bitar-Hawrani trio. Now I would not brag about my contribution to the lousy Ba`th if I were him), and was not released until 1994. On page 278, he says this: "And this split [of the DFLP from the PFLP) would not have achieved the results that it has reached if it were not for the support and protection that it received from" Fath and As-Sa`iqah. And "after the DFLP was formed, it received financial support from Fath and the military support from As-Sa`iqah and the goal of this...was to waken the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine."
The book has some interesting information but it is not well-written and it is badly edited. I also like his critical references to the lousy leadership style of Yasir `Arafat.