I asked ALM to update “Palestinian KGB & The Palestinians–Abused and Plundered by Their Own”, a July 2021 mash-up ferrying a little bit of comment above a pretty good set of reference for activists more interested in conflict resolution than in manning the barricades in the cause of their own vanity. Here, only lightly edited, is her report. –J. S. Oppenheim.

The ongoing tragedy of the Middle East Conflict is frequently framed through familiar, well-worn lenses: ideological and religious antagonism, land disputes, or competing nationalisms. Yet beneath the surface of Western media coverage lies a cold, structural reality that academics, policy professionals, and human rights advocates routinely overlook: the Middle East Conflict has been and remains a frozen conflict, i.e., at its core, an engineered Russian “forever war.”

For over six decades, Soviet and Post-Soviet intelligence apparatuses—from the KGB to today’s FSB and SVR—have intellectually weaponized the Palestinian political space by converting legitimate local aspirations into a destabilizing proxy vector against Western liberalism. In effect, Moscow has long kept established a template for active measures (specifically disinformation–disingenuous arguments and lies–driven by political ends), strategic deception, and kleptocratic control by corrupt political elites. To produce for themselves a more genuine sovereignty, Palestinian intelligentsia may undertake review of the lineage accepted without critical facility, dismantle the inherited Soviet security state, and reclaim integrity in independent research and–with that honesty established–integrity in language as well.

1. The Operational Blueprint: Operation SIG and Semantic Inversion

Following the catastrophic defeat of Moscow’s Arab state clients in the 1967 Six-Day War, KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov and General Aleksandr Sakharovsky realized that conventional military confrontation against Western-aligned states was a dead end. In response, the KGB initiated Operation SIG (Sionistskiye Gosudarstva / “Zionist Governments”).

The goal was not to liberate Palestinians, but to create an operational wedge against the West.

1. “Palestinian Liberation” As Framed by Soviet/Post-Soviet Russian Power

• Class War to Anti-Imperialism: The Soviets pivoted from trying to impress middle east powers with dogmatic Marxist-Leninist class rhetoric to framing the regional struggle as a Third World “anti-imperialist liberation movement.”
• Linguistic Traps: The KGB engineered slogans and conceptual inversions designed to resonate within Western academia and the UN. Slogans equating Zionism with racism or fascism were crafted in Moscow to delegitimize the West while obscuring Soviet authoritarianism.
• Cultivating Faction Leaders: Palestinian factional leaders were trained in Soviet bloc facilities in covert warfare, active measures, and public relations.

2. From KGB to FSB: The “Forever War” as a Frozen Conflict

In post-Soviet statecraft, a frozen conflict is a deliberate strategy. From Transnistria and Abkhazia to the Donbas, Moscow maintains unstable, unresolvable zones along its periphery to block regional integration, prevent democratic evolution, and force Western concessions.

The Middle East Conflict serves as Moscow’s original, macro-level frozen conflict.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                            THE "FOREVER WAR" CYCLE                                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  1. Active Measures & Radicalization  -->  Sustains extremist proxy factions.     |
|  2. Regional Instability              -->  Distracts Western diplomatic focus.    |
|  3. Authoritarian Enforcement         -->  Suppresses local democratic reform.     |
|  4. Diplomatic Arbitrage              -->  Moscow positions itself as mediator.   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

By keeping the Middle East locked in a permanent, high-friction state, Moscow achieves three critical objectives:

1. Strategic Distraction: Diverts Western intelligence, military, and diplomatic bandwidth away from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
2. Kleptocratic Maintenance: Entrenches internal security regimes within the Palestinian political apparatus that prioritize survival, surveillance, and graft over open market development, civil law, and freedom of speech.
3. The Proxy Baton Pass: As direct Russian economic capacity fluctuates, Moscow facilitates alliances between its local network and state actors like Tehran. Whether through hosting Hamas delegations in Moscow or coordinating diplomatic maneuvers at the UN, Russia ensures the conflict never settles into permanent peace.

3. The Impact on the Palestinian Community

The primary victims of this prolonged strategic deception are independent Palestinians.

By trapping the community in an operational loop designed by Moscow, local governance has been reduced to an extractive security state. Education, civic enterprise, and individual liberty are systematically sacrificed to maintain the posture of perpetual resistance.

For defenders of human rights and international law, recognizing this dynamic is critical: the ongoing oppression of the Palestinian population is not merely an external issue—it is actively enforced by internal security structures built on Soviet models of authoritarian control.

4. Reclaiming Sovereignty Through Integrity in Language

Real movement toward Middle East stability cannot begin until all sides—diplomats, scholars, and activists alike—audit the language governing the discourse.

For an independent Palestinian intellect, claiming true self-determination requires:

• Auditing Political Terminology: Identifying and discarding Soviet-era active-measures vocabulary designed to prolong conflict rather than build institutions.
• Rejecting Proxy Status: Refusing to allow the Palestinian cause to be used as leverage by foreign autocracies in Moscow or Tehran.
• Demanding Internal Accountability: Shifting focus toward rule of law, transparent governance, civil liberties, and the dismantling of police-state architectures.

The path to genuine peace and sovereignty may require stepping out of an outdated Russian frozen conflict, dismantling the kleptocratic apparatus built to sustain it, and restoring clarity, truth, and integrity to language.

Reference

Andrew, Christopher, and Vasili Mitrokhin. The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World. Basic Books, 2005.

Bergman, Ronen. “The KGB’s Middle East Files: Palestinians in the service of Mother Russia.” Middle East Transparent, February 26, 2024.

Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Resolution 3379: “Zionism is Racism,” Fifty Years Later. INSS Strategic Assessment, Nov. 2025.

Pacepa, Ion Mihai. Red Horizons: Chronicles of a Communist Spy Chief. Regnery Gateway, 1987.

Pacepa, Ion Mihai, and Ronald J. Rychlak. Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism. WND Books, 2013.

United Nations General Assembly. Resolution 3379 (XXX): Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. A/RES/3379(XXX), 10 Nov. 1975.

For a deeper look into the archival evidence behind these sources, Professor Christopher Andrew discusses his findings from the Mitrokhin Archive on The KGB and the Battle for the Third World.

This video provides direct historical context on how Soviet intelligence files declassified by Vasili Mitrokhin detail KGB operations across the global south during the Cold War.

Related Reference Previously Published on BackChannels

Amnesty. “Gaza: Journalist facing prison term for exposing corruption in Hamas-controlled ministry.” February 25, 2019.

Bates, McKenna. “Telling the Truth About Palestinian Child Soldiers.” The Algemeiner, March 8, 2020.

Caligiuri, Gabriel. “The Crescent and the Sickle: A History of “Free Palestine.” Frontier Alliance International, November 1, 2024.

Council on Foreign Relations. “Corruption in the Palestinian Authority.” April 5, 2018.

Dwek, Nimrod. “Hamas, Fatah: The tragedy of corrupted regimes – opinion. The Jerusalem Post, May 20, 2021.

Faus, Jocogo Salvador Mico. “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “Hamas’ child soldiers.” Atalayar, May 12, 2021.

Freiman, Myer. “Hamas Killed 160 Palestinian Children to Build Tunnels.” Tablet, July 25, 2014.

GAB, The Global Anticorruption Blog. “A Closer Look at Corruption, Hamas, and Violence in the Gaza Strip.” June 28, 2021.

Giovannetti, Megan. “Palestinians furious and fed up with corruption of Abbas’s ‘mafia’ PA.” Middle East Eye, February 15, 2019.

Heinze, Eric. “Russia is the global leader in Jew-hate.” The Jewish Chronicle, February 24, 2017.

Liberpedia. “Palestine/KGB”.

McGreal, Chris. “Fatah struggles with tainted image.” The Guardian, January 24, 2006.

Oppenheim, James S. “Endemic Russian Anti-Semitism–A Note.” BackChannels, February 1, 2021.

Starr, Michael. “Why Are Palestinian Child Soldiers Ignored.” The Times of Israel, February 19, 2021.

Ali was incredulous. “You call them a government?” he asked. “I call them mafia.”

For the 22-year-old Palestinian resident of the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron, the Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, is a corrupt institution that benefits only an elite few.Giovannetti, Megan. “Palestinians furious and fed up with corruption of Abbas’s ‘mafia’ PA.” Middle East Eye, February 15, 2019.

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