This paper examines images of Palestinian militancy in the theatre of Mamduh Adwan, arguing that within the orthodoxy of anit-Zionist politics, Adwan carved out a space for critiques of Arab populations, Arab governments, and Syrian foreign policy. Following the trajectory of Adwan's dramatic career, I examine an increasingly direct critique of the hypocrisy of Arab people and leaders in their pronounced support for the Palestinian cause. From an allegorical critique of the failure of Arab countries to defend Palestine in 1948 in one of his earliest plays (The Man Who Didn't Fight 1972) Adwan would eventually proceed to an attack on Syria's responsibility for the violence in Palestinian refugee camps (The Day of Judgment 1987). The power of such critiques is all the more apparent when compared with the work of Ali Aqla Arsan, playwright and Baath party member, whose work is more closely allied with the vision of the Palestinian conflict espoused by Syrian political elites.