[News] April 17th: Palestinian Prisoners' Day

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April 17th: Palestinian Prisoners' Day

Free Ahmad Saadat and All Palestinian Political Prisoners!

Taken from: Freedom Road Socialist Organization (Fight Back!) - 
<http://www.frso.org>www.frso.org

Palestinian Prisoners' Day, commemorated throughout Palestine and by 
solidarity activists the world over, April 17, is a day to bring attention 
to the plight of all Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails 
and to demand their immediate release.

This year, the day holds added significance because a top leader of the 
Palestinian resistance movement, Ahmad Saadat, is one of those prisoners. 
Because of Israeli and U.S. pressure, he is held in a Palestinian Authority 
(PA) jail.

Saadat is the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of 
Palestine (PFLP), a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist organization that is the 
second largest political group within the Palestine Liberation Organization 
(PLO). For over 35 years, Saadat and the PFLP have been at the forefront of 
the Palestinians' political and armed struggle for national liberation, the 
Right of Return and an end to the illegal Israeli military occupation of 
Palestine.

In January 2002, Saadat and four other PFLP members were arrested by the 
Palestinian Authority, at the bidding of the United States and Israel, for 
the assassination of Rehevam Ze'evi, the racist Israeli Minister of 
Tourism. Ze'evi openly advocated for the killing and exile of Palestinians. 
In exchange for lifting a military siege on Palestinian President Yasser 
Arafat's compound in April of 2002 (the 'Jericho Agreement'), the PA 
acceded to Israel's demand that the five men be transferred to a prison in 
Jericho, under Palestinian guardianship and the supervision of the U.S. and 
the British.

On June 3, 2002, the Palestinian Supreme Court ordered the release of 
Saadat, as he had never been charged or brought before a judge. Ra'anan 
Gissin, an Israeli spokesman, said that if "[Saadat] is not brought to 
justice, we will bring justice to him," and the next day, June 4, the 
Palestinian Authority decided that he should not be released, "due to 
Israeli threats of assassinating [him]." A little over six months later, 
Saadat wrote an open letter to the Palestinian and Arab people, stating 
that his arrest was a "blatant violation of Palestinian law," and appealing 
to them to "demand the unconditional implementation of Palestinian national 
laws that prohibit political arrests on the basis of conscience or 
resisting the Israeli occupation."

A week after Saadat's open letter, the Palestinian Society for the 
Protection of Human Rights and the Environment noted the following, after 
visiting Saadat in prison, "The procedure to arrest Saadat was illegal. The 
Palestinian Supreme Court has emphasized the illegality of his arrest. He 
is the first highranking Palestinian politician to be arrested since the 
Palestinian Authority was established, and this poses a dangerous precedent 
for international involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and also 
a dangerous precedent for future agreements between the Palestinian 
Authority and Israel. Saadat emphasized that he refuses to cooperate with 
international monitors sent to ensure his imprisonment, because he believes 
that the agreement made between the Palestinian Authority and these 
international bodies is also entirely illegal, as was ruled by the 
Palestinian Supreme Court."

In an interview given to Fight Back! Newspaper in May of 2003, Saadat 
explained further the significance of his arrest, "The 'Jericho Agreement' 
is one of the demands that the PA sees as commitments, which might be more 
important to Israel and the U.S. than the appointment of a prime minister 
or a new minister of finance or interior. Therefore, my release and the 
release of my four comrades require a solid Palestinian position that 
refuses to continually submit to American-supported, Israeli demands. [And 
when] the PA claims that we are being detained for our safety - this is 
utter nonsense used to justify the PA's compliance and submissiveness to 
Israeli security demands."

The arrest and continued imprisonment of Ahmad Saadat is a severe blow to 
the Palestinian resistance movement. Any commitments, especially the 
Jericho Agreement, which turn fighters into prisoners of the Americans and 
the Israelis should be rejected. The defense of liberation fighters starts 
with the protection of their internationally recognized right to resist the 
brutal Israeli military occupation, and the Palestinian Authority must not 
limit their ability to do so.


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