[News] Palestine - Political Statement on 39th Anniversary of PFLP

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Political Statement on 39th Anniversary of 
Founding the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

December 13, 2006
<http://www.fightbacknews.org>http://www.fightbacknews.org

On 11th of December 1967, the Popular Front for 
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was 
established. On today’s 39th anniversary, the 
leadership, members, cadres, and fighters of the 
PFLP would like to express our gratitude for the 
continuous support we have received from the 
Palestinian and Arab people, as well as from 
progressive liberation forces worldwide.

We first want to salute the Palestinian Arab 
people in the 1948-occupied lands, the West Bank, 
the Gaza Strip, and in the Diaspora. We also 
salute the great martyrs of our people who gave 
their lives for the Palestinian cause, especially 
comrade Abu Ali Mustafa, Yasir Arafat, Sheikh 
Ahmad Yassin, Fat’hi Ashikaki, Zohair Muhsin, 
Tal’at Ya’koub, Majid Abu Sharar, Abu Al-Abbas, 
Khalid Nazzal, Jihad Jibril, Hasan Shaker, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, and Fahed Awwad.

Also, comradely greetings to the PFLP’s political 
prisoners in the Israeli occupation’s 
jails­women, men, children, and elderly. And to 
others from all Palestinian political forces in 
the enemy prisons, especially our General 
Secretary and comrade, Ahmad Saadat, and his 
deputy, comrade Abdel-Rahim Mallouh.

We also salute our sisters and brothers in 
Hezbollah, who demonstrated that victory over our 
Zionist enemy has become an achievable reality, 
despite what reactionary Arab regimes and other 
Arab defeatist forces continue to claim.

And finally, the patriotic people of Iraq­we are 
proud of them and their resistance against the 
invasion and occupation forces of the U.S.

Our Palestinian Masses,

Since the establishment of the PFLP, which 
emerged from the Pan-Arab Movement, we have been 
loyal, for decades, to the struggles and 
sacrifices of our people, and have continuously 
persevered to achieve the goals and aspirations 
of the liberation of Palestine and the 
establishment of a democratic nation, in all of 
historic Palestine, as a strategic goal­without 
diminishing the importance of achieving our 
interim goal of a sovereign, independent, 
Palestinian state on 1967-occupied land, with 
Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of all 
Palestinian refugees and their descendants to the 
homes and land from which they were displaced. We 
consider the Right of Return the most essential 
of our interim goals, and the main path to our strategic goal.
The Palestinian cause has entered a complex 
stage, as the Zionist enemy and the influential 
forces in what is called the “international 
community” continue to deny our people’s rights, 
and endeavor to revoke or reduce these rights­in 
an attempt to force our people to submit and surrender.

At the same time, the Zionist enemy continues its 
brutal aggression against our people­murder, 
destruction, assassination, house demolition, the 
uprooting of trees, land expropriation, 
settlement expansion, the continued construction 
of the Apartheid Wall, a suffocating political 
and economic siege, torture, and massive oppression.
Also, the Palestinian internal scene is 
witnessing increased conflicts and a polarization 
that has led to some fratricidal Palestinian 
clashes. This is a real threat that impacts 
Palestinian political and resistance forces, as 
well as all the Palestinian people and their 
national discourse. There is no choice in this 
situation but to have all forces re-establish 
their basic commitment to the highest n ational 
interest, to steer away from political party 
factionalism and sectarianism, and to move 
towards establishing a true national unity based 
on proportional representation on the ground. And 
this unity must be founded on the premise of our 
unequivocal Palestinian National Rights 
(“Thawabit Wataniyyah”)­to ensure the 
contribution of all in the building of our collective future.
We call upon all, including our own comrades, to 
work on building and supporting national unity, 
and we believe that the essence of this unity 
will be based on the following factors:
    * The reactivation and re-establishment of 
the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as 
the sole, legitimate representative of the 
Palestinian people. This includes the rebuilding 
of the Palestine National Council via elections, 
on the basis of proportional representation, as 
agreed upon in the Cairo Dialogue of last year; 
the PLO’s Central Council and Executive 
Committee, respectively; and the PLO’s popular 
institutions, in an effort to bring 
democratization to the PLO in a way that would 
protect our national rights and restore respect 
for the Palestinian National Charter (“Al-Meethaq Alwatani”).
    * The importance of continuing all forms of 
resistance, including military resistance, until 
the occupation is ended; and to NOT accept that 
negotiation with the enemy is the only strategic 
method to confront the occupation. We demand that 
the file of the Palestinian “issue” be 
transferred back to the supervision of the UN 
through an international conference­this will be 
an essential and welcome shift from the previous, 
ineffective means of negotiation: bi-lateral 
talks with the enemy, the Road Map proposed by 
the Quartet (U.S., European Union, Russia, and 
UN), and the enemy’s attempts to impose 
unilateral solutions. We call upon all 
Palestinian forces to unequivocally and especially reject the latter.
    * The importance of forming an actual, 
national unity government based on the political 
program of the Palestinian National Consensus 
Document (“Al wathiqat alwifaq alwatani”). We 
also stress our rejection of any attempt to 
defuse this document, whether through amendments 
or by basing its implementation on other 
documents that may annul it. The PFLP has been at 
the forefront of those demanding the formation of 
this government ever since the election of the 
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in Palestine.
And since a national unity government is one of 
the main demands of our people as well, we call 
upon all Palestinian resistance and popular 
forces to participate in the current dialogue on 
the formation of this government, and insist that 
none of these forces attempt to isolate others from participating.
    * The grave situation in the Gaza Strip. 
Despite the fact that the five main Palestinian 
factions in the Gaza Strip agreed to stop rocket 
attacks against Israel, in exchange for the 
enemy’s cessation of attacks against our people, 
Israeli continues its attack against Palestinians 
in the West Bank. The PFLP states that:
        * We will continue to support the halting 
of rocket attacks in return for Zionist 
withdrawal from the areas it re-invaded in Gaza 
and the West Bank, as well as its commitment to 
halting all incursions and attacks­whether 
assassinations, home demolitions, attacking and 
arresting activists, ground invasions, or air 
raids. If the enemy violates any of this, we 
consider ourselves no longer obliged by the agreement.
        * We do not consider this agreement on 
halting rocket attacks to include halting other 
forms of military and armed resistance.
        * We do not consider the halting of 
rocket attacks to be a general “ceasefire.” Any 
future discussion of this will require a 
Palestinian internal dialogue­to reach an 
agreement on what we will require from the enemy in return for a ceasefire.
    * Ending the siege on the Palestinian people. 
After the victory of Hamas in the legislative 
elections and its forming of a new Palestinian 
Authority (PA) government, the “international 
community,” in concert with the enemy, 
reactionary Arab regimes, and some Palestinian 
leaders, pressured the Hamas government to submit 
to the Quartet’s demands upon it. The siege on 
our people began when Hamas and the Palestinian 
people rightfully refused to submit.
And, despite the brutal damage inflicted upon the 
Palestinians as a result of this siege, these 
powers continue their policies of economic 
strangulation. We condemn and denounce these 
policies, refuse any pre-conditions for ending 
the siege on our people, and demand that the 
siege end immediately. We call on PA President 
Abu Mazin to also demand an end to this siege 
from all of the aforementioned forces.
    * The release of Palestinian and other Arab 
prisoners from Israeli jails. Because this issue 
remains at the heart of our people’s concerns, we want to stress:
        * The importance of coordinating with our 
sisters and brothers in Hezbollah, in regards to 
the Israeli soldier that it captured, as we 
believe that this would strengthen the 
Palestinian position in the prisoner exchange negotiations.
        * That the negotiation process for the 
captured Israeli soldier remains primarily 
attached to the exchange of prisoners, without 
submitting to the enemy’s tactic of basing prisoner exchange on other issues.
        * The importance of guaranteeing that the 
release of Palestinian prisoners actually 
coincides with the release of the captured 
Israeli soldier. We must be aware of the enemy’s 
previous, deceitful tactics of promising to 
release our prisoners in exchange for theirs, and 
then not implementing the agreement.
        * That the exchange of prisoners must 
include our comrades Ahmad Saadat and Abdel-Rahim 
Mallouh, and other prominent leaders of other Palestinian factions
Our Palestinian Masses,

We, in the PFLP, on the occasion of our 39 th 
anniversary, reaffirm our promise and commitment 
to march forward in revolution and resistance until liberation and victory.

Eternal Glory to the Martyrs
Freedom for the Prisoners


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