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<body>
<font size=3>Ahmad Sa’adat (Abu Ghassan): Secretary General of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the second largest
faction in the PLO and the leading Palestinian party of the left.
Sa’adat has been held without trial in Jericho jail under U.S./U.K.
monitoring since May 2002, accused by Israel of ordering the
assassination of former Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Zeevi.
He was nominated by the PFLP to run as a Parliamentary candidate in the
PLC elections scheduled for January 2006, as a means of publicizing his
continued detention and bringing pressure to bear for his release.<br>
<br>
Sa’adat is a veteran of the first Palestinian intifada, and has spent a
total of 10 years in Israeli jails for PFLP activism. He rose
to prominence within the PFLP for his activities as an organizer and
leader of Palestinian prisoners. Although not well-known internationally
or in the media, Sa’adat - a PFLP “insider” who has always stayed
in the West Bank and Gaza rather than going into exile - >is
highly regarded in the Occupied Territories as a charismatic leader who
remains in touch with the grassroots. <br>
<br>
A math teacher by training, Sa’adat is married (to Abla) and has four
children. He lives in al-Bira, near Ramallah. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>THE PFLP<br>
</b></div>
<br>
The PFLP is the largest party on the Palestinian left, with an ideology
that combines Arab nationalism with Marxist-Leninism. It was
founded in 1967 by George Habash, a Palestinian Christian (and
Palestinian Orthodox Christians have historically been prominently
represented in the movement). The PFLP does not recognise the
existence of Israel as a Jewish state, and rejects the Oslo
process. It reserves the right to use all means, including armed
intifada, in pursuit of a single, secular democratic state of Arabs and
Jews on all of Mandate Palestine. It sees the Palestinians’
struggle as an integral part of the wider struggle against U.S.
imperialism and its client regimes in the Middle East. With the
fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of political Islam, the PFLP has
been eclipsed as Palestine’s second political party by Hamas. (It
polled about 7% in the Palestinian local elections in the fall/winter of
2005). One of Ahmad’s Sa’adat’s declared aims as party leader is to
re-establish the popular base of the PFLP and establish it as
</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12004.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">a third pole</a></font><font size=3> in
Palestinian politics, alongside Fatah and Hamas.<br>
<br>
<b> <br>
Some historical background on the PFLP </b>from
</font>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,543212,00.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Lawrence Joffe</a></font><font size=3>:
<i>Said to be the second largest faction within the PLO apparatus after
Yasser Arafat's own Fatah, the Popular Front was officially created in
the wake of the Six Day war, in December 1967. Since 1948, Palestinians
had felt grievously let down by other Arab leaders. Fatah chose the path
of galvanising the West Bank and Gaza masses to throw off the yoke of
their new Israeli rulers. When this proved a failure, Fatah effectively
took over the discredited PLO, and over time sought friends and money in
the Arab world. <br>
The PFLP, by contrast, interpreted the Palestine problem as merely the
worst symptom of a general Middle Eastern malaise. They eschewed support
from Gulf potentates, turning instead to the patronage of Russia and
China. The PFLP saw the elimination of Israel as a means towards the
ultimate goal, of ridding the Middle East of dictators who kow-towed to
Western capitalism. Under the rule of Habash, they fused together a heady
brew of Maoism and Arab nationalism. Soon the group gained international
notoriety for hijackings and terrorist attacks. In Amman, Jordan, the
belligerency of their cadres was blamed for the onset of the Black
September crackdown of 1970, which crushed the PLO and forced its flight
to safer climes in southern Lebanon. <br>
But with the decline of the Soviet economy, the onset of detente and
eventual collapse of the USSR, the PFLP lost ground to the distinctly
unsecular radicals of Hamas. [Habash’s successor, Abu Ali] Mustafa was
prominent in promulgating the 1987 intifada through radio broadcasts, but
in time the group showed signs of schism, as "insiders" on the
West Bank, like Riad al-Malki, forged links with Fatah and even Israeli
left-wingers. <br>
Attempting to regain the initiative after the supposed PLO-Israeli
breakthrough of Oslo in 1993, the PFLP joined forces with a 10-member
rejection front, based in Damascus. It forbade members to participate in
the Palestinian elections in 1996, but three years later, Mustafa,
accepting the Palestine Authority as a fait accompli, rushed to Cairo to
negotiate better terms with Yasser Arafat. <br>
</i>The PFLP’s election of Ahmad Sa’adat in October 2001 to replace its
assassinated Secretary-General, was generally regarded as a sign that the
movement was shifting moving away from the more pragmatic positions of
Abu Ali Mustafa, and reverting to the more hardline rejectionism of its
original founder. <br>
<b><u>More background on the PFLP from</u></b>: <br>
o
</font>
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/israel_and_the_palestinians/profiles/1604540.stm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">BBC News</a></font><font size=3> <br>
o
</font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PFLP">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Wikipedia</a><br>
</font><font size=3>
o
</font>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,576140,00.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">The Guardian</a><br>
</font><font size=3> <br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>AHMAD SA’ADAT BIOGRAPHICAL TIMELINE:<br>
</b></div>
<br>
<b>1953</b> – Born in al-Bira, to 1948 refugees from the destroyed
village of Dayr Tarif (nr al-Ramleh).<br>
<br>
<b>1967 </b>– Became a student activist following the Israeli occupation
of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the PFLP-led Palestine Student
Union.<br>
<br>
<b>1969 </b>– Formally joined the PFLP, attracted by its combination of
Marxism-Leninism (which he felt most suitable for the son of a refugee
peasant family) with traditional pan-Arab nationalism.<br>
<br>
<b>Feb 1969</b> – First arrested by Israel for PFLP activities; 3 months
detention. Arrested again in 1970 (28 months), 1973 (10 months),
1975 (45 days). Credits his early years in prison with giving him
the opportunity to advance his understanding of Marxist theory and
consolidating his commitment to the PFLP.<br>
<br>
<b>1975</b> – Graduated from the UNRWA Teachers Training College in
Ramallah, specializing in Mathematics.<br><br>
<b>1976 </b>– Rearrested by the Israelis (detained for four years).<br>
<br>
<b>Apr 1981</b> - Elected to the Central Committee of the PFLP. <br>
<br>
<b>1989</b> – Arrested and held in administrative detention for 9
months.<br>
<br>
<b>1992</b> - Arrested and held in administrative detention for 13
months.<br>
<br>
<b>Mar 1993</b> - Elected to the Politburo of the PFLP while still in
administrative detention, reportedly in recogition of his education and
organizing activities with other detainees.<br>
<i> <br>
</i><b>1993</b> – Released from administrative detention, but declared a
“wanted person” liable to re-arrest, shortly after release.<br>
<br>
<b>1994</b> – Elected leader of the PFLP in the West Bank. <br>
<br>
<b>1995</b> – Arrested by the PA and briefly detained in a sweep of PFLP
members, under Israeli pressure.<br>
<br>
<b>Mar 1996</b> – Briefly detained without charge again by the PA in a
sweep of known activists.<br>
<br>
<b>Dec 1996</b> –
</font><a href="http://phrmg.org/monitor1997/may97-9.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Arrested</a></font><font size=3> by the PA
in a roundup of PFLP members on the West Bank, following a PFLP attack on
Israeli settlers in Beit-El/Surda on 11 December. Released without
charge on 27 February 1997 after conducting a
</font><a href="http://phrmg.org/monitor1997/may97-9.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">hunger strike</a></font><font size=3>, the
PA fearing the consequences if he should die in jail. (Collapsed hours
after release, and spent several days comatose and on a respirator in
Ramallah Hospital).<br>
<br>
<b>2000</b> – George Habash steps down as General Secretary of the PFLP,
at the party’s Sixth National Conference. Replaced by Mustafa Zibri (Abu
Ali Mustafa), a member of the 'old guard' of exiled leaders based in
Damascus, and regarded as a pragmatist in relations with Arafat and with
Israel.<br>
<i> <br>
</i><b>27 Aug 2001 </b>-
</font>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,543212,00.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Abu Ali Mustafa</a></font><font size=3>
assassinated when an Israeli helicopter fired rockets at his office in
the West Bank town of Ramallah.<br>
<i> <br>
</i><b>3 Oct 2001</b> – Ahmad Sa’adat elected Secretary-General of the
PFLP, regarded as a shift away from the pragmatism of Abu Ali Mustafa and
in line with the more hardline principles of George Habash. Sa’adat
declares at his inaugural press conference that the goals of the
Palestinian people are "our right of return, and our independence,
with Jerusalem as the capital” He also vows to avenge the assassination
of Abu Ali Mustafa.<br>
<br>
<b>17 Oct 2001</b> – Four members of the PFLP assassinate the far-right
Israeli Tourism Minister
</font>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,576077,00.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Rehavam Zeevi</a></font><font size=3>.
(Zeevi is known as a supporter of the forced expulsion of the
Palestinians from the Occupied Territories, and as a proponent of
“</font>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,576142,00.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">targetted
assassinations</a></font><font size=3>”. His assassination is a
popular move among militants, and reinvigorates support for the PFLP in
the Occupied Territories). Israel accuses Sa’adat of having ordered the
assassination.<br>
<br>
<b>22 Oct 2001</b> – The PA
</font><a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/557/re2.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">condemns</a></font><font size=3> the killing
of Zeevi as contrary to wider Palestinian interests as it gives Israel an
excuse to take military action in the Occupied Territories.
</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa06000.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Jibril Rajoub</a></font><font size=3>, head
of the West Bank Preventative Security Service, outlaws the military wing
of the PFLP - the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades - and issues an
ultimatum to Ahmad Sa’adat to turn himself in or face arrest. <br><br>
</font><h1><b>24 Oct 2001 – IDF attacks the West Bank village of
<a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/559/15op1.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Beit Rima</a></font>, apparently in an
unsuccessful attempt to
<a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/558/re1.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">capture Sa’adat</a></font>, shooting dead
nine Palestinians including 5 local
<a href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/20011106.asp">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">policemen</a></font> sleeping in an olive
grove. </b></h1><font size=3><b>15 Jan 2002</b> – Sa’adat is arrested by
Palestinian special forces after being lured to a meeting in a Ramallah
hotel with PA Intelligence chief
</font>
<a href="http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2002/01/17/story21304.asp">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Tawfiq Tirawi</a></font><font size=3>.
The PFLP
</font><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1763467.stm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">condemns</a></font><font size=3> the PA for
caving to U.S. and Israeli pressure, and putting its own
</font>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,635389,00.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">survival</a></font><font size=3> ahead of
the national consensus by arresting the head of a PLO faction. Its
military wing warns that it will
</font><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1766273.stm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">kill Arafat aides</a></font><font size=3> if
Sa’adat is not released. PFLP supporters protest the arrest in the
streets of Ramallah, Gaza City and Bethlehem.<br>
<br>
<b>2 Feb 2002</b> – The PFLP's politburo announces that the movement will
suspend its participation in the PLO
</font><a href="http://www.china.org.cn/english/2002/Feb/26413.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Executive Committee</a></font><font size=3>
until Sa’adat is released. <br>
<br>
<b>21 Feb 2002</b> – The PA’s General Intelligence Services
</font>
<a href="http://www.amin.org/eng/elias_zananiri/2002/feb/feb21.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">capture</a></font><font size=3> in Nablus
the cell of the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades believed responsible for
the assassination of Zeevi. They are held with Sa’adat at Arafat’s
Ramallah compound. <br>
<br>
<b>Mar-Apr 2002</b> – Sa’adat besieged with Arafat in the Muqata by the
IDF, beginning 29 Mar.<br>
<br>
<b>29 Apr 2002</b> - Under heavy U.S. pressure, Arafat
</font><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0430-02.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">accepts a deal</a></font><font size=3> to
end the siege of his compound. The terms of the deal are not made
public but it is apparent that Israel has agreed to lift the siege on
Arafat in return for the PA agreeing to imprison under international
supervision Ahmad Sa’adat, the four PFLP members accused of killing Zeevi
(Basel al-Asmar, 'Ahed Abu Ghalma, Majdi al-Rimawi and Hamdi Qar'an), and
Fuad Shubaki - the PA official accused of organising the Karine A weapons
shipment. The four PFLP members are cursorily tried by a military
tribunal inside the Muqata, and sentenced to terms up to 18 years’
imprisonment for killing Zeevi. Arafat rules that Sa’adat is a
political leader, not a military leader, and so his case must be decided
by the Palestinian
</font><a href="http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/2002/05/02/28167_.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">judiciary</a></font><font size=3>.
<br>
<br>
<b>1 May 2002</b> – All six are transferred to Jericho Prison on the
evening of 1 May, where they are nominally under the control of the P.A.
but actually guarded by U.S. and British monitors. Arafat is widely
criticised in the Occupied Territories for winning his own freedom at the
expense of Sa’adat’s.<br>
<br>
<b>2 May 2002</b> – IDF withdraws from the Muqata.<br>
<br>
<b>3 Jun 2002</b> – The Palestinian High Court of Justice in Gaza rules
that there is no evidence linking Sa’adat to the assassination of Zeevi,
and no legal grounds for his continuing detention. It orders his
immediate
</font>
<a href="http://198.65.147.194/English/News/2002-06/03/article78.shtml">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">release</a></font><font size=3> from
jail.
</font>
<a href="http://www.centerpeace.org/MEWIR/Volume%202%5CMEWIR%20Vol%202%20Issue%208.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Ra'anan Gissin</a></font><font size=3>, an
Israeli government spokesperson, implies that if the PA releases Sa’adat,
he will be assassinated (“if he is not brought to justice, we will bring
justice to him”…)<br>
<br>
<b>4 Jun 2002</b> - The Palestinian Cabinet
</font>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,727254,00.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">declines</a></font><font size=3> to
implement the High Court ruling,
</font>
<a href="http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2002-06/04/article16.shtml">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">ostensibly</a></font><font size=3> because
it fears that Sa’adat will be assassinated if released. (More
realistically, it is probably because releasing Sa’adat will contravene
the terms of the 29 Apr agreement that removed the Isrelis from the
Muqata). <br>
<br>
<b>13 Jun 2002</b> –
</font><a href="http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=501">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Amnesty
International</a></font><font size=3> calls for the PA to respet the
finding of the High Court and release Sa’adat immediately, and for Israel
to guarantee it will not take extrajudicial measures against him.
Palestinian
</font><a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/591/re3.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">NGO’s</a></font><font size=3> call upon
Arafat to uphold the rule of law. Sa’adat remains in jail.<br>
<br>
<b>20 Aug 2002</b> – Israeli Special Forces troops assassinate Sa’adat’s
younger
</font>
<a href="http://english.people.com.cn/200208/21/eng20020821_101833.shtml">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">brother</a></font><font size=3>, Mohammed, a
low-ranking
</font><a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/601/re2.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">member</a></font><font size=3> of the PFLP,
at his home near Ramallah. <br>
<br>
<i>Muhammed Sa'adat (22) was assassinated in his house<br>
in Al-Bireh by an Israeli special unit yesterday…</i>.<br>
(al-Quds al-Arabi, 21 August 2002).<br>
<br>
<b>26 Aug 2002</b> – Sa’adat begins a 72-hour
</font>
<a href="http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=201659&contrassID=1&sub">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">hunger strike</a></font><font size=3> to
protest his continued detention.<br>
<br>
<b>14 Jan 2003</b> – In a
</font><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-News/message/8332">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">letter</a></font><font size=3> from prison,
Sa’adat expresses his opposition to the Road Map, on the grounds that it
is designed solely to provide security for Israel’s occupation and
criminalize opposition to it as terrorism.<br>
<br>
<b>23 Jan 2003</b> – Sa’adat’s wife, Abla, is
</font>
<a href="http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:4fSvZhCKMhIJ:www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/politics/5012660.htm%3Ftemplate%3DcontentModules/printstory.jsp+%22ahmed+sa%27adat%22&hl=en">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">arrested</a></font><font size=3> by Israeli
troops at the Allenby Bridge border crossing, and prevented from
addressing the
</font>
<a href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/updates/activist_detained_by_israelis.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">World Social Forum</a></font><font size=3>
in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where she was a scheduled speaker. <br>
<br>
<b>15 Mar 2005</b> – PA President Mahmoud Abbas suggests that Sa’adat
will be
</font>
<a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3058596,00.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">released</a></font><font size=3> when the PA
resumes security control of Jericho later that month. Other PA
officials deny they have any such intention, and Sa’adat himself
</font><a href="http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-3-15/27084.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">doubts</a></font><font size=3> whether the
PA even has the power to release him. <br>
<br>
<b>23 Nov 2005</b> – The PFLP announces that Sa’adat will run in the
</font>
<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=648755">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">PLC elections</a></font><font size=3> of Jan
2006, in the hope that this will raise awareness of his imprisonment and
bring pressure to bear for his release.<br>
<br>
<b><u>Other Biographical Information Online<br>
</u></b>
o
Profile of Ahmad Sa’adat from
</font><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1763912.stm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">BBC NEWS</a><br>
</font><font size=3>
o
Biographical notes from Glen Rangwala’s
</font>
<a href="http://middleeastreference.org.uk/palbiograph.html#AhmadSa’adat">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Middle East
Reference</a></font><font size=3> <br>
o
And from the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International
Affairs
(</font>
<a href="http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/personalities/alpha_s.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">PASSIA</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>POLITICAL VIEWS<br>
</b></div>
<br>
Sa’adat is regarded as a "hardliner" within the PFLP, strongly
opposing compromise with Israel and less inclined to recognise the
authority of the PA than Abu Ali Mustafa. He regards the right of
return for Palestinian refugees as the central issue in the
Palestinian/Israeli conflict, which can be ultimately resolved only
through a non-sectarian single state solution. <br><br>
Sa’adat regards international law and U.N. resolutions as the basis for
realising Palestinian aspirations, and rejects the idea that U.S.
mediation can ever take the place of international law or lead to a
just solution, as it is U.S. imperialism in the Middle East (and Israel’s
role in it as a U.S. proxy) that lies at the heart of the conflict. He
does not believe that the PA can do anything to bring the occupation to
as end, as it depends for its survival on providing security for the
Israeli occupier. Inasmuch as the PA opposes the armed struggle and
seeks to end it in favour of a negotiated solution, Sa’adat regards it as
a vehicle of the capitalist ruling classes and an obstacle to Palestinian
freedom rather than a means of achieving it. <br>
<br>
Sa’adat advocates intifada by all means available, including education
and mobilisation of the masses alongside continuation of the armed
struggle, and regards the Palestinian intifada as an integral part of the
wider international struggle of the left against U.S. imperialism in its
militaristic (e.g. the invasion of Iraq) and economic (e.g.
“globalization”) forms.<br>
<br>
<b>Comments by Sa’adat<br>
<br>
On the right of return: </b><i>The Right of Return is neither a
knee-jerk emotional reaction, nor an abstract legal right, nor right-wing
chauvinism. On the contrary, it is realistic, and constitutes the only
basis for a permanent and everlasting peace… Any solution that ignores
the Right of Return as a basis for a permanent peace between the
Palestinians and the Jewish settlers who forcibly expelled the indigenous
people of Palestine and colonized the land may produce short periods of
quiet and calm, but will not eliminate the objective conditions that
produce the conflict between our people and the Zionist
movement.<br><br>
Therefore, the implementation of international resolutions and
international law pertaining to the Right of Return, as a first step, may
prepare the foundation for a permanent peace and end the struggle in
Palestine and around Palestine. This right, as the essence of the
Palestine question, represents the bridge for a democratic and
comprehensive solution of the conflict between the Jewish settlers and
the Palestinian people.
</i>(</font>
<a href="http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=111">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<i> <br>
<br>
</i><b>On the two state solution</b>: <br>
<br>
1. <i>Some have argued that the current reality is pushing towards
a two-state solution - an Israeli state next to a Palestinian state based
on the pre-1967 borders. Of course, this solution involves ignoring the
Right of Return, or replacing it with reparations. We in the PFLP argue
that forcing such a solution on the Palestinian people will not end the
struggle, because the facts and reality contradict such a solution. The
two-state solution that is based on the racist notion of 'a national,
homogeneous Jewish state' totally disregards the fact that over 1.3
million Palestinians - 20% of the entire population - live inside
'Israel.' This will continue to permit the causes of conflict to remain
inside Israel. Therefore, the solution based on two states is a myth
</i>(</font>
<a href="http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=111">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>).<i> <br>
<br>
2. The two state solution is a starting point which will create the
necessary climate for a peaceful solution. Of course, the fight for a
single democratic state, without any kind of ethnic or religious
discrimination, should never end, because it is the only possible
solution that can solve the problem of the Palestinians of 1948 and of
the right to return. In this fight we need international solidarity
and unity from those who struggle along with us. As Palestinians
and also as PFLP, we are proud of all these actions of solidarity with
the Palestinian people</i>.
(</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12005.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>) <br>
<br>
<i>3. In the PFLP, we don’t think that “two states for two peoples”
is a viable solution. Even if we reach this goal, the problem will
be far from resolved, primarily because the state of Israel will continue
to exist exactly as it is. Above all, two major questions would
remain: What about the refugees? For us, the question of the
right of return for refugees, who represent more than half of all
Palestinians, is a fundamental question inasmuch as the right of return
is an inalienable right. Now, the two state solution leaves out the
refugees. It is out of the question that they can live in the West
Bank or in Gaza… you see, the main problem remains. And what
happens to the Palestinians of 1948? This problem is equally
important. There are more than a million of them, and they are
first and foremost Palestinians, and they too live under the oppression
of the state of Israel. I won’t spell it out but you can see, the
two state solution can only be at best a temporary solution. <br>
<br>
A real solution to the conflict would have to meet three fundamental
needs: the end of the occupation, the return of the refugees, and
the creation of a truly democratic government on all of historic
Palestine. When you look at history, this is the only legitimate
solution</i>.
(</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12002.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>On the Oslo agreement</b> – <i>These agreements were a project –
almost entirely economic in nature – drawn up between the Palestinian
bourgeoisie and the Israeli occupier. Through these accords, Israel
succeeded in making the PLO give up its platform and strategy, to the
detriment of the Palestinian population’s living conditions.
Remember that at that time, after the Gulf War, the PLO had enormous
financial difficulties. The Oslo Accords offered the possiblity of
financial recovery thanks to important commercial agreements. Oslo
is not a political agreement that might have led to a solution for the
Palestinian people. Instead it was a plan that involved only
security and commercial issues, with Israeli security as one of its
goals. <br>
There was with Oslo a passing of the baton between the Israelis and the
Authority in a number of regions, including in those areas that the
Authority did not completely control. The years passed, with the
results that you already know, and there was one fundamental rule
contained in the Oslo Accords: namely, it was forbidden to
seek any “solution” except through negotiation with the Israelis.<br>
Then there was the Camp David episode, and the scandalous proposals of
Barak and Clinton. The PFLP was (and still is) in favour of
stopping all negotiations with the occupier, which would have meant that
the Palestinian Authority would have had to become a real resistance
movement, in touch with the people. But it didn’t choose that
route. And so today we have reached this situation in which the
only opposition that remains between occupier and occupied is the
opposition of the Palestinian people against the state of Israel.
Meanwhile the Authority looks in from the outside, a spectator that wants
only one thing, which is to recover its power at any price.</i>
(</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12002.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<b> <br>
<br>
On the road map</b>: <br>
1. <i>The Road Map seems like a reward for the Palestinian people
or, if you will, the carrot that has to be given to the Arabs of
Palestine in place of the stick that’s been used against the
Iraqis. In reality, it must be said that the Road Map is above all
an attempt to contain the Palestinians and to stop the intifada: so
completing what the Israelis have done with the “stick” with America’s
international backing. The Road Map tries to skirt round UN
resolutions, which recognise the right of our people to have their own
independent state. This plan has the aim of reshaping Palestinian
aspirations, so that their state will be designed according to the needs
and limits laid down by Israel. I too wonder how the PNA can be so
attached to it, and I can’t give any logical explanation. Because
the Road Map doesn’t offer anything new, but leads to a return to
negotiations under the terms of the Oslo Accords, which led ultimately to
the dead end called Camp David</i>.
(</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12006.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<i>2. The illusions of the Palestinian Authority were offset by the
reality contained in the Road Map. The PA thought, or perhaps wished,
that the Road Map would provide the pathway and mechanisms towards an
independent state on the Palestinian lands occupied in 1967, based on the
address by George Bush in which he called for the formation of a
Palestinian leadership that would seriously fight terrorism (in other
words, the Palestinian Resistance).<br>
It was clear that the primary aim of this new-old security project was to
contain the Palestinian issue, to provide security for the Zionist
occupier and its settlers, and to transfer the entire crisis onto
Palestinian society. … Too much has been said about the Road Map. Suffice
to say that the Road Map is a political initiative that is based on the
criminalization of the Palestinian people and condemnation of the
Palestinian resistance as terrorism. It is also a blatant intervention in
the Palestinian internal affairs. The Road Map can only serve as an
American political umbrella to manage and contain the crisis in
Palestine, providing more space for “Israel” to impose its logic on both
our people and on the Palestinian Authority. <br><br>
We are asked to exchange the Intifada for the Road Map. Such exchange
will not be beneficial for our people and will only re-create the wheels
of Oslo but in a much worse version! It might have benefits, but only for
specific layers in the ruling class within the Palestinian Authority,
which took advantage of Oslo and the political negotiation to build its
own private projects and to partnerships with Zionist investors.</i>
(</font><a href="http://www.alhadafmagazine.com/dpPLO/dp.asp">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>On the role of the Palestinian Authority</b>: <br>
<br>
<i>1</i>. <i>The Palestinian bourgeoisie has chosen the path of
negotiations and conciliation with the Zionist entity keeping the
struggle as a tactical option that it uses to improve its position every
time its negotiations with Israel reach an impasse that aggravates its
internal contradictions. Regardless of their intentions, the strategic
path that they have chosen for settling the struggle of the Palestinian
people with the Zionist enemy and for attempting to attain the components
of the national establishment - this chosen path, in light of the real
balance of forces on the ground locally, regionally, and internationally,
leads objectively to frittering away the national rights of our people.
If, as a supposition, this choice in the beginning was by way of an
erroneous analysis, today after the emergence of the Authority and the
concentration of ruling class coalition interests it represents, the
chosen path has come to express a vital and strategic interest in
remaining in power. Abandoning the path of conciliation would threaten to
destroy the agreements that brought the bourgeoisie outside and inside
the homeland to the pinnacle of the self-rule government.</i>
(</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12001.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<i>2. As for the silence surrounding us, primary responsibility for
that rests I think with the PA itself and with the NGO’s associated with
it. They have chosen to put the emphasis on those held in Israel
because for them our case is really embarrassing. As I said, they
put us here because the Americans insisted, and the fact that Palestinian
leaders agreed to arrest members of the Palestinian resistance looks very
contradictory. This is why the PA and its NGO’s have chosen to keep quiet
about our case. It is an enormous admission of weakness. <br>
We are here because we did away with Zeevi, a racist minister of the
extreme right, who advocated the “transfer” of all Palestinians to
Jordan, who was a member of the Israeli cabinet and consistently
supported every proposal to assassinate leaders of the Palestinian
resistance. He was one of the people who asked for the
assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa [former secretary of the PFLP, killed in
August 2001]. We have the right to respond in kind, i.e. by killing
one of their leaders. What the Authority should have done and
should do now, rather than submitting to Israeli demands, is to do
exactly what the Israelis do: demand that all the Israelis who
order or carry out the murder of Palestinians be handed over to
them. Instead of that, it says nothing and just avoids talking
about us. All that it has succeeded in doing is to help the
Israelis, who have been demanding for some time that the PFLP be included
on the European Union’s list of terrorist organisations.
</i>(</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12005.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>) <br>
<i>3. The Authority would like the resistance to end completely in
order to negotiate with the Israelis, but this is not how the general
population or the political parties feel. We want much more: after
the failure of Oslo, we want a real strategy of struggle that will make
it possible for Palestinian claims to be realised, and for us to build a
truly democratic Palestinian society at the same time. Fatah agrees
with this. I would go so far as to say that our political parties
are collectively of one mind today that we need a temporary leadership to
direct the Palestinian resistance. Obviously the PA doesn’t want to
discuss a temporary leadership that would take away some of its own
power. <br>
It is clear that today the Authority is an obstacle to the resistance,
inasmuch as it represents the interests of only the Palestinian
bourgeoisie, interests which they share with the Israelis but not with
the Palestinian population. They have no interest in what the
intifada is trying to bring about. On the contrary, what they
want is to stop the resistance; in other words, you could say that their
interests go against the interests of the people. You see, even if
we manage to create unity between the Palestinian political parties, an
obstacle will remain, and it is called the Palestinian
Authority.</i>
(</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12005.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<br>
<i>4. [I]n response to the whispers of those who call for the end
of the Intifada under the claim of protecting the national interest of
our people, I would like to state clearly that the continuation of the
Intifada might harm the interest of the Palestinian Authority. That is
logical and possible. However, the existence of the Authority, any
authority, is not a goal in itself, except for those who see it as a mean
to self-interested gain. The Palestinian Authority in our situation was
supposed to be, according to the defenders of Oslo, a mechanism for
transition from the occupation to a real Palestinian sovereignty in order
to end the occupation. Such a view could be understood. However, if the
PA was no longer capable of such a task, and responded to international
pressure to justify its existence, then the PA would be a tool of
oppression against the Palestinian people, the Intifada and the
resistance.& nbsp; Therefore, in this case, what would justify the PA
existence and would it represent the highest national interest of the
Palestinian people…?</i>
(</font><a href="http://www.alhadafmagazine.com/dpPLO/dp.asp">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>On the intifada</b>: <i>The uprising is a popular initiative. It is a
state of rebellion which is a response to the failure of the political
negotiations which reached a dead end in Camp David 2000, and a rejection
of the attempts by Barak’s Zionist government to impose its conditions on
our people and marginalize the Palestinian national rights. In other
words, the uprising was a natural response to the Zionist political
escalation against our people. And the methods and weapons used by the
resistance were also a natural result to the Zionist military escalation
against our people. The weaknesses which accompanied the uprising stemmed
from the absence of a unified political decision and the absence of a
unified leadership, as well as from the state of political division that
our people have lived through since the birth of Madrid-Oslo path. In
addition the lack of harmony and balance between the armed struggle and
the popular mass initiatives also weakened the uprising. There are
attempts to hold the uprising responsible for the pain and the suffering
of our people rather than holding the occupier responsible. This is an
unjust judgment which holds no objective understanding. It is only
natural that the losses of the occupied are larger than those of the
occupier, especially when the occupying power posses a superior military
machine.</i>
(</font><a href="http://www.alhadafmagazine.com/dpPLO/dp.asp">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<br>
<b>On the international context of the I/P conflict</b> – <br>
1. <i>[W]e should never forget that our struggle must be seen in an
international context, i.e. within the imperialist world order.
Israel is a state whose fundamental role is to protect the interests of
imperialism in our region. That has strong resonances with the
situation of South Africa in the time of Apartheid. Our fight is
basically anti-imperialist. The Palestinian question is today at
the heart of world problems, which is why we must build a resistance that
is linked to the anti-imperialist movements of the whole world. The
solidarity that we need is an anti-imperialist solidarity. I’m
thinking here particularly of the anti-globalisation movement which has
developed over the last few years. If we want to succeed, we must
certainly build a popular resistance, but we must also never separate the
local from the global and take care to ensure that our struggle is
integrated more fully into the struggles against imperialism and
capitalist globalisation, both of which we must address.</i>
(</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12005.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
2. This leads us to stake out a position that condemns the form of
terrorism exported by Americans as globalism, the latest form of their
imperialism ; to use this position to forge alliances between the Arab
regimes and the Arab popular forces that are opposed to the latest war of
aggression against the peoples ; and to strive to form the broadest
possible world front to stand in the face of the new imperialism. Of
overarching importance is that this three-fold tactic be applied in
tandem with an escalation of the intifada and the resistance. Otherewise,
if the intifada and the resistance decline while more moderate parallel
activities are being pursued, the self-interest of our Palestinian people
will be forfeited. <br>
<i> <br>
One may choose to avoid confronting a bull while it is stampeding around
him, but avoiding confrontation at such a moment does not allevieate the
eventual or present danger of falling under its hooves. Avoiding
confrontation might appear "wise" and "logical" to
one who draws up his policies in the coffee houses, offices, and parlors
of diplomatic activity. But this approach appears impotent to one who
builds his political position on the results of battles in the field. The
contrast likens that between a slave who sees his master angry and breaks
his strike out of fear of punishment and the free man who works as a
slave, confronts his master, and starts a slave revolt that sweeps away
his master’s authority, liberating all slaves and returning bread,
humanity, and dignity to each one of them. The point of departure in this
situation is in defining the goals of the mad bull. We all agree that
these goals are evident in America’s efforts to achieve total world
hegemony. This hegemony means that even if the bull does not trample us
today, it will trample us under its hooves and finish us off tomorrow. So
which is the more useful policy, then, to resist this bull, or to throw
ourselves under its hooves?</i>
(</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12001.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Source</a></font><font size=3>)<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b><u>INTERVIEWS AND WRITINGS ONLINE<br>
</u></b></div>
o <b><i>Interview with Ahmed
Sa’adat, on his election as Secretary General of the PFLP</i> </b>–
published by
</font>
<a href="http://apa.online.free.fr/imprimersans.php3?id_article=103&nom_site=Agence%20Presse%20Associative&url_site=http://apa.online.free.fr">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">al Hadaf</a></font><font size=3> magazine,
</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12001.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">reproduced here</a></font><font size=3> with
easier formatting.<b> <br>
<br>
</b>o <b><i>An interview with
Ahmed Saadat - </i></b>by Julien Salingue for
</font><a href="http://apa.online.free.fr/article.php3?id_article=99">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Agence Presse
Association</a></font><font size=3>, 9 Sept 2002. Translations
</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12002.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">in English</a></font><font size=3>, and
</font>
<a href="http://www.arcipelago.org/palestina/News/saadat_intervista.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">in Italian</a></font><font size=3>. <br>
<br>
o <b><i>A</i></b>
</font><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-News/message/8332">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399"><b><i>letter from Ahmad
Sa'adat</a></font><font size=3>, rejecting the road map</i></b> - 14 Jan
2003. <br>
<br>
o <b><i>An interview with
imprisoned PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Saadat – </b>published by
</font><a href="http://www.fightbacknews.org/2003-3-summer/pflp.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Fight Back News</a></font><font size=3>, 20
May </i>2003.<br>
<br>
o <b><i>Saadat: The Road
Map, an attempt to reshape Palestinian aspirations - </i> </b>an
interview with
</font><a href="http://www.arcipelago.org/palestina/road_map.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Arcipelago online
magazine</a></font><font size=3>, 25 May 2003; and in
</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12006.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">English
translation</a></font><font size=3>. <br>
<br>
o <b><i>The Popular Palestinian
Intifada … Where is it heading? - </i></b> Reflections on the third
anniversary of the Intifada;
</font><a href="http://www.alhadafmagazine.com/dpPLO/dp.asp">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">al Hadaf magazine</a></font><font size=3>,
28 September 2003.<br>
<b> <br>
</b>o <b><i>Arafat and Abu Ala
have abandoned not only me, but all Palestinians - </i>interview with<i>
</i></b></font>
<a href="http://www.fdlpalestina.org/entrevistas/ahmed_saadat_secretario_general.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">Diario Español ABC</a></font><font size=3>,
4 February 2004, and in
</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12003.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">English translation</a></font><font size=3>.
<br>
<br>
<b>o <i>On The Strategic Level,
We Want To Create A Pole Of The Democratic Left</i> - </b>interview by
</font>
<a href="http://www.arcipelago.org/palestina/News%202005/SAADAT_11_05.htm">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399"><b>Mireille Court and Chris Den
Hond</a></font><font size=3>, August 2004; and in
</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12004.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">English
translation</a></font><font size=3>.<br>
<br>
</b>o <b><i>The struggle for a
single, democratic state, without any kind of ethnic or religious
discrimination, should never end </i>– </b>Interview by Mireille Terrin
& Chris den Hond for the<b>
</b></font><a href="http://www.france-palestine.org/article926.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">France Palestine Solidarity
Association</a></font><font size=3>, 5 Jan 2005; also
</font>
<a href="http://www.stopusa.be/scripts/texte.php?section=BR&langue=5&id=23429">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">in Italian</a></font><font size=3> and
</font>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa12005.html">
<font size=3 color="#FF3399">in English</a></font><font size=3>.<br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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