Palestinians march in dawn funeral of the martyrs Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal

Palestinians march in dawn funeral of the martyrs Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal

Hundreds of Jerusalemites participated at dawn on Thursday, December 25 in the funeral of the martyrs, Comrades Uday and Ghassan Abu Jamal, the fighters who carried out the Deir Yassin operation and were killed by Zionist forces on November 18. The occupation had held their bodies hostage for 36 days.

Nearly 2000 Palestinians participated in the funeral despite the conditions imposed upon the family by the occupation authorities, including the participation of only 40 members of their family in the funeral and their burial in East Sawahreh, outside Jerusalem.

The funeral came after a legal battle with the occupation for the past 36 days.

Al-Haj Ahmad: UN Security Council draft must be withdrawn: We will not allow this project to pass

Al-Haj Ahmad: UN Security Council draft must be withdrawn: We will not allow this project to pass

The Popular Front absolutely rejects the draft resolution submitted to the UN Security Council purporting to recognize a Palestinian state by 2017, said Comrade Osama al-Haj Ahmed, member of the Central Committee of the PFLP.

Such a resolution is a strategic action that impacts the interests of all of our people, said al-Haj Ahmed, noting that it is incumbent that any such action by Palestinian officials be carried out with full discussion and prior approval by all of the Palestinian political forces, factions and civil society. On the contrary, he pointed out, this did not happen and instead the draft was formulated to satisfy the interests of international and regional actors and not those of the Palestinian people, particularly in regard to the issue of the security of the Zionist colonial occupier and its demands.

He pointed out that the draft contains explicit and unambiguously dangerous frameworks regarding Jerusalem being the capital of two states and in reference to Palestinian refugees’ right to return. “These statements dilute the existing UN resolutions and violate the decisions of the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian people’s minimum demands of return and self-determination,” he said. 

“Right now, there is a raging war on our people in Jerusalem. The occupation is pursuing its program of Judaization and displacement of Palestinians by all means available, through taxation, home demolitions, and colonization, and we are facing a struggle over every in ch of Jerusalem. This framework of 

‘Jerusalem as the capital of two states’ amid this context means legitimizing the Judaization of Jerusalem and the attempts to destroy Palestinian and Muslim identity in the city.” Further, he noted that the right of refugees to return must be adhered to strictly and that the text of the resolution for “a just and agreed solution” is part of a project to liquidate the right of return, replace UN resolution 194 and bargain on this central issue of the Palestinian national project as a whole.

He urged the PLO Executive Committee to act immediately and adhere to national principles and force those who have submitted this draft to withdraw it. The adoption of this draft resolution, he said, “will lead to the erosion of the rights of our people and the character of our struggle. We will not allow this project to pass.”

Event in Lille, France supports Palestinian resistance, highlights 47 years of PFLP

Event in Lille, France supports Palestinian resistance, highlights 47 years of PFLP

Comrade Ziad Ahmed of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine spoke in Lille, France in an event hosted by the Collective in Support of Palestinian Resistance on Friday, December 19.

Ahmed discussed the 47th anniversary of the Front and its history, as well as the current situation in Gaza following 51 days of resistance to Zionist aggression, the attacks on Jerusalem and the West Bank, including ethnic cleansing, home demolitions and expulsions of Palestinians as well as the construction of colonies, and the struggle of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners.

The event was organized with Generation Palestine, CSPR, UJFP, Lille-Nablus Friendship and Solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.

Shishtari: It is time to bury the Oslo accords and the path of negotiations once and for all

Shishtari: It is time to bury the Oslo accords and the path of negotiations once and for all

It is time to bury the Oslo Accords and all that came with them and end the futile negotiations once and for all, said Comrade Zaher al-Shishtari, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, emphasizing that the PFLP will work in the coming days to besiege the whole approach of Oslo through popular and national pressure in coordination with all forces who stand against the route of Oslo and negotiations.

In an interview with Al-Quds TV, Shishtari emphasized the need to end the division in reality not just in words and avoid the approach of bilateral and exclusionary quotas and instead act to serve the people. He spoke about the need to rebuild the PLO on the basis of struggle and inclusion as has been agreed on many occasions in the past, and to end security coordination and the Paris protocol on economy that has devastated the Palestinian national economy.

Shishtari reaffirmed the Front’s complete rejection of any return to negotiations that have reaped nothing for the Palestinian people but destruction and devastating, emphasizing that the alternative is Palestinian national dialogue and building a political movement to the United Nations to implement the existing resolutions on Palestine, not to re-negotiate those rights and resolutions, alongside the escalation of the resistance in all forms.

Shishtari also emphasized the need to support our steadfast people in Jerusalem and their confrontation of the occupation through an escalating popular uprising, and the need to provide a national space to support uprising and intifada throughout Palestine. He also emphasized the need to respond to the killing of the struggler Ziad Abu Ein by confronting the occupier, not by returning to the devastating and futile negotiations.

Further, the Front reiterated its rejection of the draft resolution before the United Nations, noting that the draft resolution does not reach the minimum points of a Palestinian national program. The Front also noted the fact that Palestinian participation in the development of the draft, with the potential to deeply impact the future of the Palestinian people’s rights and struggle, was exclusive and monopolized, with no participation from the PLO, its Executive Comittee, and the Palestinian parties and factions. The draft resolution is not a mere tactical issue but contains within it explicit and unambiguous formulations that pose real risks to all of the rights of the Palestinian people.

The resolution appears to be calculated to appease the interests of international actors who see no solution to the struggle in Palestine except the denial of Palestinian rights to return and self-determination and in Palestinian responsibility for Israeli security demands. It is clear that the draft resolution does not even mandate a sovereign, independent Palestinian state over the lands of Palestine occupied in 1967. It also threatens once more to impose bilateral negotiations, this time with the imprimatur of international legitimacy.

Once again, the Front noted that the “solution” put forward in the draft is no solution at all, does not resolve the conflict, and that there is no “fair settlement” but through the achievement of all of the rights of the Palestinian people, and that in particular, the right of return of Palestinian refugees must be protected, honored and implemented, not undermined as it is in the draft text. The Palestinian refugees’ rights are not a matter for bartering and bargaining in the halls of international institutions.

The right of the Palestinian people to establish independence and full sovereignty over the lands occupied in 1967 does not bind the Palestinian people to the so-called “two state solution,” nor to any recognition or acceptance of the occupation state that is entirely based on the dispossession of the Palestinian people and the colonization of Palestinian land. The Front emphasized that Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine and rejects the resolution’s framework of a “capital of two states,” which once again places Jerusalem and its Palestinian people at risk while the occupation state is working to ethnically cleanse the city.

This resolution must be rejected in its entirety by all Palestinian forces and the Executive Committee of the PLO and the national and Islamic forces must assume their responsibility to reject this resolution and instead affirm the explicit clear texts that maintain the rights of our people and cut the road before any such attempts to undermine the rights of our people.

Barakat: The 1 percent Palestinian capitalists confiscate 100 percent of Palestinian political decision

Barakat: The 1 percent Palestinian capitalists confiscate 100 percent of Palestinian political decision

In a series of lectures held in Ain el-Helweh and Beddawi refugee camps in Lebanon on December 20 and 21, Comrade Khaled Barakat attacked the current Palestinian official leadership and the “path of illusions they are presenting to the Palestinian people.”

“Historically, Palestinian capitalists and bourgeoisie have led Palestinians to one misery after another. This class will not and does not defend the Palestinian cause. This class cares only to secure their own, petty interests, and they do not care what happens to the Palestinian people and their rights. This was the same in 1936, 1948, 1967, and it will always be the same. Of course, the occupiers and colonialists bear the major responsibility for the situation of the Palestinian people, but the traditional backward leadership representing this class bears a great deal of responsibility for the miserable conditions Palestinians have reached,” Barakat said. “It is time for a new leadership, of revolutionaries from the impoverished and popular classes, in the refugee camps. Only a solid leadership that is connected to its people and the path of armed struggle, in the homeland and in exile, can be an exit from the current situation.”

Barakat called the draft resolution before the United Nations Security Council “a treason that puts Palestinian rights at risk and endangers the core of the Palestinian cause, which is the right of return.” Barakat asked the audience, “What are you going to do about this? Are you going to raise your voice and say that no one will confiscate our cause? Are you going to raise your voice against the current condition of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which once belonged to you, which you built with your own blood, sweat and money? Are you going to reclaim the path of the Palestinian refugees’ struggle in exile, and reclaim your voices and your revolutionary intellectuals, Ghassan Kanafani and Naji al-Ali? Or are you going to accept this?”

Comrade Barakat said that the “most dangerous form of corruption on the Palestinian scene is the political corruption of the current leadership. The Palestinian Authority is a corrupt institution, and it is administrating corruption. Security cooperation with the occupier is treason. Financial corruption, administrative corruption, social corruption come from this source – political corruption. From the 1 percent – Palestinian capitalists – who are confiscating 100 percent of the Palestinian political decision.”

Addressing youth in Ain el-Helweh refugee camp, Comrade Barakat said, “It is Palestinian youth who come from the impoverished classes who are on the front lines of resistance every day, regardless of their faction or political affiliation. In the prisons, in the armed resistance, in Gaza, in the student movement, in the clashes with Israeli soldiers, the martyrs, the wounded, the vast majority are youth. What is their share in this political decision? Who asks Palestinian youth about their circumstances, their conditions, what they want? This is a time of change and revolt, and youth must lead.”

“The monopolist Palestinian Authority in Ramallah have reached a dead end. They have nothing to offer for Palestinians but illusions and more illusions. Yet, the monopolist leadership of Hamas in Gaza are looking at the interests of Hamas above the interests of the Palestinian people and their cause. Therefore, the slogan of ‘national unity’ is empty and worthless unless this national unity is imposed by the popular classes of the Palestinian people in the homeland and in exile. We do not want to enter a ‘national dialogue’ under the auspices of the Arab intelligence services in Cairo, Doha and Amman. We want to build our national dialogue in Ain el-Helweh refugee camp under the auspices of the Palestinian people and with the protection of Palestinian guns,” Barakat said.

“The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is entering a new stage after it convened its seventh national conference with the renewal that it has been witnessing and our people are feeling that the Front is marching forward. No one should expect vague statements or ambiguous positions on the cause of our people and the struggle for return and liberation. The Front belongs to the impoverished Palestinian and Arab people, and people around the world, and it will always be for them, until victory,” said Barakat.

Events inside and outside Palestine commemorate 47th anniversary of PFLP founding

Events inside and outside Palestine commemorate 47th anniversary of PFLP founding

Events and activities marking the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine continued inside and outside Palestine:

On December 22, the Progressive Student Action Front in Tulkarem celebrated the PFLP’s 47th anniversary with a ceremony of support and honor for martyrs and prisoners. Comrade Mohammed Jawabreh noted that the martyrs and prisoners sacrificed so greatly for the dignity and liberation of the Palestinian people and the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland.

**

On December 19, members and supporters of the PFLP marched in Balata refugee camp near Nablus, marking the anniversary. Comrade Maher Harb called for national unity to struggle and confront the occupier, and for rebuilding the Palestine Liberation Organization on a national, inclusive and democratic basis to represent the Palestinian people and defend their cause. He called for building stronger popular campaigns to free Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

**

The PFLP marked its 47th anniversary in Algeria on December 19 at its office in Algiers, with members of the Palestinian community in Algeria, representatives of Palestinian and Algerian parties, Algerian academics and media, and Palestinian students and youth. Comrade Salah Mohammed, representative of the PFLP, spoke, as did Comrade Yousef of the Workers Party of Algeria.

Comrade Mohammed spoke aout the need to permanently put an end to the path of Oslo and negotiations and to reject the actions of the United States that attempt to undermine growing international support for the Palestinian people. He saluted the Palestinian resistance and the accomplishments and steadfastness of the Palestinian people despite the vicious Zionist aggression.

**

The Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees in Beit Hanoun organized a reception to commemorate the 47th anniversary of the PFLP. Comrades Haniya Sahwil and Medhat Za’anin spoke at the event, noting the Front’s commitment to the path of struggle of the martyrs and prisoners who have sacrificed so much for Palestine, and the contributions of Palestinian women in all aspects of struggle and resistance, including the history of the Front.

**

A reception was held in the Lebanese Press Syndicate in Beirut on December 23, marking the 47th anniversary of the Front’s founding, where Comrade Abu Ahmad Fouad, Deputy General Secretary of the PFLP, spoke to an audience of PFLP leaders, cadres and members, representatives of Palestinian and Lebanese political forces, and supporters.

Comrade Abu Ahmad Fouad recalled the history of the PFLP, its origins in the Arab Nationalist Movement, and its clear vision since its founding that all of Palestine is part of the Arab nation and that the Palestinian and Arab people must liberate all of Palestine through struggle, primarily armed struggle and the protracted people’s liberation war. He noted the importance of Palestinian national unity to achieve victory, noting also that the Palestinian revolution stands at the heart of the Arab and international liberation movements. The Front at its founding identified the camp of friends of the revolution and the camp of enemies – and the Front remains committed to the principles on which it was founded, noted Fouad.

He reiterated the Front’s categorical rejection of the project of the Palestinian Authority and the “French initiative” to submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council, noting that this draft violates the Palestinian national constants and is actually an attempt to resume the absurd and dangerous negotiations and to undermine Palestinian national rights. “We reject this project. Any potential draft to be submitted to international institutions, including the General Assembly and the Security Council, must be reviewed fully and supported by all of the Palestinian factions and mass institutions without exception. The Zionist entity, the Arab regimes and the United States are working together to attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause amid the circumstances of crisis prevailing in the region and the Arab world. We refuse to accept these projects. Instead, we must be demanding that the United Nations apply its existing resolutions,” said Fouad.

He urged an immediate end to the security coordination of the Palestinian Authority with the Zionist occupier. It is deeply damaging to the Palestinian people and cause. “Palestinian security services should have the role of protecting our people throughout Palestine, not working with the occupier,” he said.

He denounced any attempts by reactionary armed groups to enter the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, noting that this is an attempt to damage Palestinian interests and the Palestinian cause, and reiterated the complete rejection of such groups by the Palestinian resistance forces. Further, he called upon the Lebanese state to remove the obstacles, discrimination, infringements of rights and injustices that Palestinian refugees face inside Lebanon, saying that Palestinian refugees have the right to live decent lives on the road to return to Palestine. “We will return, whether sooner or later, we will return to Palestine,” said Fouad.

PFLP: All resistance forces must be prepared to confront the occupation and its attacks

PFLP: All resistance forces must be prepared to confront the occupation and its attacks

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called upon the masses of our people and the resistance factions to be prepared to confront the occupation in the event of the escalation of aggression once more in light of the ongoing threats against the Gaza Strip and in particular the occupation bombing Gaza once more at dawn on Saturday December 20.

The Front noted that the Zionist occupation has not stopped its aggression against the Strip for one moment and it continues in various forms: of ongoing and relentless siege, closure of crossings, blocking reconstruction, and the various threats of war by officials, and the occupier’s bombing is only part of this aggression. It is not the first and it will not be the last.

The Front emphasized that the continuing situation in the Strip confirms the possibility of a return to the period of the assault and perhaps even more dangerous than that time, especially as the Zionist political scene is on the verge of an early election, and the Palestinian people will once again be made to pay the price for this election.

The PFLP emphasized the urgent need for Palestinian national unity on all levels: military, political and social, drawing lessons from the Palestinian steadfastness and the bravery of the resistance in the July-August aggression on Gaza, with mass struggle in Jerusalem, occupied Palestine ’48 and the West Bank to confront the crimes of the occupation and through serious work to form a united front of all the resistance factions and build unity on the political level that requires the formulation of a national strategy and a political program that determines actions to confront the occupation and its dangerous projects, that must include a full break with the path of negotiations, ending the division and restoring unity.

The Front emphasized that the current challenges require all to take up their responsibilities to support the steadfastness of our people and alleviate their suffering in light of the destruction of infrastructure, the persistence of social problems, in order to protect the Palestinian people and their society in the event of renewed aggression.

Further, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the PFLP, said that “responding to the Zionist occupation’s violations of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and its crimes against the Palestinian people, is a sacred duty. All Palestinian political and military forces must respond to these attacks.” Abu Jamal, the spokesperson for the Brigades, noted that this violation of the ceasefire is not the first of its kind, urging a united resistance of all Palestinian forces to respond to the enemy’s continued abuses everywhere and struggle together for return and liberation.

“The abuses and violations carried out by the occupation…are part of the same war of extermination, including those we see in the recent aggression on the Gaza Strip, the attacks in Jerusalem and in the West Bank, the repression of the prisoners inside Israeli jails. These reflect the nature of the criminal enemy that aim to destroy the cultural, national and historical identity of our people,” said Abu Jamal.

Escalating the struggle and confrontation with the Zionist enemy is the only way to achieve victory and liberation for Palestine, the AAMB spokesperson said.

It should also be noted that the fishers in Gaza are subjected almost daily to the arrest and shooting, and the confiscation of their boats from occupation warships stationed along the coast of the Gaza Strip.

PFLP: Draft UN resolution of “French initiative” threatens Palestinian rights

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine unequivocally rejects the so-called “French Initative” being sponsored at the United Nations by the Jordanian regime as a dangerous threat to Palestinian refugees’ right of return that undermines Palestinian rights in the United Nations under the guise of support for a “Palestinian state,” said a spokesperson for the Front.

The draft resolution before the UN Security Council provides no enforcement mechanisms nor penalties upon the occupying power for its continued flagrant violation of international law, occupation, imposition of apartheid and denial of Palestinian refugees’ fundamental rights for the past 66 years. On the contrary, unlike the resolutions which the Security Council has so eagerly passed against Iraq, Syria, Sudan and other countries, it contains no requirements, mandates or penalties whatsoever but rather presents a false view of the “conflict” as one between equal parties with legitimate rights and interests.

In no way does this resolution mandate the creation of a Palestinian state within 12 months; it simply “affirms the urgent need” to “attain no later than 12 months…a just lasting comprehensive peaceful solution that brings an end to the Israeli occupation since 1967 and fulfills the vision of two independent, democratic and prosperous states, Israel and a sovereign, contiguous and viable State of Palestine living side by side in peace and security within mutually and internationally recognized borders.”

In the context of the United Nations, this merely reiterates existing UN policy demanding an end to the Israeli occupation in violation of UN resolutions and international law. “Affirming an urgent need” creates no requirement or mandate to implement this desire, nor does it provide any penalties to the Israeli state for refusing to end its occupation.

The most damaging and dangerous part of the resolution, however, comes in its definition of the “negotiated solution,” where it recognizes the principles of “mutually agreed, limited and equivalent land swaps;” Palestinian land is entirely occupied. It is not to be bartered with the occupier to legitimize its settlements on our land or allow it to transfer Palestinians of 1948 occupied Palestine to the so-called Palestinian state.

Second, and most importantly, the draft resolution seeks to replace the cornerstone of UN resolutions on Palestinian refugees’ inalienable right to return, denied them for over 66 years, Resolution 194, with “a just and agreed solution to the Palestine refugee question on the basis of Arab Peace Initiative, international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, including resolution 194 (III).” The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has always rejected the so-called Arab Peace Initiative and all similar initiatives, as they seek to replace the individual, national and collective right of return of the Palestinian refugees with a “negotiated solution” that puts that right on the negotiating table to be sold or bargained away.

The inclusion of this clause within the UN draft resolution renders it a threat to Palestinian rights under the guise of support for “Palestinian statehood,” and a damaging attack and attempt to liquidate the undeniable right of Palestinian refugees to return to their original homes and lands, the cornerstone of the Palestinian cause and the key to the liberation and self-determination of our people. Palestinian refugees are in fact the majority of the Palestinian people – and their rights and those of all other Palestinians are only endangered by this resolution.

The resolution does not recognize Jerusalem as occupied, but only notes it to be “the shared capital of two States.” It provides the longest paragraph in this section for “security arrangements,” labeling the occupation army “security forces,” and viewing the occupation and colonization of Palestine as a security issue rather than one of anti-colonial struggle against a colonizing occupier.

Furthermore, the resolution lags far behind existing UN resolutions: it does not demand an end to the construction of colonial settlements but merely “calls upon…parties to abstain from..settlement activities.” Nowhere does the draft resolution mandate the dismantlement of settlements; rather it promotes “land swaps” and leaves the issue of settlers entirely aside.

The resolution seeks as well to demand Arab normalization with Israel and states that the above “final status agreement” will put an “end to all claims” and lead to “immediate mutual recognition.” Above all, it situates the Palestinian struggle within a framework of negotiations, which have done nothing more over more than 20 years than to provide cover for the crimes of the occupation and the dismantlement of Palestinian rights.

The Zionist state is built on the dispossession of Palestinian land and the displacement of Palestinian people. It is an apartheid, racist, settler colonial state. It divides the Arab people for the interests of imperialism and it is a project that has no place in our region. We do not recognize a colonial racist state; its racist structure must be dismantled. In no way is the achievement of the Palestinian state on one part of Palestine an “end of all claims.” The Palestinian people do not concede their full right of return; the right of our Palestinian people inside 1948 to live free, self-determined lives free of racism and discrimination; and the right to liberate the entire land of Palestine.

The Palestinian struggle is one for liberation of our people and our land from a brutal, genocidal colonial regime. It is for the return of Palestinian refugees, it is for the exercise of the sovereignty and self-determination of the Palestinian people on all of their land. It is not a conflict between equal parties, it is a struggle between the colonized and the colonizer, between the oppressed and the oppressor. It is the fight to establish a democratic Palestine for all on the entire land of Palestine, liberated from occupation, racism and oppression.

The “two state solution” has not been a mechanism to gradually achieve Palestinian rights, nor even any real Palestinian sovereignty; rather, the “state-building initiatives” referred to positively in the draft resolution have supported capitalist investment and exploitation at the expense of the Palestinian popular classes, who have not benefitted from such funding. There is no liberation for any part of Palestine or its people envisioned by this resolution: only the continuation of the endless series of negotiations chipping away at Palestinian rights while the occupier continues to attack and destroy.

Centrally, this draft resolution is an effort to undermine the right of return and enshrine the bankrupt negotiations process in a resolution of the UN Security Council, replacing the right of return with “negotiated solutions,” and UN resolutions affirming Palestinian rights with those affirming the path of negotiations.

The PFLP spokesperson called upon Palestinian and Arab communities in France and French supporters and friends of Palestine to reject the role of the French imperialist state in attempting to redefine and undermine the Palestinian cause. The French state has no legitimacy on the issue of Palestine and has provided no support for Palestinian rights. Rather, it has attempted to legitimize the constant Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people while imprisoning strugglers for Palestine such as Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and suppressing demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine in Paris.

This draft resolution is widely rejected by Palestinian political forces who have repeatedly pointed out the threats and dangers within it. It is supported only by a few Palestinian capitalists who seek to profit and Palestinian Authority officials. Once again, the Palestinian political decision has been hijacked by Abbas and his cronies to the detriment of the Palestinian people.

The fact that the Israelis reject this draft resolution and the United States has expressed its “lack of support” means only that Zionism and imperialism in the region are not willing to concede even a few crumbs to the Palestinian people. Much like Netanyahu’s rejection of the Oslo process, the flagrant racism and genocidal discourse of the Israeli state does not make the draft resolution a step forward for Palestinian rights and liberation.

“We unequivocally reject this attack on Palestinian rights under the guise of ‘Palestinian statehood’ and urge its rejection by all responsible Palestinian parties as unrepresentative and dangerous to the rights and the cause of the Palestinian people for which so many martyrs, wounded and prisoners have given their lives,” said the PFLP spokesperson.

PFLP congratulates the Cuban people on release of the Cuban Five

PFLP congratulates the Cuban people on release of the Cuban Five
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine congratulates the Cuban people; Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino and Antonio Guerrero; their families and comrades on the release of the remaining imprisoned members of the Cuban Five.

The Cuban Five, Cuban political prisoners held in U.S. prisons, were an international symbol of the struggle of the Cuban people to be free of the attacks of U.S. imperialism. They were arrested and imprisoned for lengthy sentences for seeking to defend Cuba and the Cuban revolution from right-wing terrorist organizations based in the United States carrying out attacks on Cuba. They have been at the center of a global struggle demanding the release of these political prisoners, symbols of the Cuban revolution.

On December 17, Gerardo, Ramon and Antonio returned home, free, to Cuba. We salute them, and their earlier-freed compatriots, Rene Gonzalez and Fernando Gonzalez, on their steadfastness in imperialist prisons and their liberation, and we salute the Cuban people and the Cuban revolution for their ongoing and determined commitment to stand with oppressed peoples and nations around the world who struggle for liberation, including the Palestinian people.

Comrades Maher al-Taher and Abu Ali Hassan have just returned from a delegation to Cuba, where they, along with Comrade Basil Ismail, the Front’s representative in Cuba, met with the Communist Party of Cuba, its International Relations Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Parliament. In these meetings, Jose Ramon Balaguer Cabrera, chair of the International Relations Committee of the Party, expressed the commitment of Cuba and the longtime support of the Cuban nation for the full national rights of the Palestinian people, and the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their original homes nad lands at the forefront.

PFLP mourns the passing of national leader Comrade Adnan Jaber

PFLP mourns the passing of national leader Comrade Adnan Jaber

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, its General Secretary, Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat, deputy General Secretary, Comrade Abu Ahmad Fuad, and the Political Bureau, Central Committee, cadres and members, mourn the passing of national leader, Comrade Adnan Jaber (Abu Mithqal), member of the Central Committee of the PFLP, who died at the age of 73 years old on December 16, after a long life spent in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.

The Front sends its deepest condolences to the family of the late freedom fighter and to the masses of the Palestinian people, and salutes his long history of struggle. Our comrade was born in Jerusalem in 1942, and joined the Arab Nationalist Movement as a student in Syria, where he studied philosophy and participated in the establushment of the ANM in Syria. There he was arrested and subject to severe forms of torture.

After the 1967 war, he continued his struggle in the PFLP in political and military fields of work. He was soon arrested and sentenced to 8 years in prison and deportation, a deportation that was blocked through legal and political struggle. He was arrested multiple times and held in Israeli prisons, including under administrative detention without charge or trial, most recently in 2003.

Comrade Jaber significantly contributed to organizing inside the Zionist prisons, which he and his comrades transformed into centers of mobilization and education and preparation for national struggle; he was a leader with charisma and creativity who served in multiple positions in the PFLP, most recently as a member of the Central Committee.

PFLP pushes for “comprehensive confrontation” with Israeli occupation

PFLP pushes for “comprehensive confrontation” with Israeli occupation

(PC) Member of the political bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Kayed al-Ghoul called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to thoroughly assess its experiences with the Israeli occupation and launch a comprehensive confrontation with the Israeli occupation and its institutions.

Al-Ghoul said in a press statement Sunday: “Today we’re facing an entity entrenched in racist and fascist dogmas perpetrated by the Netanyahu government, whose members have been inciting for killing Palestinians.”

He said simmering pre-planned murders against Palestinians, most notably Ziyad Abu Ein, strangled to death, and the child Mohamed Abu Khdeir, burned to death, are a result of such dogmas. 

Al-Ghoul called for the need to halt security coordination and the cancellation of all of the deals struck with the Israeli occupation, which has been manipulating pre-planned terror tactics to wipe out Palestinians.

He pushed for a standpoint to be adopted by the Palestinian leadership as a means to restore the occupied Palestinian territories from the grips of the Israeli enemy on the basis of a unified national strategy that also restores Palestinians’ rights.

He further stressed the need to press ahead with restructuring national institutions on a democratic and joint basis in which all parties take part.

He said one of the objectives of the Kerry-Netanyahu meeting in Italy is the resumption of the bilateral negotiations in an attempt to mislead the international community into believing in the possibility of establishing a Palestinian independent state. 

He warned of Israel-U.S attempts to deal a heavy blow to the rising wave of pro-Palestine moves.

A-Ghoul called on the Palestinian leadership to be on the alert to such promises and never yield in to any pressures aimed at resuming the peace talks.

He said halting the security coordination with the Israeli occupation is a necessary move to boost up national unity and face up to the Israeli occupation.

DFLP, PFLP condemn explosion targeting French Cultural Center

DFLP, PFLP condemn explosion targeting French Cultural Center

(Ma'an) The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemned an explosion Friday targeting the French Cultural Center in Gaza City and called for holding those behind the attack accountable.

The DFLP said in a statement that those responsible for the attack were spiteful, ignorant and did not appreciate the role of culture in building cooperation between countries.

The statement also applauded the relationship between France and Palestine and the recent French stand on supporting Palestine after the French Senate voted on a resolution to recognize Palestine as a state.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also condemned the explosion and said that it occurred in an area that was supposed to be under security control; there are several security centers and surveillance cameras in the area, it said. 

The PFLP called upon the national consensus government and the Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to work toward preventing such incidents.

Hamas, PFLP delegations meet to reactivate reconciliation files

Hamas, PFLP delegations meet to reactivate reconciliation files

(PIC) Senior delegates of Hamas Movement and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine met in Gaza on Tuesday evening to discuss reactivating the national reconciliation process.

Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk, a political bureau member of Hamas, said in a terse press release that the delegations discussed a number of national issues focusing on reconciliation.

For his part, Jamil Mizher, a PFLP politburo member, told Anadolu news agency that his Front along with other factions are seeking ways to end political differences in the Palestinian arena.

He said that his Front, in cooperation with other factions, is trying to resume reconciliation efforts and is holding contacts toward that end with each of Hamas and Fatah.

Hamas and Fatah had signed last September an agreement that ended political division in the Palestinian arena and led to the formation of a consensus government. However, the agreement met hurdles and was partially frozen due to differences in its implementation.

PFLP calls for ending Oslo agreement

PFLP calls for ending Oslo agreement

(Ma'an) The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called Wednesday for ending the Oslo Accords and taking the Palestinian cause back to the UN.

The PFLP said in a statement that it was the time to end the Oslo Accords, along with its security and economic commitments.

The statement added the Palestinian cause should be taken back to the UN and to call upon the UN to hold an international conference to apply its resolutions concerning the conflict especially resolution 194, on the right for refugees to return to their homes.

The PFLP also said that "it is time to actually end the internal division and rebuild the PLO on democratic and national grounds."

Earlier the Palestinian leadership said it had decided to end all security coordination with Israel in response to the death of a PA official.

Jibril Rajoub told press that the PA will end "all forms of security coordination with Israel for deliberately killing Minister Ziad Abu Ein."

Three soldiers grabbed Abu Ein and hit him in the chest, an AFP photographer said. Abu Ein fell and an Israeli army doctor rushed to treat him before he was evacuated to hospital.

Another witness, Kamal Abu Safaka, said that Abu Ein was "beaten by a soldier" in the chest "after having a conversation with the officer in charge."

His death was condemned by Palestinian factions, with immediate calls to halt security coordination with Israeli forces, a policy already widely unpopular with Palestinians.

Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad called on the PA to halt all security coordination following news of Abu Ein's death, with Islamic Jihad leader Khalid al-Batsh saying Israel only understands the "language of force."

Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouthi said the PA official's death reflects the "barbarism and savagery of the Israeli occupation," while the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine urged the international community to take action to prove human rights organizations have any credibility.

Abu Ein, 55, has previously been arrested and imprisoned by Israel.

He was extradited from the United States in 1981 over the murder of two Israelis in Tiberias in 1979, and sentenced to life in prison, but released in 1985 in a prisoner exchange.

Besides his role in the PA monitoring Israeli settlements and the separation barrier, Abu Ein was a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and previously served as deputy minister for prisoner affairs.

PFLP celebrates 47th anniversary in Ramallah

PFLP celebrates 47th anniversary in Ramallah

(Ma'an) The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Saturday celebrated its 47th anniversary in a public festival in al-Bireh.

More than 1,000 people took part in the festival, marching in the streets of Ramallah and holding up Palestinian and PFLP flags, a Ma'an reporter said.

PFLP leaders, PLO Executive Committee members, and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council attended the event.

The leftist Palestinian movement called for Palestinian unity and an end to political division in the Gaza Strip.

PFLP leader Khalida Jarrar urged Palestinian officials to bring the Palestinian case to the UN.

Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud al-Alul said during a speech at the event that the PFLP had made an effective contribution to the Palestinian cause.

Earlier Saturday, the PFLP said in a statement that the deterioration of humanitarian life in Gaza could not continue.

The movement called on the Palestinian unity government to carry out its responsibilities for the good of Palestinians in the Strip.

It urged the Fatah and Hamas movements to prioritize the national good, the people, and their rights above their political disagreements.

The PFLP also called for pressure on Israel to end its blockade on Gaza and to open border crossings, saying the siege was the main reason for the humanitarian situation in the Strip. 

It also called upon President Mahmoud Abbas to coordinate with Egypt to open the Rafah crossing.

The PFLP, a leftist political faction, was founded in 1967 by Palestinian Christian George Habash. The group became well known for its aircraft hijackings in the 1960s and '70s. Its military wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, has played an active role in armed conflicts with Israeli forces, most recently in Israel's 50-day offensive on Gaza this summer.

PFLP cancels festival celebrating 47th anniversary

PFLP cancels festival celebrating 47th anniversary

(Ma'an) The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine decided to cancel its festival in the Gaza Strip celebrating the 47th anniversary of the leftist movement's establishment.

The PFLP said in a statement that the festival was cancelled in consideration of Palestinians who are still in pain due to Israeli siege, disruption of Gaza reconstruction and for the thousands killed during the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The statement added that instead of a festival the PFLP will be celebrating its 47th anniversary through voluntary work activities including visiting owners of destroyed houses, visiting shelters and families of those killed and injured during the offensive, and families of prisoners in Israeli jails among other activities in favor of the people.

March for Palestine in Istanbul calls for support to Palestinian resistance and escalation of boycott

March for Palestine in Istanbul calls for support to Palestinian resistance and escalation of boycott

A rally for Palestine marched through Istanbul, Turkey on November 29, marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Organized by a number of Turkish leftist parties and trade unions under the slogan “We will expand the boycott movement and isolate the Zionist entity in support of the Palestinian resistance,” marchers raised Palestinian flags as well as banners of the PFLP and signs supporting the Palestinian people and their resistance.

Demonstrators chanted as they marched down Istiklal Street: “Zionism will be defeated and the Palestinian resistance will be victorious,” “A stone in the hand will defeat the tank; the resistance will win.” Aisha Dozkan read the statement below at the close of the march on behalf of the Boycott committee that organized the event:

“Palestine stands in resistance and struggle against the Zionist entity, the apartheid regime labeled “Israel”, and against all of the colonialist and imperialist powers that support it. Palestine is the symbol of the struggle of oppressed peoples everywhere for truth, justice and freedom. The people of Palestine have inherited their struggle through generations and today are entering a new phase of resistance. The Palestinian resistance, an integral part of the free people of the region and the world, is determined to expand its struggle against the Zionist entity, and against the expansionist colonial apartheid system. The Palestinian people resist this racist entity as one people in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Jerusalem, in the occupied lands of 1948, and the diaspora. At the same time, the global movement of solidarity with Palestine and the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli is getting stronger and expanding its influence in support of the Palestinian peoples struggle.

This year, the world has witnessed the brutal Zionist assault against the Palestinian people, killing, wounding, displacing and arresting tens of thousands of Palestinians. And the Zionist entity is at the same time increasing its racist violations, including the seizure of Palestinian land, the expansion of settlements, the looting of economic and natural resources in Palestine, the policy of home demolitions, the systematic Judaization of Jerusalem, the continued construction of the Apartheid Wall and other racist policies of the Zionist entity aimed at tightening the grip of occupation on the Palestinian people. Yet despite all these attacks, the Palestinian people are upholding the resistance and developing innovative new ways to confront thiss racist entity.

The Israeli state is attempting to legitimize and cover its crimes and obscure the reality of the situation in Palestine by attempting to give a false religious character to the situation in Palestine. The reactionary forces identified with political Islam who are cooperating with imperialism lend support to this Zionist propaganda. What is in fact happening in Palestine is the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, justice and the right of return in the face of the apartheid regime of the Zionist occupation. The Palestinian people are struggling against the settlers of the Zionist project, who are not mere civilians, but instead a parallel army of the occupation.”

The organizers of the march vowed to expand their activities in the coming year to include local activities throughout Turkey to support boycott, divestment and sanctions and isolate the Zionist project, and supporting clear principles in the solidarity movement in Turkey to support the Palestinian resistance. They also emphasized the importance of supporting the Palestinian diaspora community in Turkey who are struggling for the right of return and the liberation of Palestine, and called upon the Turkish people to expand the struggle for a free Palestine from the river to the sea.

Toulouse, France stands with the struggling Palestinian people in Jerusalem

Toulouse, France stands with the struggling Palestinian people in Jerusalem

Hundreds of people marched in Toulouse, France on November 29, 2014, to denounce ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem and support the Palestinian people on the International Day of Solidarity with Palestine. The organizations that organized the rally included anti-imperialist collective Coup Pour Coup 31, which has played a major role in building support for imprisoned Arab struggler for Palestine, Comrade Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.

The Coup Pour Coup statement for the event noted: “This year, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine calls for making this day an international day of solidarity in defense of Jerusalem. The Zionist colonization has intensified in recent months in the city. The area of Al-Aqsa Mosque was closed to Palestinians for several days, while at the same time, the Zionist government supported groups of right-wing extremist settlers to engage in provocations on the same space, promoted the construction of new settlements inside and around Jerusalem and continued the destruction of Palestinian homes.

“By targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque for attack, the Zionist leaders are deliberately attempting to create a religious conflict in Palestine, as Ariel Sharon attempted to do during his own provocation at the site in September 2000. Comrade Khaled Barakat…noted ‘This is not only about the sacred site of al-Aqsa, but about all of Palestine and its capital…regardless of the Zionist discourse that the struggle in Jerusalem is a religious conflict.’

“Elsewhere in Palestine, settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank continue, the blockade on Gaza remains, and thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of the PFLP, are still held in prison. The Zionist state does not care for war or peace, it wants the entirety of the land of Palestine.

“The Zionists view Al-Quds – Jerusalem – as a central axis of their colonial project and ethnic cleansing. But the reality is that Al-Quds is and remains a symbol and a home of the struggle of the Palestinian resistance and its liberatory struggle. One, indivisible capital, Al-Quds for a free Palestine from the river to the sea! Palestine will live! Palestine will win!”