PFLP salutes Beit El operation, calls for escalation of intifada

PFLP salutes Beit El operation, calls for escalation of intifada

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine saluted the heroic operation carried out by the Palestinian fighter, Amjad Sukkari Abu Omar, at Beit El checkpoint, from Jamma’in village near Nablus, and called on all strugglers in Palestine to escalate the flame of the intifada, saying that intifada is an irreversible choice of the people. 

The Front, noting that the martyr was a staff sergeant in the Palestinian Authority police, said that all security coordination projects have proven to be failures and will fall in the hands of the Palestinian people. The Front also emphasized the need for a comprehensive review of the Palestinian security services to provide security for the Palestinian people and not the occupier, saying that the Beit El operation is a slap in the face of security coordination with the occupation.

PFLP mourns and salutes the martyr Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed, assassinated in Bulgaria

PFLP mourns and salutes the martyr Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed, assassinated in Bulgaria

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine salutes and mourns the martyr, Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed, the former Palestinian political prisoner and lifelong struggler for the freedom of Palestine, assassinated this morning in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed had taken refuge in the Palestinian embassy after he was pursued by Zionist and Bulgarian forces for extradition 25 years after he escaped from Zionist prisons in 1990 following a 40-day hunger strike. He had been imprisoned for an operation targeting illegal Zionist settlers in Jerusalem, along with fellow strugglers including his brother, and including Samer Mahroum, recently re-imprisoned by Zionist forces following his earlier release. 

Escaping Zionist imprisonment, Comrade Nayef Zayed traveled through the Arab world and to Bulgaria, a model of steadfastness, creativity and ongoing resilience and resistance. It became clear that he was a target for Zionist occupation intelligence and security services in an attempt to eradicate this model of resilience and example of a Palestinian living free of Zionist jails.

We in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hold fully responsible for this nefarious crime the Zionist State and the Israeli Mossad who targeted Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed for assassination, as we hold responsible the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Embassy in Bulgaria who failed to protect him and his security, and the Bulgarian government and security forces who pursued Comrade Nayef Zayed for arrest and imprisonment for over three months. We note the full responsibility of the Palestinian Authority at the highest levels for failing to protect Comrade Nayef Zayed from assassination, up to and including PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and Ambassador Ahmad al-Madbouh.

This crime took place as the highest officials of the Palestinian Authority met with the highest officials of the Bulgarian state in Ramallah, with no apparent demands made for our pursued comrade, the martyr Omar Nayef Zayed.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine vows to pursue in all ways the truth of the assassination of the martyr Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed, to stand by the family of our martyred comrade, and to hold accountable those responsible for his targeting and assassination. We pledge as always to remain on his path of unremitting struggle for liberation of Palestine, its land and people, as he joins the convoy of the great martyrs of our people whose lives have been taken inside and outside Palestine by the murderous Zionist colonial project.

Leila Khaled at the New World Summit: Palestinian people have struggled 100 years for liberation

Leila Khaled at the New World Summit: Palestinian people have struggled 100 years for liberation

Renowned Palestinian struggler and member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Comrade Leila Khaled, urged the prosecution of Zionist war criminals and support for the Palestinian resistance, calling these the duty of all progressive movements, in a speech at the closing of the New World Summit in Utrecht, the Netherlands on January 31.

“The Palestinian people have been struggling for 100 years against occupation and colonization and will continue until the return of all Palestinian refugees, and until we achieve justice and equality on the land of Palestine,” said Khaled. She noted that the Israeli state is an illegitimate project built on the ruins of the Palestinian people and society and based on the erasure of Palestinian existence. “68 years ago, the Israeli state was constructed on the ruins of our people, our land, our homes, and until this moment our people are prevented from exercising their right to return,” said Khaled.

“I was born in Haifa. All of you here are able to go to Haifa at any time, but I – and seven million Palestinians scattered throughout the world – are the indigenous people, deprived of that right,” said Khaled. She said that Palestinians will continue to resist occupation until they achieve their full rights, especially the right of return and the liberation of Palestine.

Khaled highlighted the responsibility of the United Nations for the crimes in Palestine, saying that the international organization was built on a framework of protecting human rights, but instead gave the Zionist movement the right to colonize parts of Palestine and build a racist state, saying that the UN is a partner in the daily crimes being committed against the Palestinian people.

“Can you imagine bulldozers, with soldiers and police, coming to demolish your home and expel you from your land? This is the daily suffering of our people and the daily policy of occupation in Palestine,” said Khaled. 

She noted that over the past three months the occupation has practiced daily executions against the Palestinian people, especially children and youth, because it is well aware that through this long history of Palestinian struggle, that the new Palestinian generations will never forget their cause and their right to struggle and liberation.

She noted that the Zionist state calls itself “the only democracy in the Middle East” while carrying out a systematic policy of imprisonment and assassination against the children and youth of the Palestinian people, highlighting the wounded and imprisoned child Ahmad Manasrah as a living witness to the criminality of the occupier.

“The Zionist state and imperialist powers are primarily responsible for every drop of blood shed in our region,” said Khaled, saying that colonialist powers discussion of “democracy” is a far cry from reality.

PFLP VOICES DOUBTS OVER FRANCE'S PEACE PLAN

PFLP VOICES DOUBTS OVER FRANCE'S PEACE PLAN

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has questioned the goals of the French peace initiative, voicing its fear that it may undermine the Palestinian people's rights. 

According to Quds Press, senior PFLP official Maher al-Taher called for referring the French peace plan to the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to give its opinion about it.

"We have serious doubts about what is being said about it and that this initiative may lead the Palestinian refugees to lose their right of return, so it is natural that it should be presented to the official Palestinian institutions," Taher stated.

"It is something normal that we do not accept an initiative we have not yet seen. We know that France is coordinating with the United States in this regard, and we have doubts that this initiative is not consistent with the UN resolutions," he added.

The “French Initiative”: An Attack on Palestinian Rights

The “French Initiative”: An Attack on Palestinian Rights

In response to the reports that the French government is planning to convene a ministerial conference on May 30 to discuss an “initiative” for a “peace conference” on Palestine in the latter half of 2015, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine website spoke with Palestinian writer, Comrade Khaled Barakat.

Comrade Barakat said, “All Palestinian resistance forces stand in opposition to the so-called ‘French initiative for peace’ in its latest and earlier proposed versions. They see it clearly as an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian people’s cause and rights.”

“The French government is, like the United States, a ‘dishonest broker.’ France has a long history of colonialism in the region and an ongoing imperialist agenda, and systematically supports the apartheid settler state of Israel. Such a state can never lead efforts towards meaningful peace,” said Barakat.

“If you read the various versions and planks of this ‘initiative’ reported on since July 2015 and earlier, in any language – French, English, or Arabic – it is clearly a recipe to liquidate Palestinian national rights, and especially Palestinian refugees’ right to return,” said Barakat.

Barakat noted that all reports indicate that the initiative envisions “land swaps,” the accommodation of “Israel’s security needs,” and addressing “the refugee problem” through, at most, a mechanism of financial compensation.

“When the Palestinian people read this initiative, they will simply tear up the paper on which it is printed. We oppose the so-called French initiative not only for its political content, and not only because France is playing a colonialist and reactionary role in the region – but also because of French policies in France. Such policies include attacking the Palestine solidarity movement; criminalizing and prosecuting BDS activists supporting the boycott of Israel; the continued imprisonment of Lebanese Arab communist struggler for Palestine, Comrade Georges Ibrahim Abdallah; and the racist policies of the French state towars African, Arab and other oppressed communities within France. All of these policies and practices discredit the French government and its initiative as any force for justice or peace,” said Barakat.

When asked about the role of the Palestinian Authority and the visit of Mahmoud Abbas to France, Barakat said, “this ‘French initiative’ is also dangerous because it comes at a time when Palestinian capitalists are leading by force. There is a readiness among the so-called ‘Palestinian leadership’ to go along with this trend and sign on to a new Oslo. However, we are not just facing the threat of ‘Oslo 2’, but in fact a worse threat, as this is meant to be a ‘permanent,’ rather than temporary, agreement.”

“The colonial nature of the conference is reflected in the exclusion of Palestinians from the planned meeting to discuss their future. I mean the Palestinian people, and not the Palestinian Authority. It is reminiscent of the partition of Palestine against the will of the Palestinian people, the infamous Sykes-Picot agreement, the Balfour declaration, and other colonial divisions of Palestine, its land and its people,” said Barakat. “The Israeli colonial-settler state is the only beneficiary of such a project in Palestine.”

“This is part of a re-alignment of the region as part of an overall imperialist project,” said Barakat. He also noted the role of reactionary Arab regimes in this plan. “France’s billions of dollars in weapons deals with Saudi Arabia come alongside the involvement of the reactionary Saudi regime in this plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause.”

We asked Barakat how to confront these plans. He responded, “We call on all – the revolutionaries, leftists and popular movements of France; the Palestinian and Arab communities; and international movements for justice – to mobilize on May 30 against the ministerial conference being organized to prepare for the so-called ‘peace conference’ in late 2015, and in defense of the full rights of the Palestinian people to return, to self-determination and to national liberation.”

Urgent call from the PFLP branch in Israeli prisons: Day of Anger in response to Zionist attacks

Urgent call from the PFLP branch in Israeli prisons: Day of Anger in response to Zionist attacks

We call for a day of massive popular anger against the occupation’s attacks on prisoners in Nafha prison

In light of the systematic campaign of brutal escalation against Palestinian prisoners by the prison authorities and intelligence agencies, especially in Nafha prison, and after the storming of a number of sections in Nafha prison by heavily armed special repressive units several days ago, which caused dozens of injuries among prisoners; and in light of the repetition of this attack today, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine branch in Israeli prisons urges the masses of the Palestinian people in Palestine and in diaspora, and the free people of the world, to organize days of popular anger against the occupation beginning tomorrow, Thursday, April 21.

These days of anger come in support of the prisoners struggling to confront the attacks by the Zionist prison administration and to support the prisoners in Nafha prison facing violent attack.

PFLP: ABBAS STATEMENTS TO GERMAN MAGAZINE PROVOCATION FOR PALESTINIANS

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP renewed its call on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee to hold the Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, accountable for his ongoing dishonesty with the Palestinian people and their struggle. 

Commenting on the new statements by Abbas to the German newspaper Der Spiegel, the PFLP said Abbas’s statements and boasts of his policies of security coordination are a provocation against the Palestinian people and run contrary to the Palestinian popular opinion, which is now more convinced than ever of the failure of the PA and the futility of its approach. 

In particular, the PFLP denounced Abbas’s condemnation of the Palestinian resistance and his boasting about security coordination with the Israeli occupation authorities.

The statement further slammed Abbas for admitting that the PA troops arrested three Palestinian youths who planned to carry out an anti-occupation attack. PFLP said such statements, which come while Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people have been on the rise, particularly in Occupied Jerusalem, represent neither the Palestinian people nor the national liberation movement.

According to the PFLP, Abbas’s statements represent a blatant attack on the decision of the Palestinian Central Council which upheld Palestinians’ right to resist, end the Oslo agreement, and stop security coordination with Israel.

“Instead of these offensive remarks, Abbas must have protested against Germany’s pro-Israel policy and delivery of free nuclear submarines,” the statement concluded.

Remembrance and resistance among Palestinian prisoners

Remembrance and resistance among Palestinian prisoners

The focus upon Palestinian prisoners last week was replete with statistical data, information regarding specific cases, as well as statements from Palestinian political factions declaring their support towards resistance and liberation, not only of land - but also those incarcerated in Israeli jails.

The resonance reached its culmination on April 17, which marked Palestinian Prisoners' Day. Several protests were held in cities across the world, highlighting the injustice of criminalising resistance, as well as the ongoing administrative detention and torture practices inflicted upon Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Several statements by Palestinian NGOs highlighted the humanitarian plight resulting from incarceration in Israeli jails, with statistics not only portraying the inhumane conditions and isolation, but also the ramifications of such lengthy imprisonment upon all Palestinian families. Given the array of alleged "offences" enshrined within Israeli law in order to stifle Palestinian expression, every family in Palestine has experienced the trauma of detention.

However, the discrepancy lies within the inability to reconcile the humanitarian with the political and vice versa - a shortcoming that is increasingly evident across the entire spectrum. 

To eliminate the fact that most Palestinian prisoners have been imprisoned due to their involvement in resistance, whether through support or active participation, is a disservice to the prisoners and the entire population.

Reports will continue to regurgitate the details of torture and ill-treatment for the benefit of awareness or useful reference when the need arises, yet rarely is the political experience interwoven into the narrative. The obliteration of colonial violence has resulted in several discordances, including the failure of Palestinian resistance factions to produce a consistent and coherent political framework.

Beyond statistics

The Palestinian Human Rights Organisation Council (PHROC) has estimated that since 1967, approximately 800,000 Palestinians, which constitutes 20 percent of the Palestinian population, have been imprisoned in Israeli jails.

This year, more than 7,000 Palestinians - including women and children - are imprisoned by Israel. This number includes 700 Palestinians held under administrative detention - reflecting Israel's penchant for mass arrests as well as security coordination with the Palestinian Authority - escalating at intervals from routine collective punishment to excessive revenge, and intended to curb Palestinian resistance in all forms.

In another newsbrief, the Palestinian Information Centre shed light upon the killing of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel. According to the senior official of the Commission of Detainees' Affairs, Abdul Naser Farwana, out of 207 Palestinian prisoners who had died in Israeli custody since 1967, seven had been shot dead in prison, while 126 died as a result of medical neglect.

Israeli collective punishment and intentional medical negligence was expounded upon by Palestine's Health Work Committees, which stated that "the Palestinian law agencies have documented the detention of 5,000 Palestinians including 200 children and 60 injured people" since the commencement of what has become known as the "Jerusalem Intifada" in November.

The organisation also added that, in the case of life-threatening diseases such as cancer, appropriate treatment is often withheld and prisoners are instead merely given painkillers. Prisoners with disabilities are also stripped of their mobility by Israel through the prohibition of devices that would assist their movement.

In their recommendations, the Health Work Committees suggested that the international court should be presented with a case file detailing all forms of abuse against Palestinian prisoners.

Resistance and liberation

Last Friday, senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh insisted that Hamas was capable of freeing all Palestinian prisoners: 

"The liberation of the Palestinian prisoners is a pledge by all parties of the Palestinian resistance, and any concession in this regard touches our national principles."

Following the 2011 prisoner swap, Haniyeh also asserted that the issue of Palestinian prisoners remained a priority on the Hamas agenda.

Meanwhile, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) stressed the importance of national unity "to support the intifada on the road to defeating the occupation and liberating the land and people of Palestine".

But both Hamas and the PFLP exhibit a series of contradictions in their statements.

It is evident that the 2011 prisoners swap will remain a notable event in Hamas history, and one that depicted a strong bargaining power. 

However, Haniyeh's most recent statement is nostalgic, rather than determined. It fails to take into consideration the political changes as a result of Israel's aggressive endeavours in Gaza, which have reduced the enclave to a prison of the perpetually displaced.

In addition, Hamas has sought to reinvent itself diplomatically, making various concessions that have led to its marginalisation. Its inclusion in the formation of the unity government in 2014 was based upon concessions, rather than the concept of unity derived from resistance. 

Similarly, its defence of Gaza during Operation Protective Edge was later overshadowed by the ceasefire negotiations brokered by Egypt, which subsequently led to the isolation of Hamas - even with regard to the reconstruction of Gaza.

The PFLP's stance is, meanwhile, tied to both unity and resistance, including the current context of the Jerusalem Intifada. While calling for international efforts shows an awareness of highlighting Israel's colonial violence as one that entails global responsibility and accountability, the reference to the Jerusalem Intifada is premature, given the lack of coordination as well as support that has remained tethered to rhetoric.

Palestinian resistance factions should resort to the historical narrative that has proved the important role of Palestinian prisoners in anti-colonial resistance. 

Rather than amalgamate significance to the Jerusalem Intifada, Palestinian factions should tackle the issue of prisoners as an aging, internationally accepted phenomenon intrinsically tied to Israel's colonial existence.

Ramona Wadi is an independent researcher, freelance journalist, book reviewer and blogger specialising in the struggle for memory in Chile and Palestine, colonial violence and the manipulation of international law. Follow her on Twitter: @walzerscent

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.

Demonstration against poverty and unemployment in Gaza on April 2nd 2016

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) supporters hold banners during a demonstration against poverty and unemployment at Unknown Soldier's Square in Gaza City, Gaza on April 02, 2016. Credit: Anadolu Agency

Raise the issue of the prisoners in all international arenas

Raise the issue of the prisoners in all international arenas

To the masses of our struggling people, in the streets and squares of Palestine, in the camps and in exile and diaspora, from behind bars and high walls,

Your imprisoned children and comrades greet you in the struggle for our homeland and our cause. We bow our heads before the martyrs whose blood has been shed every day in the struggle for Palestine, our people, our rights, our land and holy sites. We salute the mothers of the martyrs and the prisoners, and applaud and embrace our resisting Palestinian people and their strugglers, and we salute proud Jerusalem whose people stand day and night in defense of their freedom, dignity and identity. 

Our valiant Palestinian people renew their struggle and continue the march of revolution and resistance to free our land of the occupation and achieve freedom, liberation and return.

We stand with you today to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, in which our people stand every year and every day, united in support of the prisoners and their just cause. Let us also take this opportunity to salute the martyrs of the prisoners’ movement whose lives were taken by Zionist torturers and in the miserable prison clinics as a result of deliberate medical neglect.

And we salute the brothers and comrades struggling in Ramle prison clinic, the sisters and comrades in Hasharon and Damon prisons, the elderly prisoners and our imprisoned children and youth.

On this occasion, we in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine branch in the prisons of the occupation, led by Comrade leader Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of our Front, and the struggling Comrade Khalida Jarrar, we salute the struggling masses of our people everywhere with greatest pride and appreciation. Your spirit of struggle is authentic, passionate and determined, with a precious spirit of sacrifice, and you struggle and suffer along with your children, your brothers and sisters, the prisoners.

Palestinian Prisoners’ Day is the day of the Palestinian people who have struggled for nearly a century, defying oppression and tyranny and confronting the occupier, seeking freedom and liberation. It is the day of our people who have created a bright and honorable history that challenges the arrogance of the jailer, turning the cells into spaces of struggle, where prisoners and their families struggle together, in one struggle with all of our people in every village, town, refugee camp, and city, in every street and square and field.

On this day, we emphasize the importance of strengthening national unity and forming a unified national leadership to support our people and their steadfastness, and to support the intifada on the road to defeating the occupation and liberating the land and people of Palestine.

As part of the events of support, we underline the need to focus on the issue of prisoners who are sick and ill and exposed to the worst practices that demonstrate the racist, hateful nature of the occupation institutions, the elderly and the children prisoners, and those who are subject to harassment daily at the hands of the jailers.

We renew our call to internationalize the issue of Palestinian prisoners and to raise the issue everywhere in all international arenas: in the International Criminal Court, in the Human Rights Council of the United Nations and elsewhere, demanding investigation and accountability for the practices and abuses of the Zionist state against the prisoners over the past decades, and the ongoing crimes committed against the prisoners.

The issue of Palestinian prisoners should be a major concern of international public opinion, as a moral, human and political issue that addresses the conscience of humanity.

Glory to the martyrs of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian revolution. Freedom for the prisoners of freedom. Victory for our resisting people!

PFLP congratulates Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc on elections at the Palestine National University

PFLP congratulates Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc on elections at the Palestine National University

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine extends its sincere congratulations to the students at Palestine National University in Bethlehem on the democratic elections for the Student Union, marked by honest competition between the student blocs.

In particular, the PFLP congratulates the comrades of the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc for winning 10 seats in the election; this compares to 20 seats won by the Martyr Yasser Arafat Alliance Bloc, which includes the Fateh students and supporters of the DFLP and the Peoples Party. This is one more seat than the Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc won last year. In addition, the bloc of the National Initiative won three seats. 

The progress of the Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc demonstrates their successful campaign and programs and their commitment to express the convictions of the students and their vision of a liberated Palestine, and their work to protect the rights of the students and support their campaign for free education.

The PFLP salutes all of the comrades of the Bloc who contributed to this progress.

”Khaleds motståndskamp är inte terrorism”

”Khaleds motståndskamp är inte terrorism”

TERRORISM · ”Siewert Öholm försöker dra paralleller mellan PFLP och de terrororganisationer som härjar i Mellanöstern och även har utfört fasansfulla attacker i Europa. Det är djupt oärligt”, skriver Patrik Paulov.

Den palestinska befrielsekämpen Leila Khaleds besök i Göteborg har blivit brett uppmärksammat. 

Att Palestinasolidariteten är stark i Göteborg visste vi sedan tidigare.

Att intresset för Leila Khaled var stort visst vi också.

Men det är klart att vi även har journalisten Siewert Öholm att tacka för en och annan besökare.

Vad sades då på mötet?

Till kritikernas besvikelse kan jag meddela att flygkapningarna inte nämndes en enda gång.

Det som skedde för snart ett halvt sekel sedan, det som var ett desperat försök att uppmärksamma världen på att det finns ett palestinskt folk som fördrivits från sitt hemland, som lever under ockupation eller i flyktingläger, utgör en mycket liten del av Leila Khaleds och hennes parti PFLP:s historia.

När det gäller terrorismen så var den palestinska befrielsekämpen oerhört tydlig. Hon fördömde den - om och om igen.

Leila Khaled vittnade om terrorn mot och fördrivningen av palestinierna vid staten Israels bildande.

Hon vittnade om ockupationsmaktens brutala övergrepp på Västbanken, om de israeliska bosättarnas markstölder, om den israeliska krigsmaktens bombningar och utsvältningen av invånarna i Gaza.

Khaled vittnade om terrorn mot palestinierna i Syrien, om flyktingläger som invaderats av fundamentalistiska grupper som IS och Jabhat al-Nusra.

Naturligtvis talade Leila Khaled också om motståndskamp. Om motstånd mot en folkrättsvidrig ockupation.

Det har inget med terrorism att göra.

Varje ockuperat folk har i enlighet med FN-stadgan rätt göra att motstånd till dess att ockupationen upphör. Det är lika giltigt idag som under andra världskriget.

Att kräva att palestinierna, som dagligen utsätts för brutalt våld av en av världens mest välbeväpnade krigsmakter, är den part som ska ta avstånd från våld är absurt.

Vad kan vi i Sverige göra för att stödja palestiniernas kamp för uppfyllandet av FN:s resolutioner om ett slut på ockupationen och för flyktingarnas rätt att återvända?

I svaret på den frågan var Leila Khaled tydlig. Det handlar om opinionsarbete.

Om att uppmärksamma palestiniernas situation. Om att stödja BDS-rörelsen som verkar för bojkott, desinvesteringar och sanktioner mot Israel.

Siewert Öholm försöker dra paralleller mellan PFLP och de terrororganisationer som härjar i Mellanöstern och även har utfört fasansfulla attacker i Europa.

Det är djupt oärligt.

För det första är PFLP en socialistisk organisation, vars vision är ett enat sekulärt och demokratiskt Palestina med lika rättigheter för alla invånare, oavsett etnisk eller religiös tillhörighet.

För det andra är det inte PFLP och palestinierna som berett vägen för IS, al-Qaida och andra extremister.

Det är snarare så att västvärlden och dess vänner i Mellanöstern bär stor skuld till terrorismens framväxt genom ockupationen av Irak, och genom leveranserna av vapen, pengar och annat stöd till extremistgrupperna i Syrien.

Att Natoländer och deras diktaturvänner i Gulfen bär stor skuld till terrorismen i Mellanöstern, var också något Leila Khaled tydligt påpekade under sitt uppskattade besök i Göteborg.

Kommunisterna välkomnar gärna Leila Khaled till ett nytt möte nästa gång hon är i Sverige.

Following rape claims, MKs push to cancel state honors for slain minister

Following rape claims, MKs push to cancel state honors for slain minister

Several Israeli politicians called for the cancellation of state-organized commemorations for slain cabinet minister Rehavam Ze’evi, following the publication of rape and intimidation allegations against him. 

The allegations appeared Thursday in Channel 2’s investigative journalism television program “Uvda” (Fact). It included an anonymous testimony by a female soldier who said she was raped by Ze’evi, a right-wing politician and retired general whom Palestinian terrorists murdered in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001.

According to “Uvda,” Ze’evi also conspired with a crime boss, Tuvia Oshri, to set off an explosive device in 1974 outside the home of Sylvie Keshet, an investigative journalist who wrote critically about Ze’evi. No one was convicted of the crime.

Following the airing of the documentary, the chairperson of the left-wing Meretz party, Zehava Galon said her party will work to cancel the annual memorial day that the Knesset inaugurated in Ze’evi’s memory in 2005.

Shelly Yachimovich, a Zionist Union lawmaker and former head of the Labor Party, supported the initiative on social media. Ze’evi, she wrote, “is dead but his victims live on, scarred, as their daughters and granddaughter study his horrific legacy.”

Eitan Haber, a close associate of the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, said Ze’evi once pointed a handgun at his head during an argument. Ze’evi, known by the nickname Gandhi, fought during Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, and was a senior member of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces during the 1967 Six Day War. Rabin, who was chief of staff, promoted him to brigadier general after the war.

Hailing from a socialist Zionist home, Ze’evi gradually became more hawkish. During the 1990s, he was an advocate of the concept of having Arab Israelis transferred outside the borders of the State of Israel.

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel of the Jewish Home party said he would oppose attempts to stop commemorations and criticized the airing of documentary, citing Ze’evi’s inability to respond to the claims. Ze’evi was the founder of the Moledet party, which later became part of the National Union, which itself is today amalgamated into Jewish Home.

“General Rehavam Ze’vi devoted his life to safeguarding Israel’s security. It is inappropriate to destroy his reputation when he is unable to comment,” Ariel wrote.

Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint (Arab) List party, linked the sexual offenses attributed to Ze’evi to his political views.

“It is unsurprising to discover that a person who supported the transfer of a civilian population also assaulted women and persecuted journalists,” he wrote on Twitter. “Those who saw no shame in commemorating him earlier should not find it anymore shameful to do so now.”

Palestinian internal politics deteriorating on all fronts

Palestinian internal politics deteriorating on all fronts

Disagreements in the Palestinian leadership have started affecting the factions within the ruling Palestinian Liberation Organization. Tensions between PLO’s leading faction, Fatah, and especially President Mahmoud Abbas, and the second-largest PLO faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), are now in the open. 

The PFLP, a left-wing movement, has for years been a thorn in the side of Fatah, both under late PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Abbas. However, the two factions have tolerated each other and shared common ground — until now.

Following the recent tensions, Abbas has ordered the suspension of the movement's monthly stipend, due to its leaders' much harsher than usual anti-Abbas positions. In response, anti-Abbas demonstrations were held April 12 by PFLP supporters in the Gaza Strip, during which the photo of the Palestinian president was burned.

The conflict between Abbas and the PFLP is a result of a series of decisions and statements by Abbas, which included the Palestinian participation in the funeral of a senior Israeli civil administration official March 25 and an interview on Israel TV that was seen as an appeasement to the Israelis. On Feb. 26, there was the mysterious death of Omar Nayef Zayed, a PFLP operative who died inside the Palestinian Embassy in Bulgaria.

PFLP officials held talks and issued a statement April 3, saying that Abbas had crossed red lines. PFLP politburo member Rabah Muhana called on Abbas to resign for deviating from “what is acceptable” for a national leader.

Kayed al-Ghul, a Gaza-based PFLP leader, told Al-Monitor that the Palestinian National Fund has stopped paying the monthly stipend to the movement. He said, “The February and March fund transfers have not been made, apparently following a verbal request by Abbas to Ramzi Khoury, the head of the Palestinian National Fund.”

Ghul said that while it is not the first time that this has happened, it does reflect a retraction in relations. “This is a sign by Abbas to dominate all decision-making even though the fund transfer issue was mandated by the Palestinian National Council [PNC].”

The funds, which are said to be around $80,000 a month, are to cover the salaries of the movement’s cadres and other administrative costs such as rent for offices, publications and transportation expenses.

Ghul said that the Palestinian national and Islamic factions issued a statement April 11 in support of the PFLP’s position. He told Al-Monitor by phone from Gaza, “In addition to the monopoly over financial decisions, we have been seeing similar attempts by the president to make national decisions such as the Arab League’s labeling Hezbollah ‘a terrorist organization’ and an approval without consultation of the French plans.”

Hamdeh Faraneh, a member of the PNC, told Al-Monitor that suspending the funds is not acceptable. He said, “It is not acceptable to cut off financial support to well-respected national factions such as the [PFLP].”

For his part, a senior PFLP official in Amman told Al-Monitor that the transfer of funds to the movement has varied between $80,000 and $120,000 per month over the years, and that it had been $85,000 recently. The source, who preferred not to be identified for security reasons, said that it was not the first time that the chairman of the PLO’s Executive Committee had resorted to financial pressures.

He said, “Both Abbas and before him Arafat have tried this method many times. Yet they must know that the PFLP will not yield to this kind of pressure.” The source explained that his faction has put some funds aside for emergencies, and that the issue will be raised in the next meeting of the PLO Executive Committee, of which the organization is a permanent member.

Abdel Rahim Mallouh, who was the acting director of the PLO and who resigned as a representative of the PFLP in 2010, has only nominally represented the organization, since a replacement has not yet been elected. Yet, Omar Shehadeh often represents the organization at the meetings of the Executive Committee.

Since the resignation in 2000 of PFLP's founder George Habash, who passed away in 2008, the movement has witnessed various leadership challenges. Abu Ali Mustafa, Habash's successor, was assassinated by Israel in August 2001. Mustafa’s deputy Ahmed Sadaat took over the leadership position, but he was accused of having planned the revenge for the killing of Mustafa, by ordering the killing of Israeli Minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001. Sadaat is currently serving a 30-year sentence in Israel.

Khalida Jarrar, a senior PFLP supporter and an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was sentenced in December 2015 to 15 months in prison on charges that included attending public forums. Its Central Council rather than an individual leader leads the organization, which is under constant threat from the Israelis.

Palestinian internal politics appears to be deteriorating on all fronts. However, Fatah and its leader Abbas can’t afford to alienate a secular national movement such as the PFLP. This attempt to influence the movement through economic pressure is unlikely to produce any major changes in its political posturing. The sooner that this issue is resolved, the better it is for Abbas to solve his much more intractable problems within his own movement and with Hamas, his main political adversary.

Sa'adat on Omar Nayef Zayed: One betrayal, from Jericho to Bulgaria

Ahmad Sa’adat, imprisoned Palestinian leader and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, issued a statement along with his fellow imprisoned PFLP comrades, on the killing of freed prisoner, and Sa’adat’s comrade, Omar Nayef Zayed in the Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria on Friday morning.

Sa’adat said that Nayef Zayed struggled until his last breath for Palestine, saying that the Mossad – the Israeli intelligence service – the Bulgarian authorities, and the Palestinian Authority, represented by its President Mahmoud Abbas, Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki and Ambassador Ahmad al-Madhbouh all have a direct responsibility for this crime.

Sa’adat said that such a crime, in which the Zionist intelligence and the role of the Palestinian Authority come together directly, is reminiscent of a series of events and practices of the Authority, particularly the imprisonment of Sa’adat and his comrades in Jericho prison and then their kidnapping by the occupation and the attack on the prison, leading up to this ugly event inside the Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria. “The collusion of the Palestinian Authority and the Zionist intelligence through security coordination leads to serious crimes and results to which the Authority is not immune. It is part and parcel of the continuation of security coordination and reliance on a settlement with this criminal enemy,” said Sa’adat.

He called for a popular trial of Palestinian officials responsible for the events leading to this crime, sayingthat it was “premeditated.”

“The assasination of Nayef Zayed carries with it many questions and suspicions which must be investigated and exposed: particularly, the lack of formal protection for the comrade martyr and the absence of the security and intelligence services of the Authority from the embassy at the moment that his life was taken. This is particularly true in light of what we learned from the comrade directly through his family, that he was under constant pressure from the embassy staff and the ambassador, and that the ambassador frequently warned him that the Mossad could attack him at any moment,” said Sa’adat.

He also said that this incident raises questions about the discussion of the issue of Nayef Zayed between Palestinian officials and the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, who met with the leadership of the PA and Abbas on Wednesday of this week, whether it was not raised, or what discussions took place on his case at that time. Sa’adat concluded by extending his and his comrades sincere condolences to the family of Omar Nayef Zayed, who have given many martyrs, prisoners, and wounded in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.

Marches in Bureij and Deir al-Balah, Gaza, demand action on killing of Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed

Marches in Bureij and Deir al-Balah, Gaza, demand action on killing of Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip organized a symbolic funeral for Comrade Omar Nayef Zayed, killed in the Palestinian embssy in Bulgaria on February 26. 

People marched through the streets of the camp, with participants from all Palestinian factions as well as leaders, cadres and members of the Front, led by a group of Palestinian fighters carrying the banners of the Front and the symbolic coffin of the martyr. 

Comrade Hani Thawabteh, member of the Central Committee, spoke on behalf of the Front, saying that the Front will not allow the comrade’s death to go unpassed and will pursue those responsible by all means.

He reviewed the comrade’s life and history of struggle from his boyhood and his consistent commitment to the liberation of Palestine, saying that the PFLP will not allow the lives of freedom fighters like Omar Nayrf Zayed to be taken.

On March 8, the Progressive Student Labor Front also held a mock funeral and rally to memorialize Comrade Nayef, marching from the center of Deir al-Balah refugee camp and chanting against the complicity of the Palestinian embassy, including its ambassador Ahmad al-Madhbouh.

The students carried the symbolic coffin of the martyr with Palestinian flags and PFLP banners, calling for accountability of all those who colluded in the crime.