PFLP: “Leadership” that participates in the funeral of war criminal Peres does not represent the Palestinian people

PFLP: “Leadership” that participates in the funeral of war criminal Peres does not represent the Palestinian people

Comrade Khalida Jarrar, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said that the attendance of a Palestinian leadership delegation, headed by PA president Mahmoud Abbas, at the funeral of war criminal Shimon Peres embodies the humiliating relationship of this defeated “leadership” with the occupation, saying that such a leadership cannot represent the aspirations and hopes of our people.

In an interview with Sawt al-Shaab radio, Jarrar said “How can the leadership of an occupied people participate in the funeral of the perpetrator of massacres against its people, including the attack on Qana in 1996, knowing that this war criminal is also a founder of the settlements, developer of nuclear weapons, and responsible for the killing of our people in occupied Palestine ’48 on Land Day 1976?”

Jarrar said that this action by the PA leadership was a direct insult to the mothers of the martyrs, the prisoners, the wounded and all of those with demolished homes, and all of the Palestinian people who are still suffering daily from the occupation and its crimes. She also noted that the humiliating justifications made for this participation by the PA leadership do not reflect the positions of the Palestinian people in any way who have a consensus to reject this participation in Peres’ funeral. The Palestinian people are proud with a strong will, despite their difficult circumstances, said Jarrar.

Further, she noted that it is clear that the PA leadership is committed to the approach of bilateral negotiations and seeking to beg the occupation that they are willing to return to occupation. She also noted that the PA participation in Peres’ funeral also gives cover to Arab normalization with the occupation.

Jarrar noted further that it is clear that there is no interest on the part of the PA leadership in an alternative political approach, emphasizing that it is necessary to express the overwhelming popular rejection of the PA participation in Peres’ funeral and the entire dangerous approach it represent. She noted that in over 70 years, the Palestinian people have never raised the white flag of surrender and have continued intifada and resistance to the occupation: that while the people never give up, there are “leaders” who give up. Jarrar reiterated that a leadership that participates in the funeral of the war criminal Peres is not suitable for a people who have offered so many sacrifices for their freedom.

Democratic Progressive Pole at Bir Zeit expresses solidarity with Fateh youth against repression

Democratic Progressive Pole at Bir Zeit expresses solidarity with Fateh youth against repression

The Democratic Progressive Student Pole at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah expressed its solidarity with the Shabiba, the Fateh Youth Movement at the University. Its membership and Facebook page was frozen by the Fateh leadership following a statement by the Fateh Youth after it issued a statement demanding the ouster of PA president Mahmoud Abbas after he participated in the funeral of Zionist war criminal Shimon Peres.

The Democratic Progressive Student Pole issued a press statement:

“‘Our worst fear is that treason becomes another opinion.’

So wrote our brothers and comrades in the Shabibah, Fateh student youth movement statement, and so we begin. They wrote their position which we consider today to be the position of all of the national movement and the position of the student movement at Bir Zeit. We reject the farce of peace and normalization against our people, and we announce in all sincerity and in the spirit of national unity, the spirit of Abu Ammar and Abu Ali Mustafa, that we will be in the same trench of struggle against any attacks on our beloved fellow youth, and we recall the words of Yasser Arafat, Abu Ammar, ‘I rely on these people, I rely on these young people.'”

Wihda Party in Jordan urges popular action against gas deal with Zionist regime

Wihda Party in Jordan urges popular action against gas deal with Zionist regime

The Popular Democratic Unity Party (Wihda Party) of Jordan denounced the Jordanian government’s agreement with the Zionist entity for the purchase of stolen Palestinian natural gas for a 15-year period.

The Wihda Party noted that the signing of the agreement came amid a wide popular rejection of this action, which demonstrates an utter lack of concern for the will and interests of the people. Despite widespread popular protests, the government moved forward with the deal, confirming that the Wadi Araba agreement is the main reference for the state since 1993.

The party urged popular forces to take immediate action to force the cancellation of the contract with the Zionist entity and called upon all to participate in the march against the gas deal next Friday, from Al-Husseini Mosque.

PFLP mourns the passing of Comrade Ahmad Farran in Sweden

PFLP mourns the passing of Comrade Ahmad Farran in Sweden

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine mourns the passing of Comrade Ahmad Khaled Farran after a life of struggle in the Palestinian cause.

Born in Haifa in 1948, Ahmad Farran was as a newborn baby forced from his home in the Nakba, the Zionist conquest and colonization of Palestine. As a Palestinian refugee, he studied in Damascus to become an electrician and came to Sweden in 1964.

Comrade Farran spent his life committed to the Palestinian struggle and particular the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their original homes and lands. He passed away after a long struggle with illness in Gothenburg, Sweden on September 28.

The PFLP expresses its condolences to Comrade Farran’s family, loved ones and to the Palestinian community in Sweden, where Comrade Farran was a leading struggler for decades.

PFLP MEMBERS JOIN OPEN HUNGER-STRIKE AT SIT-IN FRONT OF ICRC OFFICE IN GAZA

PFLP MEMBERS JOIN OPEN HUNGER-STRIKE AT SIT-IN FRONT OF ICRC OFFICE IN GAZA

Members and leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) announced on Monday that they would begin open hunger strikes in solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli prisons.

The announcement was made at a sit-in in front of the office for International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza City, amid widespread protests over the organization’s recent decision to cut family visitations for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody, reducing arranged visits for male Palestinian prisoners from two days a month to just one.

More than 80 PFLP-affiliated prisoners have entered open hunger strikes in a mass movement first inspired by incarcerated PFLP member Bilal Kayid, who has gone more than 55 days without food, while imprisoned PFLP Secretary-General Ahmad Saadat also joined the hunger strike at the beginning of this month.

The sit-in was attended by PFLP members, the families of Palestinian prisoners, former prisoners, representatives from various Islamic and national parties, students’ associations, and women’s institutions.

“We are constantly being updated with every detail of the struggle PFLP-affiliated prisoners are facing in Israeli jails and we are willing to undertake any measure against these threats," PFLP central committee leader Allam Kaabe said at the sit-in.

He said that PFLP prisoners would continue the mass hunger strike until their demands were met, adding that there were new Palestinian prisoners of all political factions joining the open hunger strike every day.

Kaabe criticized the ICRC for its “dereliction” towards the Palestinian prisoners’ cause, especially in light of their decision to decrease family visitations.

He also said that the ICRC had been giving prisoners’ families misleading information about their conditions in Israeli custody.

“These misleading and unfavorable procedures by the Red Cross makes us very suspicious about whether the organization should continue to be responsible for Palestinian prisoners issues.”

The sit-it was the latest event to be held in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners hunger striking in protest of Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention, used almost exclusively against Palestinians.

Palestinians have long accused Israel of using the policy in part to erode political and family life in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, by detaining scores of Palestinians without proof of wrongdoing, and targeting families of political prisoners.

AN OLD APARTHEID DOG CAN'T LEARN NEW TRICKS: ISRAELI OCCUPATION'S REACTION TO THE HUNGER-STRIKE OF BILAL KAYED

AN OLD APARTHEID DOG CAN'T LEARN NEW TRICKS: ISRAELI OCCUPATION'S REACTION TO THE HUNGER-STRIKE OF BILAL KAYED

The idea of a separation of powers in Israel is an illusion. Civil judiciary is utterly beholden to the political organs of the state and the military with its own courts.

So the news that hunger-striker Bilal Kayed's appeal against his imprisonment without a charge - aka 'administrative detention', based on a British mandate era colonial law - is set to be heard by Israel's High Court in October is no surprise.

Instead of being a separate entity taking 'an objective' view of a judicial case, the High Court is part of a government-wide system trying to break Bilal Kayed's hunger-strike.

The decision to keep Bilal Kayed shackled to his hospital bed is yet an another standard piece of the theater of cruelty Israel's regime enacts during each hunger-strike.

It's supposedly a show of strength from the occupation regime, intended to weaken the hunger-striker's determination, but it never works yet Israel sticks with it because an old Apartheid dog can't learn new tricks.

Comparing Bilal Kayed's now 60 day long hunger-strike to previous hunger-strikes, Israeli regime's tactics are copied from a hunger-strike to a hunger-strike. Tactics which in nine cases out of ten fail to break the determination of the hunger-striker in question.

The regime knows it has to negotiate, it knows it has to release the hunger-striker eventually and that there is room for 'a face-saving' deal which will allow the hunger-striker to be imprisoned a little longer so that the Israeli regime can claim it hasn't suffered a total defeat.

Yet it refuses to negotiate until very late and goes through the same antics, like this would be a some kind of long-running theater show where the High Court wearily makes the same kind of appearance each time in support of the regime's other Hydra's heads.

The moment the Israeli regime decided not to release Bilal Kayed when his sentence ended it knew there would be a hunger-strike. It decided to start a public contest between oppression and freedom and which oppression, it itself, was set to lose from the beginning. It must have known this from previous experience, yet it went ahead anyway, set on its tracks which is typical for oppressive regimes like it.

When Bilal Kayed is finally free, we might even thank Israel for this opportunity to bring light to the situation of the over seven hundred Palestinian political prisoners imprisoned by the Israeli occupation without a charge or conviction.

But until then we must support Bilal Kayed, bring publicity to solidarity activities in support of him and use this opportunity to demand freedom for other re-arrested hunger-strikers like Samer Issawi and his siblings, who suffer at his side because Israel's regime can't forgive those who win the fight of empty stomachs against it's empire of gulags and steel bars of prison cages.

Samer Issawi had his moment of victory and freedom, Bilal Kayed will have his, the struggle will go on and eventually Samer and Bilal will both be free in a free Palestine.

SOURCES:

Israeli court keeps Bilal Kayed shackled to hospital bed on 60th day of hunger strike; Amnesty speaks out

http://samidoun.net/…/israeli-court-keeps-bilal-kayed-shac…/

PFLP members join open hunger strike at sit-in in front of ICRC office in Gaza

http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772584

PFLP: Setting next October for Kayed's hearing a "death sentence"

http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx…

PPCS: Kayed may not stand another two months of hunger strike

http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx…

PFLP'S LEILA KHALED SPEAKS AT RESISTANCE FESTIVAL IN GREECE (VIDEO)

PFLP'S LEILA KHALED SPEAKS AT RESISTANCE FESTIVAL IN GREECE (VIDEO)

Leila Khaled, member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian National Council, delivered a keynote speech at the Resistance Festival in Greece. Khaled also joined seminars and met a number of political leaders.

Leila Khaled stressed the collective history of resistance and mutual solidarity between the people of Palestine and Greece. Among others, she underpinned, solidarity at the time when Greece was governed by a military dictatorship. Khaled spoke alongside Figen Yuksekdag of the HDP of Turkey, Deborah Santana of the Puerto Rican liberation movement, and Marina Brescia of the Resistance Festival organizing committee.

Khaled highlighted in particular the struggle of political prisoners, focusing on the hunger strike of Bilal Kayed and carrying greetings from PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat to the festival. She described Kayed’s imprisonment for 14 and one-half years, followed by an order of administrative detention against him, urging global mobilization for political prisoners and saluting the struggles of her fellow speakers, calling for freedom for Puerto Rican, Turkish and Kurdish prisoners, and international revolutionary prisoners.

Leila Khaled also denounced the current Greek government’s actions to build a closer relationship with the Zionist occupation as well as its concessions to European powers when SYRIZA was elected by the Greek people to reject these forces. She particularly highlighted the government’s pursuit of natural gas deals with the occupier, noting that such deals were based on the profiteering and plundering from stolen Palestinian gas, and only pose further threats of exploitation to the Greek people.

Khaled met several prominent Greek political figures, including Zoe Konstantopoulou, former Speaker of the Greek Parliament, where she emphasized the need to build stronger mutual solidarity to confront the forces of imperialism and colonialism that threaten the Palestinian and Greek people. She met with Member of European Parliament Sofia Sakorafa, former Olympic athlete and a longtime supporter of the Palestinian people, emphasizing the importance of supporting Palestinian political prisoners and the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

Khaled also presented before a political forum at the Agricultural University of Athens before hundreds of activists and cadres of Greek progressive political forces, emphasizing the importance of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign and the need to cut off all forms of political, economic, military, and academic cooperation between Greece and the Zionist state.

Khaled’s visit came despite various attempts and pressures exerted by the Israeli embassy in Athens against the visit of Leila Khaled and attempts to cancel her events, threaten her personally, and silence her speeches. The Greek leftist forces with which she met emphasized their commitment to stand with the Palestinian people and their resistance for return and liberation.