Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

---

Political Statement to the Palestinian People on the 39 th Anniversary of the Founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

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

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

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

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

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

Our Palestinian Masses,

Since the establishment of the PFLP, which emerged from the Pan-Arab Movement, we have been loyal, for decades, to the struggles and sacrifices of our people, and have continuously persevered to achieve the goals and aspirations of the liberation of Palestine and the establishment of a democratic nation, in all of historic Palestine, as a strategic goal—without diminishing the importance of achieving our interim goal of a sovereign, independent, Palestinian state on 1967-occupied land, with Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants to the homes and land from which they were displaced. We consider the Right of Return the most essential of our interim goals, and the main path to our strategic goal.

The Palestinian cause has entered a complex stage, as the Zionist enemy and the influential forces in what is called the “international community” continue to deny our people’s rights, and endeavor to revoke or reduce these rights—in an attempt to force our people to submit and surrender.

At the same time, the Zionist enemy continues its brutal aggression against our people—murder, destruction, assassination, house demolition, the uprooting of trees, land expropriation, settlement expansion, the continued construction of the Apartheid Wall, a suffocating political and economic siege, torture, and massive oppression.

Also, the Palestinian internal scene is witnessing increased conflicts and a polarization that has led to some fratricidal Palestinian clashes. This is a real threat that impacts Palestinian political and resistance forces, as well as all the Palestinian people and their national discourse. There is no choice in this situation but to have all forces re-establish their basic commitment to the highest n ational interest, to steer away from political party factionalism and sectarianism, and to move towards establishing a true national unity based on proportional representation on the ground. And this unity must be founded on the premise of our unequivocal Palestinian National Rights (“Thawabit Wataniyyah”)—to ensure the contribution of all in the building of our collective future.

We call upon all, including our own comrades, to work on building and supporting national unity, and we believe that the essence of this unity will be based on the following factors:

• The reactivation and re-establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. This includes the rebuilding of the Palestine National Council via elections, on the basis of proportional representation, as agreed upon in the Cairo Dialogue of last year; the PLO’s Central Council and Executive Committee, respectively; and the PLO’s popular institutions, in an effort to bring democratization to the PLO in a way that would protect our national rights and restore respect for the Palestinian National Charter (“Al-Meethaq Alwatani”).

• The importance of continuing all forms of resistance, including military resistance, until the occupation is ended; and to NOT accept that negotiation with the enemy is the only strategic method to confront the occupation. We demand that the file of the Palestinian “issue” be transferred back to the supervision of the UN through an international conference—this will be an essential and welcome shift from the previous, ineffective means of negotiation: bi-lateral talks with the enemy, the Road Map proposed by the Quartet (U.S., European Union, Russia, and UN), and the enemy’s attempts to impose unilateral solutions. We call upon all Palestinian forces to unequivocally and especially reject the latter.

• The importance of forming an actual, national unity government based on the political program of the Palestinian National Consensus Document (“Al wathiqat alwifaq alwatani”). We also stress our rejection of any attempt to defuse this document, whether through amendments or by basing its implementation on other documents that may annul it. The PFLP has been at the forefront of those demanding the formation of this government ever since the election of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in Palestine.

And since a national unity government is one of the main demands of our people as well, we call upon all Palestinian resistance and popular forces to participate in the current dialogue on the formation of this government, and insist that none of these forces attempt to isolate others from participating.

• The grave situation in the Gaza Strip. Despite the fact that the five main Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip agreed to stop rocket attacks against Israel, in exchange for the enemy’s cessation of attacks against our people, Israeli continues its attack against Palestinians in the West Bank. The PFLP states that:

• We will continue to support the halting of rocket attacks in return for Zionist withdrawal from the areas it re-invaded in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as its commitment to halting all incursions and attacks—whether assassinations, home demolitions, attacking and arresting activists, ground invasions, or air raids. If the enemy violates any of this, we consider ourselves no longer obliged by the agreement.

• We do not consider this agreement on halting rocket attacks to include halting other forms of military and armed resistance.

• We do not consider the halting of rocket attacks to be a general “ceasefire.” Any future discussion of this will require a Palestinian internal dialogue—to reach an agreement on what we will require from the enemy in return for a ceasefire.

• Ending the siege on the Palestinian people. After the victory of Hamas in the legislative elections and its forming of a new Palestinian Authority (PA) government, the “international community,” in concert with the enemy, reactionary Arab regimes, and some Palestinian leaders, pressured the Hamas government to submit to the Quartet’s demands upon it. The siege on our people began when Hamas and the Palestinian people rightfully refused to submit.

And, despite the brutal damage inflicted upon the Palestinians as a result of this siege, these powers continue their policies of economic strangulation. We condemn and denounce these policies, refuse any pre-conditions for ending the siege on our people, and demand that the siege end immediately. We call on PA President Abu Mazin to also demand an end to this siege from all of the aforementioned forces.

• The release of Palestinian and other Arab prisoners from Israeli jails. Because this issue remains at the heart of our people’s concerns, we want to stress:

• The importance of coordinating with our sisters and brothers in Hezbollah, in regards to the Israeli soldier that it captured, as we believe that this would strengthen the Palestinian position in the prisoner exchange negotiations.

• That the negotiation process for the captured Israeli soldier remains primarily attached to the exchange of prisoners, without submitting to the enemy’s tactic of basing prisoner exchange on other issues.

• The importance of guaranteeing that the release of Palestinian prisoners actually coincides with the release of the captured Israeli soldier. We must be aware of the enemy’s previous, deceitful tactics of promising to release our prisoners in exchange for theirs, and then not implementing the agreement.

• That the exchange of prisoners must include our comrades Ahmad Saadat and Abdel-Rahim Mallouh, and other prominent leaders of other Palestinian factions

Our Palestinian Masses,

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

Eternal Glory to the Martyrs

Freedom for the Prisoners

December 11 th, 2006

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Statement #MiddleEast