Comrade Leila Khaled, in Amed/Diyarbakir for the First Middle East Women’s Conference, offered the following statement of solidarity and encouragement to comrades in Turkey participating in the mass protests taking place in Taksim square:

“On behalf of my people, the Palestinian people, we are always against fascism and oppression, against repression. We are the people living with injustice and the occupation of our land, the longest occupation in history, the Israeli Zionist occupation of Palestine. I call on you: You have to stay in the square, in Taksim, until the government accepts your demands. Don’t leave it. Keep there with your peaceful demonstration, your peaceful strike, sit-in. And I call upon women to join it on a wide scale everywhere, in the squares in different cities, not only in Taksim. Long live the people’s struggle for their rights!”

#Turkey #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #LeilaKhaled #Palestine #MiddleEast

Leila Khaled in Turkey: warning against imperialist intervention

Leila Khaled, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, concluded a five-day visit to Turkey, in which she participated in a number of conferences and seminars in Ankara, Istanbul and other cities.

She spoke at a socialist seminar on “the dynamics of transformation in the Middle East,” attended by Turkish members of parliament and writers and intellectuals from Turkey, Syria and Egypt. Comrade Leila Khaled reviewed recent developments in the Palestinian struggle and the enormous sacrifices that have been made on the path of liberation and freedom.

Khaled confirmed the right of the Palestinian people to struggle with all forms of resistance, with armed struggle in the forefront, to recover all of their usurped rights. Comrade Khaled called for the need to speed up the file of reconciliation and national unity, saying it is the strongest weapon of the Palestinian people. She saluted the struggle of Arab peoples in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain, who took to the streets and the squares in search of genuine democracy, freedom and social equality, warning against attempts of imperialist powers and internal forces to derail and alter the character of the real Arab revolutions.

Speaking to what is happening in Syria, comrade Khaled said that “The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is always with the people and their legitimate and just demands, but the latest developments in Syria clearly indicate that there is a US-Turkish-Saudi alliance with the goal of destroying and weakening Syria as a country, because it has said ‘no’ to the US and has not signed agreements with the Zionist entity, and hosts half a million Palestinian refugees.” She warned of the danger of pushing the Palestinian camps into the Syrian crisis, saying that “the goal of all of Palestine is Jerusalem and Palestine and must remain so.”

Comrade Khaled held a press conference in the city of Istanbul, attended by many Turkish journalists, discussing the position of the PFLP on national unity and Palestinian and Arab situations. She also presented on the role of imperialist powers and their regional agents to create a new reality in the region based on the New Middle East Project, which aims to redraw the boundaries of the region to divide the Arab homeland to serve the interests of US imperialism and the “security of Israel.” She said that the PFLP rejects any external interference, direct or indirect, in Syria and that the solution can only be created by Syrians themselves through dialogue and an end to killing and destruction.

She warned against schemes by the enemies of the peoples of the region being conducted under false slogans and emphasized the importance of coordinating the work of leftist and revolutionary forces to truly serve the interests of the peoples of the region.

#Palestine #LeilaKhaled #PFLP #Syria #MiddleEast

Comrade Leila Khaled, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP, spoke at the march on December 6, 2012, marking the 45th anniversary of the Front. She saluted the martyrs of the Palestinian revolution of Gaza and the martyrs of the Front, including Abu Ali Mustafa, the founder Dr. George Habash, Wadih Haddad, and greeted the prisoners led by Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of the Front.

Khaled is visiting Gaza in order to participate in the 45th anniversary celebrations, saluting the martyrs of Palestine and the people of Gaza for their legendary steadfastness in the recent eight-day aggression. She said that the resistance proved during the aggression that it is robust on the ground, with popular support, and that despite the blockade of land, sea and air, the resistance proved that the will of our people and our fighters is stronger than all of the weaponry manufactured by imperialism and its customers in the world. She saluted Ahmad Sa’adat in the occupation prisons, and said that the resistance would not rest until he was freed from behind the prison bars. She also commended the unity of the resistance on the battlefield during the aggression and noted that the achievements of the resistance buoyed the spirit of Palestinians in all refugee camps, inside the homeland, and in diaspora, seeking their imminent return to their land. She emphasized that the Palestinian people must pressure the leadership to build unity and a resistance economy, as the resistance economy is a key factor to support steadfastness in the Palestinian street. Khaled noted that this resistance economy is a key factor for the liberation of Palestine, along with internal democracy and national unity, saying that those who have resisted siege also want to live freely and with dignity, calling for a clear policy to struggle against poverty.

She noted that the recent vote at the United Nations is a diplomatic achievement, but that it comes from an institution that bears responsibility for the wrongs visited upon the Palestinian people since 1947, and that despite UN votes, there is no Palestinian state, Zionist aggression continues and settlement building is escalating. She demanded that Arab countries re-formulate their relations in order to support the higher interests of the Palestinian people, which is not merely for Arab foreign ministers to visit Gaza and take photos with our people and the rubble of buildings. She added that the Palestinian people call upon all Arab countries to sever all relations with the Zionist enemy, abolish political agreements and not merely summon ambassadors of the occupation state. It must be isolated regionally and internationally. She praised the international movements who acted to defend the Palestinian people and break the siege on Gaza, greeting those who sacrificed for the Palestinian cause.

#GazaPalestine #LeilaKhaled #Palestine #PFLP #MiddleEast

Leila Khaled, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and icon of the Palestinian national liberation struggle, entered Gaza on Tuesday, December 4, met by a reception at the Rafah Crossing from Egypt. She will speak at a march and rally on Thursday, December 6 that will proceed from the Square of the Unknown Soldier at 11 AM, marking the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the 25th anniversary of the Intifada.

Comrade Khaled greeted the Palestinian people in Gaza, saying that their valiant resistance has taught the Zionist enemy a lesson it will never forget and thwarted its goals in its most recent assault. “I am proud of you, you raise all of our heads high. The entire Palestinian people is unified behind you, united with the resistance even when split on negotiations and calm, and in the camps and diaspora we hear the echoes of your struggle and say ‘We are with you, Gaza’. During the Zionist aggression, everywhere in the camps and in diaspora our people were cheering for the resistance.” She added, “I said that I am going to Gaza, this holy land of resistance which raised all of our heads high. I am going to my family, my friends and our people there. I bring with me great love from the parents who want to return to Gaza, Haifa, Yafa, Jerusalem and Ramallah. We want to return to all of Palestine and we will definitely return to all of Palestine.”

“At this moment I will repeat the words of the martyr and leader Abu Ali Mustafa: I come to continue the revolution, to continue resistance, and never to compromise on the constants.” Khaled said that it is never acceptable to bargain on the right of return, saying that “this right is baptized with the blood of the Palestinian people who will continue to struggle until achieving our goals and our return.”

She said that the aggression against the Gaza Strip is yet another round in the continuing struggle and though it will continue, it will meet with fierce resistance demanding that the occupation leave our land. “All Palestinian, Arab and free peoples are united behind the resistance, calling for a national strategy based first and foremost on national unity and resistance. Do not believe any truce with this occupation. Do not accept any negotiations with this occupation. Our Palestinian people in the refugee camps cheer for resistance and reject calm and negotiations,” said Khaled.

Leila Khaled was welcomed to Gaza by a delegation of leaders, cadres and members of the Front in Gaza, raising Palestinian flags and PFLP banners, and travelled to the office of the PFLP in Gaza, where she received a large welcome. Comrade Dr. Maryam Abu Daqqa, member of the Political Bureau of the Front in Gaza said that this is a historic moment and saluted all of the resistance fighters that brought our cause pride and victories before the world on the land of Gaza.

#Palestine #Gaza #LeilaKhaled #PFLP #Intifada #MiddleEast

(Also available from Fight Back New Service – an interview with Leila Khaled on the Israeli attack on Gaza, conducted in Beirut, Lebanon Jan. 1, 2009 by Fight Back! editor Mick Kelly. http://www.fightbacknews.org/2009/02/leila-khaled-speaks.htm )

Comrade Leila Khaled calls for dismantling the Authority that undermines the Palestinian national cause

Comrade Leila Khaled, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called for dismantling the Palestinian Authority if that body is the cause of Palestinian division, speaking in Damascus on April 27, 2010.

Comrade Khaled said that the internal division among Palestinians “is threatening the Palestinian national project.” She said Palestinians “have not struggled throughout their history for an Authority, but for a homeland for a displaced people and people under occupation.”

Comrade Khaled questioned the usefulness of an Authority that turned the Palestinian people into a people begging at the gates of the donor countries and the International Monetary Fund, emphasizing that the Authority does not represent our people because it are the product of Oslo and those who promote the division, which only benefits the occupation.

Comrade Khaled spoke at an event held in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners, commemorating Prisoners' Day, in Jermana refugee camp, and attended by leaders of the PFLP and other Palestinian factions.

“In the light of the division, no one has the right to appoint himself as an authority of the homeland and the people,” Khaled explained, saying “the Authority does not represent our people, because it is the product of the Oslo Accords, and anyone behind the division is behind the occupation, which only propagates our geographic separation.

“What is obstructing the restoration of unity is sitting in Ramallah and Gaza,” she said. Comrade Khaled called upon the masses of our people in the camps to express their positions against the division to the Palestinian leadership and protest that any continuation of division only emphasizes that they do not represent our people.

She stressed the utter failure of the Authority and its repeated chasing after “negotiations” with the racist Zionist Netanyahu regime, despite his refusal to stop settlement activity and his insistence upon affirming that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the State of “Israel,” noting that Israel does not want negotiations without these conditions, which should end any reliance on the so-called “peace process.”

She condemned the leadership's abandonment, persecution and repression of all forms of struggle and resistance and affirmed that all forms of struggle, including the leading role of the armed struggle, are necessary to achieve our return and the restoration of Palestinian rights. She demanded that the Palestinian leadership rise to the level of our people's sacrifices and correct its path in order to confront the enemy and all of its schemes of walls, settlements and oppression.

Comrade Khaled expressed her pleasure to meet with the people of Jaramana camp, and paid tribute to the prisoners, headed by imprisoned PFLP General Secretary Comrade Ahmad Sa'adat and all of the heroes of the prisoners' movement. She emphasized the determination to liberate them, emphasizing their daily role in confronting the occupation and their own sacrifices and the sacrifices of their families. She stressed the achievements of the prisoners' movement and its consistent role in unifying Palestinian ranks and rejecting occupation plans to split and divide the prisoners.

In conclusion, Comrade Leila Khaled greeted the women of the camp, the mothers of martyrs and prisoners, the Palestinian mother who is raising her children in an environment of patriotism and sacrifice, pledging to continue the resistance as long as children hold stones in their hands and men and women hold guns in their hands and dream of return and independence.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #LeilaKhaled #PalestinianAuthority #MiddleEast

Leila Khaled, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was interviewed in Beirut, Lebanon Jan. 17 by Fight Back! editor Mick Kelly.

Leila Khaled was among the speakers at the Beirut International Forum for Resistance, Anti-Imperialism, Solidarity between Peoples and Alternatives. The Forum was held at the UNESCO Palace on Jan. 16-18.

#Palestine #Gaza #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #LeilaKhaled #Interviews #MiddleEast