Ramallah: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemns all those who directly or indirectly caused the criminal arrest of its General Secretary, his comrades, Brother Fu’ad ash-Shawbaki, and numerous other militants of various patriotic and Islamic forces who were subject to arbitrary political imprisonment based on American-Zionist dictates. The PFLP declares that the invader forces committed the crime of that arrest, as well as the attack on the Jericho prison and the destruction of the Muqata’ah building inside, with the complicity of America and Britain, as the officials of the Palestine Authority — their minds controlled by the fear of the Israeli response to anything that they might do — trembled and wavered. This followed the naïve faith they had put in agreements, even those under the protection of America and other such countries. Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, sought at this moment to prove to the Israelis that he is the spitting image of Sharon so that he and his party might gain politically and in the coming elections.
The PFLP states that it had delivered an official memorandum in the name of its Political Bureau to the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its Chairman in the presence of the Patriotic and Islamic forces in which it demanded that the order of the Palestine Supreme Court to release the General Secretary of the Popular Front be carried out and stated that the PFLP took full responsibility for his life and security. But this document was not treated seriously. Nor was serious attention paid to the American and British warnings issued on the 8th of March that indicated that the Anglo-American protection of the prison was going to be lifted.
The Popular Front declares that it holds the Israeli occupation and the leadership of Israel and its security agencies responsible for any harm that might be done to the life of the General Secretary of the Popular Front or his comrades. It also holds responsible America and Britain, which abandoned their commitments to protect the prisoners, thereby confirming the Anglo-American collusion and participation in the crime.
The Popular Front declares that the battle to free Ahmad Saadat and his comrades has not ended and would never end until he is released. The PFLP, and with it all the patriotic forces, will continue to press the Palestine Authority to carry on pursuing the case inasmuch as it is an assault on its sovereignty and a violation of an abominable agreement signed under a hail of bullets in the Muqat’ah in Ramallah.
The Popular Front calls on the Patriotic and Islamic forces, the organizations of Palestinian civil society, and all the forces for freedom and justice in the world to continue to act in rejection of this American-backed Israeli piracy and to press for the liberation of the General Secretary from his new place of imprisonment.
The Popular Front declares that this crime will in no way reduce its will, which has been baptized in the blood of the martyrs and is experienced in the ways of struggle. Its response to the crime will be painful. The PFLP calls for an end to depending on illusions connected with agreements that are violated before their ink is dry. The flimsy excuse that the continued confinement of the General Secretary and his comrades was for their protection has been torn apart by the treads of tanks and bulldozers. Protecting him outside the prison would have been easier than leaving him inside the facility where at every minute he could be targeted for death.
The Popular Front concludes its declaration by appealing for an end to pinning hopes on the promises of America and others that yield nothing but temporary, transitional agreements that bring us back to the Oslo whirlpool. The PFLP calls for a continuation of the comprehensive Palestinian national dialogue aimed at strengthening national unity on clear and deeply rooted bases that bolster the steadfastness and resistance of our people. It also calls for the establishment of a patriotic coalition government and for the rebuilding of the Palestine Liberation Organization on democratic bases and with the participation of all, inasmuch as it is the supreme authority of our people and their sole, legal representative wherever they are located.
15 March 2006.
Arabic original at www.pflp.net.
The English translation was provided by Muhammad Abu Nasr.