PFLP Press Releases 12 January 2002 Ramallah: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has commented on the recent statements of US Secretary of State Colin Powell in which he described the savage Israeli aggression against the houses of refugees in Rafah and the destruction of the Gaza Airport as "legitimate defensive action" in response to attempts by the Palestine Authority to obtain weapons. The Popular Front said that these remarks are a reiteration of the American position of support for the Sharon government and its glaring and organized terrorism against the Palestinian people. The Popular Front condemned the Palestine Authority's resort to arresting brothers whom Israel accuses of being involved in the arms ship operation. The Popular Front calls on the Authority to release those brothers and all the other militants it has detained and to stop cooperating with the mockery of a cease-fire that has only increased the viciousness of the Zionist aggression and the sense of superiority and arrogance of the Sharon government, while reinforcing America's inclination to raise the level of its pressure on the Palestine Authority and increase its scorn for it. The Popular Front's statement called on all the forces of the Palestinian people to act in self-defense and activate the intifada and the resistance to the occupation army and to the bands of settlers. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Central Information Department Press Office 12 January 2002. ***** 9 January 2002 We are now observing two anniversaries dear to our ongoing struggle: the 14th anniversary of the outbreak of the December Intifada, and the 34th anniversary of the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. These occasions tell stories written in the blood of our sons and daughters--hundreds of martyrs, wounded, and prisoners who have given themselves to the cause of liberation. These anniversaries evoke great pride as the resolve of our people continues to manifest itself in a heroic resistance movement that has entered its fifteenth month and will continue until the national rights of Palestinians have been irrevocably affirmed. Our people are demonstrating unflagging resolution, steadfastness, and determination to drive out the Zionist occupiers as the precursor to attaining the national and democratic aims of our cause, which grows greater with each day and every Palestinian fatality. The American-supported occupation poses a relentless, escalating assault, and our intifada remains the target of American collaboration with the Zionists, who are intent on returning our people to the circle of fruitless Oslo negotiations and thus forcing us to yield to Sharon's unacceptable dictates. To further mock our quest for self-determination, our enemies have adopted the strategy of creating derision within Palestinian ranks. Yet our unity has been, must be, and will remain the most indispensable pillar of our people's defiance, and the modus vivendi of our final victory. We of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine are committed, as avidly as ever, to securing the national rights of our people and upholding our responsibility to our people and their courageous intifada. With unbounded admiration for those Palestinian who have sacrificed themselves in our common cause, we call for the following. First: To remain steadfast despite the international situation that has evolved in the aftermath of September 11th and in the face of America's declaration of war on Afghanistan and states alleged to support terrorism. This situation entails highly adverse factors for our national struggle, which outsiders condemn as a form of terrorism when they themselves continue to precipitate the conditions which justify our most extreme forms of activism. Therefore, it is imperative that we hold fast to the struggle in defense of our people and our cause, striving for and expanding our national rights and supporting our Intifada . Second. To abandon all illusions regarding the role of America, which for over half a century has repeatedly proven its commitment to the Zionist aggressors and in recent months has affirmed its devotion to them. We insist that the Palestine Authority not be coerced back into the vicious and self-defeating cycle of negotiations based on the Oslo accords. Third. For the Palestine Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to cease bowing before Israeli and American pressure. We call for a cancellation of the so-called state of emergency, for a halt to the pursuit and arrest of militants, for the immediate release of all the political prisoners detained for their opinions or their resistance to the occupation. We call for a general mobilization of our people and their national forces to confront the escalating aggression of the terrorist Sharon government. Fourth. For the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, national forces, and popular organizations to begin a comprehensive dialogue to reach agreement for a unified political and combat strategy to safeguard our unity, bolster our people's defiance, and develop their intifada against the Zionist occupation and the many totalitarian injustices that it entails. We call for the agreement between all Palestinian factions to be the basis for building a supreme, collective leadership authority for our people as a step toward the democratic construction of fully independent Palestinian state. Fifth. For the condemnation of the position of many Arab governments not merely content to observe the Zionist aggression, but insistent upon offering themselves as go-betweens, giving mistaken advice to our people on behalf of the Zionist government's desire for our compliance with American efforts to broker peace at our expense. Sixth. For the international community to compel Israel, which wields a form of state terrorism against the masses of our people, to comply with and implement international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, and to provide temporary international protection as a preparation for the implementation by the Zionist government of the resolutions of international legality that give our people their rights to return, self-determination, and the establishment of their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. This responsibility lies foremost of all with the United Nations General Assembly which, most admirably, has called for all countries with embassies in Jerusalem to remove them. Finally, we of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine must emphasize that our general secretary has served in the front lines of our people's resistance and thereby set an example for us all. We pledge to our people upon the graves of the fallen that we will carry forth our resistance until all the aims of our national, democratic revolution are achieved. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
