Communiqué 23 October 2001 The PFLP recognizes that the decision of the Palestinian Authority to ban the military wing of the PFLP came as a result of tremendous pressure imposed on it by the international community, the USA, and Israel. The PFLP condemns this decision in the strongest terms possible and believes that the present reality of the united resistance movement against the Israeli occupation is infinitely stronger than any decisions or declarations that may be made at an ³official² level.
This irrational war, being waged by Israel in order to reoccupy parts of Palestinian cities (Jenin, Qalqiliya, Tulkarem, Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour), reveals the bloody plan of Sharon¹s government. The Israeli government claims that its wide-ranging operation against the Palestinian people comes in retaliation for the assassination of the racist Israeli Tourism Minister Ze¹evi. This allegation is completely absurd. First of all, it must be understood that the assassination of Ze¹evi came in response to the ongoing Israeli assassination policy, which has been responsible for the murder of seventy Palestinians since the beginning of the Intifada, including that of Abu Ali Mustafa, the PFLP General Secretary, on 27 August 2001. In fact, Israel began its policy of assassination in the early 1970s. We rememberŠŠ Ghassan Kanafani, Kamal Nasser, Kamal Oudwan, Yousef Najjar, Majed Abu Sharrar, Abu Jihad, Abu Iyad, Dr. Thabet Thabet, Khaled Nazzal, Abu Al-Houl, Jamal Mansour, Jamal Salim, Fathi ShikakiŠ, and many, many others. Secondly, and contrary to what Israeli would have the world believe, the Israeli invasion of Palestinian cities did not begin on 17 October, the day Ze¹evi was killed. In fact, the invasion began in September 2000, with the start of the Intifada, and continued with the unprecedented incursion into Gaza and Hebron a number of weeks ago, and continues today throughout the occupied territories. The killing of Ze¹evi neither precipitated nor justifies Israeli intentions to exert control over the Palestinian people and subdue the Intifada. Israel¹s present war against the Palestinian people is one with clear and obvious aims: first and foremost among them is to force the Palestinians to surrender. Secondly, it aims to thwart any attempt or political initiative that would acknowledge the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people: the right to freedom, the right to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of refugees to return. Sharon¹s government tries in vain to conceal the facts of the conflict through blinding itself by its own policy of state terrorism. It claims that its military operations are conducted in order to combat Palestinian terrorism. The facts of the conflict, however, reveal that Israel is a military occupying power and has been for the last 33 years. It has done everything possible to confiscate Palestinian lands and create ³factson the ground² by building and expanding its settlements and constructing more and more bypass roads. Israel is an occupying power that has not only ignored decisions of international convention, but has also committed gross human rights¹ violations against the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people are the ones living under brutal military occupation and their resistance movement is a legitimate response to this reality. Israel and its occupation bear sole responsibility for the bloodshed, grief, and agony in the Middle East. Indeed, Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation should have been supported and encouraged by the international community years ago. The international community needs to be honest with itself. No peoples in the world submit to the conditions presently imposed on the Palestinian people. The resistance movement of the Palestinian people is a natural and legitimate means to confront the reality of the Israeli occupation an occupation which consistently denies Palestinians their basic rights and which refuses to accept international conventions calling for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. The Palestinian people are not asking for more than what all people have and deserve -- to live in peace and security, with freedom and independence. The present Israeli government insists on rejecting all political initiatives, even those agreements signed by previous Israeli governments. Israel insists on imposing a fake peace on the area while it continues its occupation. Confronted with the Israeli government¹s racist, extremist, and Zionist policies, the Palestinian people have no other choice than to remain steadfast in their resistance. Legitimate resistance can never be equated with terrorism. We, the Palestinian people, the democratic forces, and the PFLP, have no desire for war or senseless killing. We long simply for our freedom and our right to life. Within this framework, we call on all peoples of the world and all international bodies to act decisively and seriously to stop the massacres committed by the government of Sharon. The Palestinian people are the ones longing for true peace and security. We call on all peoples of the world and all democratic structures to exert pressure on Israel to abandon its policy of aggression, to bring an end to the occupation, and to implement all international resolutions relevant to the Palestinian cause. As one of the historically-rooted political parties within Palestinian society, the PFLP has earned a solid reputation among the population as a whole since its inception thirty-three years ago. We reject all attempts to discredit the PFLP and its legitimacy and interpret them to be a submission to Israeli/American demands which aim to destroy Palestinian national unity. The PFLP is a political party working toward regaining the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people which is a necessary first step in establishing a democratic state on the land of historic Palestine a state where all peoples can live as equal citizens, entitled to basic human rights, regardless of race, religion, color, or sex. _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
