Friday 7 January 2011

PFLP salutes the great leader Ahmed Hussein Abu Maher Yamani on his passing

With great grief, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, its Central Committee, Political Bureau, and General Secretary Ahmad Sa'adat, announced the loss of the great Palestinian leader Ahmed Hussein "Abu Maher" Al-Yamani on January 3, 2010.

Comrade Yamani was a legendary leader of the Front and the Palestinian struggle and spent six decades at the forefront of continuous struggle for Arab unity and the liberation of Palestine. 

Today, the PFLP, the Palestinian revolution, the entire Palestinian people, the Arab nation and the progressive forces of the world have lost a great man - a modest fighter and an outstanding leader who dedicated his life until its last moment serving the cause of his people and the Arab nation.

The Palestinian masses in every camp and location know of Abu Maher as a solid fighter and a leader who always held the feelings, problems and concerns of the people at the forefront and gave expression of the struggle for return, freedom, dignity and self-detemination.

The Arab people know of Comrade Abu Maher as a freedom fighter committed to Palestinian and Arab unity as a way to liberate every inch of Palestine and achieve the aspirations of the Arab nation for liberation, democracy, socialism and unity.

The PFLP promises to the masses of our people in Palestine and everywhere in diaspora to continue in the struggle and resistance on the path of Abu Maher Yamani, continuing his approach, methods and principles to achieve the full objectives of our great and glorious Arab nation.

Abu Maher al-Yamani was born in the village of Suhmata near Akka in September 24, 1924; he was married and the father of eight. He studied in elementary school in Suhmata before attending high school in Safed, Akka, and graduated from the Arab College in Jerusalem. He worked in the Department of Agriculture in Akka and the Public Works department in Haifa before al-Nakba. 

He served as the secretary of the workers' trade union for the staff of the Department of Public Works and secretary of the Palestinian Arab Workers Union in Yafa. He was also Secretary of the People's Committee of the village of Suhmata and a member of the Higher Arab Committee in the District of Upper Galilee. He played an active role in resistance during the Nakba and was forced to Lebanon with his family in Palestine, where he worked as a teacher and educator in Lebanon, at the College of Education in Tripoli, managed several schools in Baalbek, Ein el-Helweh, and Burj al-Burajneh. 

Abu Maher joined in the military filed of struggle, participating in the establishment of a military organization for the liberation of Palestine in 1949, and was one of the founders of the military branch of the Arab Nationalist Movement.

He participated in establishing the Palestine Division of the ANM, composed of Palestinian Arab youth, and was a member of the leadership of the Palestinian branch of the ANM.

Abu Maher co-founded the Association of Palestinian students in Lebanon and also co-founded the Union of Palestinian Workers in Lebanon, in addition to the establishment of popular committees in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon. He was Deputy General Secretary of the General Union of Palestinian Workers and was the GUPW delegate to the Secretariat of the General Union of International Arab Trade Unions in Cairo. 

Abu Maher al-Yamani was one of the founders of the PFLP and one of its most prominent leaders since its inception, was a member of the First Conference of the Popular Front, a member of its Central Command, a member of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau. 

He was the Secretary of the Palestinian Rejection Front formed in the mid-1970s and was the Secretary of the Palestinian Salvation Front in 1986. He was the representative of the Front to the Executive Committee of the PLO, and was responsible for the Department of Popular Organizations and Chair of the Department of Return, as well as a member of the Palestinian National Council.

He died of a stroke in Beirut, Lebanon on January 3, 2010 and will be buried in a funeral in Beirut on January 5, 2010.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

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