Events in Palestine, Lebanon, Cuba and Yemen mark 47th anniversary of PFLP founding

December 14, 2014 by Alexandra Valiente

Events continued throughout Palestine and Palestinian communities in exile and diaspora internationally, commemorating the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on December 11, 1967:

The PFLP in northern Gaza organized a series of events and activities in the area including a reception in Jabalya refugee camp; visits to the families of martyrs and prisoners throughout the area; voluntary work days to clean up public places and major streets in various places in northern Gaza; an athletic festival at Al-Ahli Club Stadium in Beit Hanoun; a benefit concert for Palestinian prisoners and their families; a military march in Jabalya; a volunteer visit to Al-Awda Hospital; and a rally, mass march and military parade in Beit Hanoun.

The Progressive Student Action Front at Al-Azhar University decorated with posters marking the anniversary of the PFLP’s founding throughout the campus, distributing sweets and information; they are also organizing a rally to mark the anniversary on Sunday, December 14, at the science building on campus.

The PFLP in Khan Younis organized a reception marking the anniversary, where Comrade Hani Thawabteh delivered the speech, recalling the historic martyrs of the Palestinian revolution and of the PFLP. He emphasized the Front’s constant and unceasing commitment to the path of resistance and intifada, emphasizing the need to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and build Palestinian political, economic, social and military strength to defeat the Zionist project.

The Front in Khan Younis also organized a military march with broad participation of the fighters of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades and leaders, cadres, members and supporters of the Front.

The PFLP in Havana, Cuba held an event on December 12 marking the anniversary of the first Intifada and the founding of the PFLP, attended by hundreds of Palestinian, Arab, Cuban and Latin American supporters and friends of the Front. Ambassadors from a number of countries as well as representatives of international Communist parties, including Jose Ramon Balaguer Cabrera, chair of the Committee on International Relations of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Oscar Martinez, vice-president of the International Relations Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, spoke supporting the “heroic struggle of the Palestinian people for their full national rights, first and foremost the right of return for Palestinian refugees.” He saluted the anniversary of the Front and its historic and present role in struggling for the liberation of Palestine, and strongly condemned the Zionist occupation forces’ killing of Ziad Abu Ein, Palestinian minister and chair of the Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. He greeted Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, led by Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned PFLP General Secretary.

Comrade Maher al-Taher, member of the Political Bureau of the Front, currently on an official delegation to Cuba, spoke on behalf of the PFLP, greeting the Cuban people and the steadfast Cuban revolution and government for their continued steadfastness in confronting the US blockade and US imperialism, and support for the Palestinian people. He demanded an end to the process of Oslo and negotiations and for national unity to support Palestinian resistance. Taher saluted the Palestinian people in occupied Palestine ’48, in the West Bank, Jerusalem, Gaza and in exile. Taher saluted Palestinian prisoners in the Zionist prisons, demanding their freedom, and also the three captive Cubans remaining steadfast in US prisons.

The event also included Palestinian dabkeh, Cuban and Palestinian art and performance. Comrades Maher al-Taher and Abu Ali Hassan have participated in a series of meetings in Cuba as well as interviews on Latin American television.

The PFLP in several refugee camps in the Bethlehem area organized events and marches through the streets of the camps marking the 47th anniversary of the Front’s founding, emphasizing their commitment to continue the struggle until the liberation of all of the land of Palestine.

In Dheisheh refugee camp, the Front organized a march and concert on December 11 marking the anniversary. The PFLP spokesperson saluted the martyrs of Palestine, including the most recent, Ziad Abu Ein, and demanded an end to Palestinian Authority security coordination with the occupier.

In Aida refugee camp, the Front organized a march winding through the camp on December 12 in commemoration of the anniversary. The Front also held a military parade in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem, and in other towns, villages and camps in the West Bank.

The Front in Ain el-Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon posted banners and flags through the entrance of the camp marking the 47th anniversary of the Front’s founding.

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The PFLP in Gaza City organized a march led by hundreds of fighters from the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, from Sheikh Radwan neighborhood through the streets of the city. Comrade Shadi Ahmad spoke at the rally before the march, saluting the historic martyrs of the Palestinian revolution and of the PFLP, and demanding freedom for all the Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails, led by Comrade Sa’adat and leaders Marwan Barghouthi, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Lena Jarbouni and all political prisoners. He emphasized the need to support reistance and Intifada and stop all practices of negotiation and complicity with the occupier, and to confront the attacks on the Palestinian people everywhere, noting that this requires a political path that is a sharp break with the period of Oslo.

Instead, Ahmad emphasized the need to support the will of the people, the resistance for liberation and return, from the refugee camps and throughout exile and diaspora, in Gaza, in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and throughout occupied Palestine ’48 where the Palestinian people struggle against a racist onslaught.

The Front in Gaza city also organized a volunteer work day to clean Thalathini Street, one of a series of volunteer work days held by the local PFLP organization.

The PFLP in Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza organized a mass rally on Friday, December 12 marking the 47th anniversary of the Front. The event included many leaders, cadres, members and supporters of the Front as well as fighters of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, who marched through the camp, chanting, carrying Palestinian flags, PFLP banners and posters of the martyrs, including Comrade Mohammed Aidi, a martyr of Maghazi camp.

The Front in Maghazi and throughout central Gaza also organized a series of volunteer activities marking the anniversary, including volunteer cleanup days in Maghazi, Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, and at area schools and hospitals.

Palestinian students and the PFLP held an event at the University of Aden in Yemen marking the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Front and the anniversary of the Intifada with speeches and presentations, on December 12.

In Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, the PFLP organized a public meeting on December 12 on Palestinian national unity and reconciliation. Comrade Mohammed Makkawi spoke about the Palestinian internal division and various attempts to restore national unity, contrasting the national unity achieved in the battlefield by the resistance and in the community by the people in the 51 days of Zionist aggression on Gaza with the lack of real unity to come out of the many bilateral agreements signed between Fateh and Hamas. He noted that negotiations with the Zionist entity have disrupted Palestinian national unity repeatedly and that it is not possible to build Palestinian national unity while negotiating with the Zionists as they besiege Gaza, build colonies, ethnically cleanse Jerusalem and confiscate land.

Furthermore, Mekkawi discussed the various fascist maneuvers of the Zionist government and its attempt to erase Palestinian existence physically and legally and undermine the Palestinian right to return and right to existence. He also denounced the so-called “Serry Plan” of the United Nations for the reconstruction of Gaza, rejecting it as it is an attempt to legitimize and internationalize the siege on Gaza and protect the “security demands” of the occupation state that committed war crimes and destroyed Gaza at the expense of the Palestinian people and their reconstruction.

Comrade Iyad Awadallah also spoke at the event, beginning by paying tribute to the martyr Ziad Abu Ein, killed by occupation soldiers as he confronted settlements and land confiscation. He spoke about the Oslo accords as a true source of Palestinian division, exposing deep contradiction sin the Palestinian scene between the program of negotiations and conciliation with the Zionists and the program of resistance and commitment to liberation, which has eventually led to the current situation. He noted that Palestinian internal division is being exploited by Zionism and imperialism and leading to international interventions aimed at undermining Palestinian rights, such as the so-called Kerry initiative targeting the right of return and the Serry reconstruction plan to legitimize the siege.

The Front in Rafah also organized a volunteer work day on December 11 on major streets of the city to mark the anniversary.

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The PFLP in Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza held a march and rally attended by PFLP fighters, leaders, members and supporters, marking the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Front. The rally started in front of the main entrance to the camp, led by a sound car playing the songs of the PFLP and fighters of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, marching through the streets of the camp.

Comrade Nael Khalil spoke on behalf of the Front, saluting the historic and present role of the PFLP in the leadership of Palestinian resistance and revolution in the area and throughout Palestine, saying that the PFLP has always held firm to the principle of armed struggle and the liberation of Palestine, and “remains a beacon of thought, values and principles of revolution and liberation.”

An event was held in the Marouf Saad cultural center in Saida, Lebanon, marking the 47th anniversary of the Front, with participation of PFLP leaders, cadres and members, representatives of Palestinian and Lebanese organizations, and supporters and friends of the Front.

Comrade Marwan Abdel-Al, member of the Central Committee of the Front and leader of its branch in Lebanon, spoke at the event, saluting all the martyrs who have fallen for the liberation of Palestine and the prisoners who struggle today inside the prisons of the occupier. Abdel-Al said that it is impossible to coexist with Zionism: as its failure grows, it becomes ever more brutal and fascist in its exercise of its racist authority, which is becoming clear to the whole world.

He denounced imperialist schemes that seek to mire the Arab people in sectarian traps for the benefit of Zionist and imperialist control of the region. “The Palestinian issue is not sectarian; it is at the center of the battle for Arab liberation for all.”

The PFLP in Deir al-Balah organized a series of events and actions to commemorate the 47th anniversary of the Front, including a cleanup at Al-Aqsa Hospital, visits to the homes of martyrs and prisoners, and a reception at the Front’s office in Deir al-Balah.