Audio: Georges Abdallah calls for action to free Ahmad Sa’adat, confront normalization, in statement from French prison

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for 34 years, issued a statement urging greater action to free imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. This audio message, recorded from Lannemezan prison in France, was released at the 13 January event in Berlin launching the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, with events taking place in countries around the world from 15 to 22 January.

Previously, Sa’adat issued a statement from Israeli prison urging participation in international actions to free Georges Abdallah, highlighting his place as a leader and comrade of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.

The Arabic audio is available, followed by the English text of Georges Abdallah’s speech:

https://soundcloud.com/samidoun-network/georges-abdallah-free-ahmad-saadat

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Friends, sisters and brothers, comrades:

We mark the seventeenth anniversary of the arrest of our leader, the prisoner Ahmed Sa’adat, under extremely complex and dangerous political circumstances; not least of which are the repercussions of the structural crisis that is affecting the foundations of the world order and making the Arab world a theater of the contradictions between the various imperialist countries and their assets in the region. It is within this framework that we see the propagation of the U.S. initiative known today as the “deal of the century” and the drive towards the liquidation of the Palestinian cause in all its dimensions.

This “deal of the century” did not come from nowhere, and it did not draw its parameters and build its foundations overnight. Rather, it is the outcome of a three-decade process that began in the early 1990s. Throughout this period, the “creative chaos” continued, as it continues today throughout the Arab world and especially in occupied Palestine. This is accentuated by the insistence of a corrupted leadership on chasing the illusion of peaceful solutions. These delusions have continued for some time, as these leaders confuse their direct interests with the historic rights of our people. It is mostly the latter that have been sacrificed on the altar of immediate benefits for that small sector.

Throughout this negotiating process, they have always chanted slogans that only confirm the path of surrender: “negotiations to achieve the aspirations of our people”, “the state is within reach” and “the state is set in stone.”

Where now can we find the “achievements” of this negotiating track?! What did Oslo and its ominous agreements and outcomes produce for our masses? In short, we can say that “security coordination” is the outcome of this path … Perhaps the arrest of our comrade and leader, the prisoner Ahmad Sa’adat, by the Palestinian Authority was one of the first achievements of “security coordination” between this sector controlling the Palestinian decision-making process and the authorities of the Zionist entity. Today, the importance of security coordination, not only for the Zionist entity, but also for some of the PA’s leadership and its security services, is no longer unknown or hidden. Therefore, the latter believes that it is doing all it can to confirm and further spread this treacherous approach. Despite all the public statements that have been made, security coordination between the organs of the Authority and the occupation forces has never ceased.

In the final analysis, the basic purpose of “security coordination” has become, apart from its active role in suppressing all forms of resistance and armed struggle in particular, the spreading of a culture of coordination. It eliminates the prohibition on dealing with the enemy and somehow transforms it into a relationship between two neighbors rather than a relationship between occupied and occupier. This is the context of the Palestinian Authority’s failure to denounce Arab official normalization processes. Within this approach, the position of this “National Authority” concedes to American and Israeli pressure on the support of prisoners and the families of martyrs as well as in the actions taken against Gaza and the heroic masses of Gaza.

In this context, we also see the repressive measures being escalated today in the Zionist prisons and, at the same time, the institutions concerned with defending the prisoners of the Palestinian revolution are being attacked … All this and many other factors must push all those who believe in the cause to reaffirm the importance of the role of these men, women and children, standing on embers in the castles of dignity, our heroic and steadfast prisoners. It also highlights the need to put the issue of their liberation, not only political solidarity with them – despite its importance –  at the top of our priorities.

That the position of the majority of the Arab bourgeoisie falls in the camp of the Zionist enemy, in all honesty and without ambiguity, makes this task – “the task of liberating the prisoners of the Palestinian revolution” – an important step toward “building a comprehensive Arab resistance front.”

Salutes to the leadership of the Palestinian revolution, our heroic and steadfast prisoners, and at the forefront comrade leader Ahmed Sa’adat, Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine!

Yes, to build a comprehensive Arab resistance front to confront normalization in all its forms!

Glory and eternity to our martyrs!

Victory for the masses and struggling peoples!

Shame upon the traitors and those who surrender!

Down with imperialism and its guard dogs – the Zionists and Arab reactionaries!

With all my greetings to all of you, your friend Georges Abdallah