Families of Palestinian prisoners respond to Abbas’ attack on the resistance

At the opening of the “Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council” meeting this morning, 23 April, Palestinian Authority “President” Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) launched the event with a speech in which he fully adopted the anti-Palestinian narrative and echoed Zionist, US and European demands for the Palestinian Resistance, particularly Hamas and the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, to disarm, to turn over the prisoners of war they hold, and called Hamas “sons of dogs,” amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine.

Of course, in many ways, this comes as no surprise; while doing absolutely nothing to support Palestinians confronting occupation and genocide, either in Gaza or in the West Bank, where tens of thousands have been displaced from the refugee camps, the “Palestinian Authority” has taken the lives of 21 martyrs, arrested hundreds of people for participating in the resistance or even simply speaking and demonstrating for Gaza, and holds dozens of political prisoners under torture, while maintaining “security coordination” with the genocidal occupation regime (which Abbas earlier described as “sacred”). The purpose of the Central Council meeting was not to discuss how to organize a Palestinian united front, nor to confront the genocide, but instead to appoint a “vice president” of the PLO from among Abbas’ allies, with the blessing of the United States and the European Union. The meeting was boycotted in advance by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian National Initiative; following Abbas’ speech and the disastrous first day of the meeting, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine announced it was pulling out of the meeting. (The Resistance News Network has compiled an extensive report on the widespread Palestinian response to and rejection of the meeting and Abbas’ statements.)

As we noted previously: The only true road to Palestinian national unity comes through resistance and confrontation, led by those who fight for Palestinian liberation, and it cannot include those who imprison, assassinate and betray the people and the resistance for the benefit of the occupiers and imperialists.

Several liberated Palestinian prisoners have already spoken out about Abbas’ attack on the resistance, and upon a massive sector of the Palestinian people; liberated prisoner and Fateh revolutionary council member Fakhri Barghouti said that the meeting does not represent the PLO or Palestinian people, but rather “a gang that hijacks Palestinian decision making.”

Nael Barghouti, who was the longest-held Palestinian prisoner until his liberation in the Toufan al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, in which he was deported to Egypt, said: “Abbas’s offensive statements against our people and their resistance have backfired upon him, and his claims of sadness over our deportation abroad is belied by the PA’s treatment of prisoners and released prisoners, including those from the Fateh movement.”

Abbas’ “Palestinian Authority” in Ramallah has refused to issue new Palestinian passports to the liberated prisoners, preventing them from continuing their lives following their release. At the same time that Abbas was attacking the resistance that liberated Barghouti and over 1,700 fellow prisoners in the exchange, occupation forces in the West Bank were spending three hours rampaging through his hometown, Kobar, occupying his family home and turning it into a field interrogation center before taking its measurements, telling his wife, liberated prisoner Iman Nafeh, that they intend to demolish it. Iman has been barred from travel by the occupation, preventing her from reuniting with her husband.

Of course, this comes in addition to the order by the PA to terminate the financial provisions provided to the families of imprisoned Palestinians, long a demand of the Zionist regime, the US and the European Union. This attack on the families of the freedom fighters and imprisoned strugglers caused a widespread reaction from all Palestinian political forces, and Abbas dismissed the head of the Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, Qaddoura Fares, in an attempt to quash the outrage.

The Assembly of the Families of the Prisoners issued a statement condemning Abbas’ attack on the heroic resistance forces defending the Palestinian people against genocide and fighting for the liberation of the prisoners, as follows:

We strongly condemn the dangerous speech issued by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in which he called for the release of “Israeli” prisoners and described the heroes of the resistance with derogatory descriptions that are unbecoming of those who assume responsibility for the people.

Where does the issue of ten thousand Palestinian prisoners in the occupation’s prisons fall within the agenda of Mr. President? And is it appropriate for someone who spent decades in the prisons of the occupation to be disavowed—especially in this sensitive and critical national moment?

Does Mr. Abbas not feel ashamed when comparing himself to the “Israeli” leaders who show utmost concern for their prisoners and exert all their political, military, and international efforts to liberate and free them?

Has President Abbas not followed how the families of “Israeli” prisoners are cared for and escorted to international institutions and entities all over the world?

Why such statements at this particular time, when our cause has never witnessed such attempts at liquidation? And in whose interest is it to portray the heroes of the resistance—who hold the prisoners not for the sake of detention but for a noble and lofty purpose—in such a light?

Does the head of the Authority and the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization not know that working for the release of prisoners is guaranteed by all international laws and conventions? We do not even wish to say that it is one of the most essential national duties—because for someone who delivers such a speech, the homeland holds no value or weight, except as a presidential chair and a motorcade. Yet he forgets that the smallest Israeli soldier can close off his office and halt his movement.

Our prisoners are a crown upon our heads.
Our prisoners are the jewel of the beloved homeland.

Whoever works for their freedom and sheds his blood for them is honored, noble, and genuine. And only a vile, despicable, and disgraceful person would dare speak against them.

The Assembly of Martyrs’ Families also issued a statement in response:

Glory to the martyrs, and shame to the complacent

We follow with deep anger and sorrow what was stated in the speech of the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, during the opening of the Central Council session. His statements constituted a stab in the back of the sacrifices of our people, our martyrs, and our heroic resistance in Gaza and the West Bank—at a time when our people are engaged in an existential battle in the Gaza Strip, where children and women are being bombed and families are being exterminated.

Here, we bitterly ask: Where was the role of the Palestinian leadership throughout the five hundred and sixty-four days of aggression? Where was the Authority when Gaza was besieged, starved, and annihilated?

We, in the Assembly of Martyrs’ Families, affirm that resistance in all its forms is a legitimate right of our people. It is not up for abandonment, and we do not accept its compromise or authorize anyone to relinquish it.

To accuse the Palestinian resistance and its factions—which we consider an integral part of the Palestinian people’s fabric—with vile descriptions in the president’s speech is a moral and political debasement. It is unworthy of the martyrs’ status or the greatness of our people’s steadfastness and highlights the extent of the disconnect between the Authority and the reality of the Palestinian resistance.

We categorically reject the description of the martyrs who rose in the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood as “dead.” Such a description reflects nothing but ignorance of the sanctity of martyrdom in the consciousness of our people and a belittlement of the blood of those who offered their souls as a sacrifice for the homeland.

From our position in the Assembly of Martyrs’ Families, we reject any offense to the dignity of those who gave their lives, or any trivialization of their blood in a political scene that lacks national and moral legitimacy.

Glory to the martyrs… Honor to the resistance… And shame on all who betray the sacrifices of their people.

Assembly of Martyrs’ Families
Gaza – Palestine

The purpose of the Palestinian Authority over which Abbas presides, its security forces and the “security coordination” project under which they carry weapons is to prevent the Palestinian people and their liberation movement from effectively resisting and overthrowing the Zionist regime.

It acts in full service of the interests of Zionism and imperialism, while bearing a Palestinian flag emblem on each agent’s badge, while the resistance forces from Palestine to Yemen to Lebanon and beyond, resist the genocide in Gaza and fight for full liberation of Palestine from Zionism and of the entire region from imperialism.

The PA and its funders and trainers must be held accountable for its ongoing betrayal of the Palestinian people and its collaboration with the occupation regime and Zionist colonialism. The Oslo project is backed by Zionism, imperialism and reactionary regimes – and it must and will fall on the road to the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea, led by the unity of the people and the resistance. 

We urge all to respond with action and mobilization. Student and community organizations around the world have denounced the PA’s role as an imperialist-directed collaborator with Zionist occupation, colonization and genocide. Let us all make it clear in the streets that we stand with the Palestinian people and their heroic Resistance, for a liberated Palestine, from the river to the sea.