Ahmad Sa'adat: Arab countries must break the siege on our people

Comrade Ahmad Sa'adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, called upon the Arab countries to break the Israeli siege on our people and open the Rafah crossing.

He also called upon all Palestinian factions and forces to overcome internal division and begin comprehensive national dialogue in earnest, in order to confront the occupation and protect our cause and our people.

Comrade Sa'adat issued these statements during a meeting with attorney Buthaina Duqmaq, president of the Mandela Foundation on November 27, 2008, at Hadarim Prison. He also sent greetings and salutes to our people on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which is commemorated on November 29, celebrating their determination to endure in the face of continued aggression against Palestinian existence and national identity.

Comrade Sa'adat said, "We pay tribute to the steadfastness of our people in Gaza in the face of the barbaric siege, and at the same time, we salute all of the international and popular Arab solidarity with our people in confronting the siege and demanding an end to the blockade, particularly the efforts to physically break the siege, and all of the parliamentarians who supported this work and expressed their support for our people and their just struggle for independence and freedom."

He called upon Arab foreign ministers and the Arab League to take action to break the siege on our people and to open the Rafah crossing without any conditions upon our people immediately.

Comrade Sa'adat further called upon the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, particularly Mahmoud Abbas, to cease and prevent use of the PLO as a weapon in or to strengthen the internal Palestinian division, which only endangers the role of the PLO as a reference for our people and a framework for unity of our people at home and abroad. He called instead to implement the Cairo agreement of 2005 to rebuild the PLO and bring in all Palestinian forces and hold elections for a new Palestinian National Council that will reinforce and reestablish its position as the sole legitimate representative of our people and as a tool for the maintenance of unity and upholding our national objectives, primarily the right to return, the core of our national cause.

He called upon all Palestinian factions, and particularly Hamas and Fateh, to raise their level of responsibility and overcome all obstacles and work toward national unity, beginning with the release of all political detainees. He emphasized further that it is critical to move away from the state of division and uphold national unity that rejects any external interference in Palestinian affairs.