Gaza protesters demand freedom for Georges Abdallah
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Oct. 25 statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Gaza protesters burn portraits of Hollande, Obama, Netanyahu, demand freedom for Georges Abdallah
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine organized a rally outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City on October 25 in support of imprisoned Comrade Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, held in French prisons for 32 years. Members of the leadership of the Front, the Prisoners Commission, the campaign in solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat, political parties and the families of the prisoners and martyrs joined in the rally to demand Abdallah’s freedom.
Comrade Haneen Ammar opened the event with a message from the imprisoned General Secretary of the PFLP, Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat. The message emphasized that supporting the struggle of the prisoners for freedom is part and parcel of the struggle for the freedom of Georges Abdallah. Sa’adat denounced the distortion of reality by the dominant powers of imperialism and globalization, in which the freedom fighter is labeled a terrorist, and the victim labeled a killer.
Sa’adat said that the efforts to free Georges Abdallah will secure a victory not only for him but for all oppressed peoples, prisoners of conscience and victims of torture, as a triumph of humanity and the Palestinian struggle for freedom. He saluted the strugglers in Palestine, Lebanon and everywhere that people are struggling in the face of oppression, injustice and tyranny.
Comrade Allam Kaabi, leader of the Front’s Prisoners Commission in the Gaza Strip, denounced the continuing imprisonment of Abdallah by the French state that today enters its 33rd year. He demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Abdallah and vowed that all means of pressure for his release are legitimate. Kaabi noted that Abdallah is a fighter for freedom and justice who has dedicated his life to confronting imperialism and the Zionist colonial project with resistance. He is a figure of historical weight in the Palestinian, Arab and international struggle, said Kaabi, noting that he retains his strong commitment to radical analysis and resistance and that this is one reason he remains imprisoned today by the French state.
Kaabi said that the cause of Abdallah is closely linked to the cause of thousands of Palestinian prisoners suffering within occupation prisons, saying that the two issues cannot be separated. He denounced the racist laws that transform the freedom fighter Georges Abdallah into a ‘terrorist,’ noting that they are the same laws that label Palestinian prisoners as ‘terrorists.’ He called upon the Lebanese state to take up its responsibility and pressure seriously for the release of Georges Abdallah. He urged the continuation of the movement to free Georges Abdallah with pressure on the French state, especially in Palestine, as part of the movement to support the brave prisoners in Zionist jails.
He concluded by pledging coordination between Palestinian, Arab and international revolutionary forces to pressure together for his release.
The event included the burning photos of the three rulers most complicit in the imprisonment of Georges Abdallah and his fellow Palestinian prisoners, French President Francois Hollande, US President Barack Obama and Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.