Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

Statement on the work of the Seventh National Conference of the PFLP

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued the following statement regarding the Seventh National Conference of the Front, recently convened, as an important station on the road to return and the ongoing revolution until the liberation of the entire Palestinian national soil.

The National Conference was held in three sessions in the homeland and in diaspora to carry out a comprehensive review and evaluation of the Front’s methods, work, overall policies and plans, and the formulation of a political vision and organizational methods for the new phase of struggle. The Conference aimed to form the base for developing the Front’s positions and policies, building the Front’s effectiveness, role, and presence in the struggle to achieving our goals of national and social liberation.

The Front began with a moment of silence in honor of the martyrs of our people and our nation who sacrificed their lives for Palestine and its freedom, and in respect of the prisoners, detainees and the freedom fighters who continue to march on a difficult path to obtain our inalienable, legitimate, and historical national rights of our Arab Palestinian people.

After the adoption of the agenda, the Conference was presented with a comprehensive statement and letter from imprisoned General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, addressing political issues, organizational matters, and theoretical issues, as well as addressing the role of the Seventh National Conference in the future direction of the Front.

The conference discussed draft reports submitted by the Central Committee, as well as recommendations submitted by the conferences of the Front’s branches, and ended with the election of the members of the General Central Committee and the Central Supervisory Board. The conference’s output reflected democratic principles on the workings of the internal life of the Front, as well as emphasizing the importance of wider participation in formulating the policies, programs, plans, and basic direction of the Front. The Conference emphasized the importance of strengthening the unity of the organization through the deepening of democratic systems and structures at all levels.

The Seventh National Conference came at a time of serious political concern and complexity, when continuing U.S. imperialist and Zionist schemes aim at the liquidation of the Palestinian national cause by exploiting the conditions within Arab countries and their internal political, economic and social programs to exercise additional pressure on the Palestinian Authority to conclude more agreements ignoring international law, UN resolutions, and the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people.

The conference discussed the international environment around the Palestinian and Arab situation and its effects on our national struggle for liberation, and the struggle of the Arab people. The United States government is hostile to the aspirations and goals of our people for freedom, self-determination and return, a fact that is reflected every day on the ground and in international diplomatic forums, engaged in a security partnership with Zionist aggression. The Conference also noted the historical impact of international and regional events on the Arab scene.

The rise of the role of Russia, China, and regional powers has shifted on some level the equations of international conflict. The Conference discussed the Arab political, economic and security situation, in its international context, as well as the structural disorder of Arab regimes and the failure of Arab states to safeguard national sovereignty, political independence, or economic security.

The Front noted the large mobilizations witnessed in a number of Arab countries which aimed to confront injustice, poverty, and tyranny, and build modern democratic societies. It further noted the high level of imperialist interventions hostile to the aspirations of the Arab nation in an attempt to steal and co-opt the goals and objectives of Arab popular movements through external military interventions and political efforts to spur sectarian and ethnic conflict in order to control the destiny of the Arab peoples while protecting the Zionist entity.

The Conference also discussed at length the Palestinian reality and the numerous developments in the over a decade that has passed since the Sixth Conference in 2000, reviewing the most important events in the Palestinian scene. At the center of this review are the ongoing and disastrous effects of the turning point in the Palestinian struggle in 1993, marked by the signing of the Oslo agreement. The Conference emphasized multiple issues, particularly the centrality of rejecting the negotiations, which do not serve the Palestinian people’s interests, and the need to fully reject the entire process of negotiations and “solutions” that have failed for over twenty years.

The importance of rehabilitating the Palestinian national liberation movement and building a new Palestinian strategy based on achieving the full rights of our people was viewed as critical by the Conference. In particular, this will mean drawing lessons from this last stage and entirely ending the absurd negotiations for which our people have paid dearly.

Further, the Conference discussed the Front’s organizational report, looking at the objective and subjective factors that have affected the structure of the Popular Front. This included engaging in a criticism of the organizational state of the PFLP, and learning lessons from past experience in order to tighten and develop the Front’s organizational structure and theoretical and political vision as a way out of crisis for the Front.

The Conference also discussed amendments to the rules of procedure and agreed upon a number of amendments to the Front’s internal structural documents.

The Conference addressed the political program, emphasizing the continuation of the struggle of our people to achieve their strategic objective, and that the goal of the struggle of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is to liberate every inch of Palestinian land from colonial occupation and establish a democratic state on the entire Palestinian national soil.

The Conference confirmed political tasks in the revolutionary struggle, including the following:

the utmost importance to rebuild the institutions of the PLO on new democratic and inclusive foundations, rehabilitating the PLO’s original program and charter

working to develop and strengthen the unity of the Palestinian people as the sharpest weapon of the national liberation movement to achieve its goals and break the cycle of division

armed struggle is fundamental to the confrontation of the occupation, as imposed by the nature of the occupation and its violence, and is central and a primary component of overall resistance against occupation.

resistance to all plans and projects of political liquidationism proposed by imperialism and Zionism to bury the Palestinian cause

the struggle for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their lands and homes from which they were expelled in 1948 must be at the center of work, rejecting all plans and projects aimed to liquidate this right

the issue of prisoners and the necessity to free them from Israeli jails is a central issue that must be taken up by all political means, through international bodies, and through the national struggle by all means

the central importance of the struggle for identity and liberation of the Palestinian people in 1948 occupied areas and their resistance to all attempts to displace them and Judaize the Palestinian cities and villages

the need for unwavering struggle against all forms of political discourse that attempt to legitimize the “Jewish nature” of the racist state, to expose the objectives of these attempts and their effects on the future of the national struggle and the Palestinian people

emphasize the importance of the role of the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in all locations and in exile, including exposure to difficult and complex conditions.

Our people in diaspora have played a key role in the march of the contemporary Palestinian revolution and it is critical to focus on the issues of our people in exile and diaspora.

The Conference stressed the need to continue efforts to develop the democratic trend in the broad Palestinian arena. At the conclusion of the Conference, the delegates elected the General Central Committee and Central Supervisory Board in an atmosphere of democracy and transparency, with a significant number of new members elected to the leading bodies.

The Conference also expressed its constructive criticisms in a spirit of camaraderie and national responsibility, and sent warm greetings to the General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat and all prisoners in Israeli jails, as well as paying tribute to the comrades who retired from their leadership positions to support the advancement of young leaders and the renewal of the Front. The Conference also expressed its vow to the martyrs and the prisoners to continue their struggle and march on the same long road to liberation, saluting the Front’s founder, Dr. George Habash, the martyred General Secretary Abu Ali Mustafa, the martyr leader Abu Maher al-Yamani and tall of the martyrs of the Front and the Palestinian revolution.

The Conference saluted the Palestinian people, struggling everywhere, and all factions and forces of the Palestinian revolution, the Arab liberation movement, and popular forces of the Arab homeland; and greeted all of the forces of progress, freedom and socialism around the world who oppose and confront injustice, oppression and imperialism, the enemy of the people and the enemy of humanity. Glory to the martyrs and victory to our great people.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

General Central Committee