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

Leila Khaled in Turkey: warning against imperialist intervention

Leila Khaled, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, concluded a five-day visit to Turkey, in which she participated in a number of conferences and seminars in Ankara, Istanbul and other cities.

She spoke at a socialist seminar on “the dynamics of transformation in the Middle East,” attended by Turkish members of parliament and writers and intellectuals from Turkey, Syria and Egypt. Comrade Leila Khaled reviewed recent developments in the Palestinian struggle and the enormous sacrifices that have been made on the path of liberation and freedom.

Khaled confirmed the right of the Palestinian people to struggle with all forms of resistance, with armed struggle in the forefront, to recover all of their usurped rights. Comrade Khaled called for the need to speed up the file of reconciliation and national unity, saying it is the strongest weapon of the Palestinian people. She saluted the struggle of Arab peoples in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain, who took to the streets and the squares in search of genuine democracy, freedom and social equality, warning against attempts of imperialist powers and internal forces to derail and alter the character of the real Arab revolutions.

Speaking to what is happening in Syria, comrade Khaled said that “The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is always with the people and their legitimate and just demands, but the latest developments in Syria clearly indicate that there is a US-Turkish-Saudi alliance with the goal of destroying and weakening Syria as a country, because it has said ‘no’ to the US and has not signed agreements with the Zionist entity, and hosts half a million Palestinian refugees.” She warned of the danger of pushing the Palestinian camps into the Syrian crisis, saying that “the goal of all of Palestine is Jerusalem and Palestine and must remain so.”

Comrade Khaled held a press conference in the city of Istanbul, attended by many Turkish journalists, discussing the position of the PFLP on national unity and Palestinian and Arab situations. She also presented on the role of imperialist powers and their regional agents to create a new reality in the region based on the New Middle East Project, which aims to redraw the boundaries of the region to divide the Arab homeland to serve the interests of US imperialism and the “security of Israel.” She said that the PFLP rejects any external interference, direct or indirect, in Syria and that the solution can only be created by Syrians themselves through dialogue and an end to killing and destruction.

She warned against schemes by the enemies of the peoples of the region being conducted under false slogans and emphasized the importance of coordinating the work of leftist and revolutionary forces to truly serve the interests of the peoples of the region.