Over 70,000 rally in Gaza for PFLP 42nd anniversary

Over 70,000 rally in Gaza for PFLP 42nd anniversary

http://www.fightbacknews.org/2009/12/15/over-70000-rally-gaza-pflp-42nd-anniversary

By Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
December 15, 2009

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following account of the
massive Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) rally,
held in Gaza, Dec. 12. This account of the event was written by the PFLP.
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Unity and steadfastness: Over 70,000 rally in Gaza for PFLP 42nd anniversary

Over 70,000 cadres, members and supporters of the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine, and the people of the Gaza Strip,
converged on Palestine Stadium for the 42nd anniversary rally of the
PFLP on December 12, 2009, spilling into the surrounding streets and
carrying Palestinian flags, PFLP banners and posters of the Front's
martyrs and leaders.

From the early morning hours, crowds of young and old, men, women
and children traveled from the various provinces of the Strip and all
camps and villages to Gaza City to the rally, answering the call of
the Front to attend under the slogan of "Unity, Steadfastness and
Resistance - Towards Victory!"

Comrade Dr. Rabah Muhanna, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP
and leader of its branch in Gaza, called for maintenance and
escalation of resistance in general and armed struggle in particular
against the Zionist enemy, calling for a nationally coordinated
resistance framework serving the struggle to regain our rights.

Comrade Muhanna emphasized that the path of negotiations, from Oslo
to Annapolis, has clearly reached a dead end, and there must be a
declaration by all Palestinian forces of the final death of the path
of so-called "negotiations" and the immediate end of the so-called
"transitional period," including a complete end of all security
coordination with the occupier.

He expressed an urgent call for national unity, saying that it is a
necessity for victory and that all political detainees in the West
Bank and Gaza must be freed, and unity established on the basis of
Palestinian national cause and the Palestinian national interest,
responding to the sacrifices of thousands of martyrs, wounded and
prisoners: ensuring an independent state with Jerusalem as its
capital, self-determination, and return.

Comrade Muhanna saluted the Palestinian people in occupied Palestine
'48, in the West Bank, throughout Gaza, in the camps, and throughout
the world in diaspora and exile, expressing the Front's complete
determination to fight for the achievement of full victory over the
criminal, fascist, occupation regime.

He outlined the Front's historical experience in confronting Zionism,
as an extension of the struggle of the Arab Nationalist Movement. He
said that the Front will continue along the path of its history in
the revolutionary struggle to achieve victory and the utter defeat of
the criminal Zionist enemy and the entire camp behind it that
provides it with its power and aggression and weakens our people and
prevents their progress, the imperialist camp and its reactionary
arms and components, under the savage leadership of U.S. imperialism.

Comrade Muhanna closed his speech with a call for national unity,
invoking the colors of the Palestinian flag and the banners of the
Palestinian factions: green for Hamas, white for Fateh, black for
Islamic Jihad and red for the PFLP, calling for all of our people to
be united together under the complete national flag of Palestine.

Almazah Sammouni, who lost her family in the December 2008-January
2009 aggression on Gaza, spoke, saying "I came here today not to cry
or to mourn for my family," the Sammouni family, "who suffered under
the fires and missiles of the occupation like thousands of martyrs of
our people, but I come to express my pride for their sacrifices and
commitment." She called upon all Palestinian forces, particularly
Fateh and Hamas, to unite under the banner of the blood of the
martyrs and the promise of a better future for our people and
children, and to fight to prosecute the occupation and its leaders in
international courts for their crimes against our Palestinian people.

Comrade Amna Rimawi, the wife of imprisoned Comrade Majdi Rimawi and
head of the village council of Beit Rima, one of the heroes of the
legendary October 17 operation that struck Zionist extremist tourism
minister Rehavam Ze'evi, spoke at the rally, expressing her greetings
on behalf of the families of the prisoners, and calling upon the
captors of occupation soldier Gilad Shalit and asking them to uphold
the standards they have set for the prisoner exchange, because the
families and the prisoners know the only means for their release
comes through the resistance.

Mohammad Khalidi, an unemployed Palestinian worker, spoke wearing his
work uniform, denouncing poverty and unemployment caused by siege and
occupation. He said that "We are are to affirm our steadfastness as
workers in the face of the Zionist war machine, the unjust siege, and
deadly unemployment."

The rally, chaired by Comrade Hani Al-Thawabteh, member of the
Central Committee of Gaza Branch, and Comrade Shireen Abu-Oun, also
included poetry, artistic presentations, and dozens of congratulatory
messages from the PFLP leadership abroad, Hilda Habash, the wife of
the founder, Dr. George Habash, and the General Secretary of the
Front, imprisoned Comrade Leader Ahmad Sa'adat, and Abla Sa'adat and
Sumoud Sa'adat, his wife and daughter.

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