Today, January 15, 2016, marks the 14th anniversary of the abduction of Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat by a treacherous act of the Palestinian security services against not only Ahmad Sa’adat, but against the Palestinian people, their resistance and their struggle.
The Palestinian Authority’s intelligence service, supported by other security agencies, arrested Sa’adat along with his comrades, and detained them at the presidential headquarters of the PA. This act came in submission to the terms of the United States and the Zionist state, and in the framework of security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and the occupation – a framework that continues, despite the massive harm it has caused the Palestinian people for the past 23 years, to the present day.
This targeted attack on the leaders and cadres of the resistance paved the way for their imprisonment in Jericho prison in a notorious agreement with the occupation, under U.S. and British guards – and also paved the way for the March 14, 2006 attack on the prison and kidnapping of Sa’adat and his comrades by occupation soldiers.
The Palestinian Authority’s security apparatus is a burden upon the Palestinian people, rather than a force that provides them security against the relentless attacks and invasion of occupation soldiers and settlers. The Palestinian people have given and continue to give immense sacrifices in order to obtain their freedom, but are met time and again with authoritarian and repressive measures against their organizing, and continued security coordination with the occupation. The Palestinian Authority leadership is perhaps more than ever subservient to the demands of the occupation, while Palestinian institutions and embassies fail to serve or represent the Palestinian people, their cause and their concerns.
We reaffirm that the impact of this crime 14 years ago has not lessened, and that the Palestinian Authority and its security services must be accountable for the kidnapping of Sa’adat and his comrades, and all of the crimes of security coordination and repression against the Palestinian people, their resistance and their national leaders.
Today, we also note the urgent case of the Palestinian struggler and liberated prisoner Omar Nayef Zayed in Bulgaria. As we saw in the involvement of the U.S. and British security services in the imprisonment of Sa’adat, today, Zayed is facing extradition to the hands of the occupier by the Bulgarian state, where he has lived for the past 22 years, after escaping unjust imprisonment in occupation prisons.
Zayed has taken refuge inside the Palestinian embassy in Sofia. Today, as we remember this devastating crime against Sa’adat and against the Palestinian people, we demand that this crime not be repeated and that Zayed be fully protected by the Palestinian embassy and all Palestinian institutions. We also urge all supporters of the struggle of Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian liberation struggle to demand that Omar Nayef Zayed is not turned over to the occupation state and that Bulgaria’s courts and police are not used as extensions of the Israeli occupation forces.
The rising Palestinian people have exposed more than ever the bankruptcy of the path of negotiations, coordination and submission to the occupation and to U.S. imperialism. At the same time, the rising of the Palestinian people also inspires true hope for revolutionary change and liberation. The compass of the Palestinian people has always remained pointed toward freedom, and they confront, with firm resolve and determination all attempts to diminish their resistance and their just cause. Without rest, despite repression, imprisonment and invasions, they resist, revolt and struggle to free all of the prisoners, all of the people and all of the land of Palestine.
Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners!
Justice and Freedom for Omar Nayef Zayed!
January 15, 2016
