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Top Palestinian Leader Ahmad Saadat
Still Political Prisoner
By
George Asaaf
Palestinian
Prisoners' Day, commemorated throughout Palestine and by solidarity
activists the world over, April 17, is a day to bring attention to the
plight of all Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails and
to demand their immediate release.
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Ahmad
Saadat, political prisoner. |
This year,
the day holds added significance because a top leader of the Palestinian
resistance movement, Ahmad Saadat, is one of those prisoners. Because of
Israeli and U.S. pressure, he is held in a Palestinian Authority (PA)
jail.
Saadat is
the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP), a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist organization that is
the second largest political group within the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO). For over 35 years, Saadat and the PFLP have been at
the forefront of the Palestinians' political and armed struggle for
national liberation, the Right of Return and an end to the illegal
Israeli military occupation of Palestine.
In January
2002, Saadat and four other PFLP members were arrested by the
Palestinian Authority, at the bidding of the United States and Israel,
for the assassination of Rehevam Ze'evi, the racist Israeli Minister of
Tourism. Ze'evi openly advocated for the killing and exile of
Palestinians. In exchange for lifting a military siege on Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat's compound in April of 2002 (the 'Jericho
Agreement'), the PA acceded to Israel's demand that the five men be
transferred to a prison in Jericho, under Palestinian guardianship and
the supervision of the U.S. and the British.
On June 3,
2002, the Palestinian Supreme Court ordered the release of Saadat, as he
had never been charged or brought before a judge. Ra'anan Gissin, an
Israeli spokesman, said that if "[Saadat] is not brought to justice, we
will bring justice to him," and the next day, June 4, the Palestinian
Authority decided that he should not be released, "due to Israeli
threats of assassinating [him]."
A little
over six months later, Saadat wrote an open letter to the Palestinian
and Arab people, stating that his arrest was a "blatant violation of
Palestinian law," and appealing to them to "demand the unconditional
implementation of Palestinian national laws that prohibit political
arrests on the basis of conscience or resisting the Israeli occupation."
A week
after Saadat's open letter, the Palestinian Society for the Protection
of Human Rights and the Environment noted the following, after visiting
Saadat in prison, "The procedure to arrest Saadat was illegal. The
Palestinian Supreme Court has emphasized the illegality of his arrest.
He is the first high-ranking Palestinian politician to be arrested since
the Palestinian Authority was established, and this poses a dangerous
precedent for international involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, and also a dangerous precedent for future agreements between
the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Saadat emphasized that he refuses
to cooperate with international monitors sent to ensure his
imprisonment, because he believes that the agreement made between the
Palestinian Authority and these international bodies is also entirely
illegal, as was ruled by the Palestinian Supreme Court."
In an
interview given to Fight Back! in May of 2003, Saadat explained further
the significance of his arrest, "The 'Jericho Agreement' is one of the
demands that the PA sees as commitments, which might be more important
to Israel and the U.S. than the appointment of a prime minister or a new
minister of finance or interior. Therefore, my release and the release
of my four comrades require a solid Palestinian position that refuses to
continually submit to American-supported, Israeli demands. [And when]
the PA claims that we are being detained for our safety - this is utter
nonsense used to justify the PA's compliance and submissiveness to
Israeli security demands."
The arrest
and continued imprisonment of Ahmad Saadat is a severe blow to the
Palestinian resistance movement. Any commitments, especially the Jericho
Agreement, which turn fighters into prisoners of the Americans and the
Israelis should be rejected. The defense of liberation fighters starts
with the protection of their internationally recognized right to resist
the brutal Israeli military occupation, and the Palestinian Authority
must not limit their ability to do so.
Free Ahmad
Saadat and all Palestinian political prisoners
www.fightbacknews.org
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