PFLP Leader Sentenced to 30 Years

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

An Israeli military court has sentenced Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), to 30 years in prison for heading a "terrorist organisation."

Saadat, 54, is a father of four and a veteran of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada.

"Ahmed Saadat is guilty ... because of his position and activities within the (PFLP) terrorist movement," an Israeli army statement said on Thursday.

"Given the status of the accused within this terrorist organisation, given the actions put in place to develop the movement's military structures and given that ... the fighters (of the organisation) were under his command, the court sentences him to 30 years in prison," the statement said.

When Israeli forces seized Saadat in March 2006 in a controversial raid on a Palestinian-run prison in Jericho, he stood accused of planning the 2001 murder of Rehavam Zeevi, Israel's tourism minister at the time.

Prosecutors later decided not to pursue this case against Saadat, instead pressing the charges against four PFLP fighters who were seized along with him in Jericho.

Palestinian reaction

The PFLP decribed the verdict as political.

"When the Israelis arrested him, they accused him of having killed Zeevi, but this accusation did not appear in the sentencing which proves that his arrest was political and was not related to security issues," Khalida Jarar, a PFLP member, said.

Zeevi, 75 at the time of his death, was shot at a hotel in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem on October 17, 2001.

The PFLP claimed the killing of Zeevi after its leader Abu Ali Mustafa was assassinated by Israeli troops.

Zeevi was an ultra rightwinger and supported the ideology of "transfer", which would see all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip expelled to neighbouring Arab countries.
That sucks. And on Christmas, too!

Anyway, he got arrested for killing an Israeli minister who wanted to ship all the Palestinians to the desert and make Palestine 100% Jewish, but these charges was dropped and he got convicted for 30 years for "being a bad dude."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081225173335936444.html

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

So why no solidarity from all the PFLPers on here?

I personally like the PFLP, compared to the DFLP, al-aqsa, Islamic Jihad, and all the other militant groups.

[Sam_b]

The PFLP decribed the verdict as political.

Oh, it most definitely is. At a time when the Palestinian liberation movement has been suffering at the hands of the blockade, this is an attempt to try and finish resistance off. It won't happen though.


So why no solidarity from all the PFLPers on here?

You say that as if its a terribly negative and serious thing. The point is, us condemning the imprisonment and the Israeli state's barbary means fuck all on here, it is about engaging with your local Palestinian solidarity campaigns and contacting the Israeli government with messages of protest. Much more useful than just posting on here.

Victory to the Intifada!

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

You say that as if its a terribly negative and serious thing. The point is, us condemning the imprisonment and the Israeli state's barbary means fuck all on here, it is about engaging with your local Palestinian solidarity campaigns and contacting the Israeli government with messages of protest. Much more useful than just posting on here.

Victory to the Intifada!

Are you part of a campaign?

There aren't any that I know of around here, though it hope one might be building now that a bunch of dudes just got imprisoned for sending aid to the Gaza strip.

[Sam_b]

Are you part of a campaign?

Other commitments mean i'm pretty busy, but occasionally I do stuff with the Glasgow Palestinian Human Rights Campaign: they have a stall every week beside ours. I also attend events (mostly protests, pickets) organised by the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. I'd love to do more for these, so hopefully I can get more involved next year.


though it hope one might be building now that a bunch of dudes just got imprisoned for sending aid to the Gaza strip.

Fuck thats rough. One of the SPHRC people is now deaf in one ear because he got hit with a teaer gas canister the last time he was there. The same canister used by the army which is 'not to be used on civilians'.

Good luck with starting a campaign up. Let me know how it goes and if I can assist in any way :)

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

Other commitments mean i'm pretty busy, but occasionally I do stuff with the Glasgow Palestinian Human Rights Campaign: they have a stall every week beside ours. I also attend events (mostly protests, pickets) organised by the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. I'd love to do more for these, so hopefully I can get more involved next year.

That's cool.

By the way, I didn't seriously mean to suggest you or other PFLP-supporters were lax in your solidarity by not posting in this thread or that somehow this thread matters in the big scheme, it was just a joke.


Fuck thats rough. One of the SPHRC people is now deaf in one ear because he got hit with a teaer gas canister the last time he was there. The same canister used by the army which is 'not to be used on civilians'

Shit that sucks, I'd sue. Of course, he wouldn't get anywhere with all the great lawyers Israel must have :lol: haha just a joke.

The people I was refering to ran a charity that donated money to people living in Gaza, but were rounded up in the anti-Hamas fervor we find ourselves in. They were convicted on less than convincing evidence, with the prosecutions final arguments included comparing their donations to al-Qaeda and scaring the jury to a guilty verdict. Hamas=Arab, al-Qaeda=Arab, the Defendents=Arab....hmmm must be a connection somewhere....Complete bullshit, even if they are guilty they shouldn't have been incarcerated on the evidence at hand, in my opinion.


Good luck with starting a campaign up. Let me know how it goes and if I can assist in any way :)

I've started looking around, we have a pretty sizable Middle Eastern population so it wouldn't suprise me at all if there were several groups.

[Dean]

I've started looking around, we have a pretty sizable Middle Eastern population so it wouldn't suprise me at all if there were several groups.

Here's a way to help. (http://www.awalls.org/)

[Bud Struggle]

Looks like the shit has just hit the fan over in Gaza:

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20081227/NEWS-US-PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-VIOLENCE/

[Robert]

Abe, I take it you know about the Holyland Foundation trials in Dallas, correct? It's much the same kind of issue and obviously much closer to home (criminal charges for providing material support to a terrorist organization).

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=729

There's no doubt Hamas is at least labeled as a "terrorist organization" by the U.S. government, though it's impossible to know how much of its activities are devoted to charitable causes and how much to ... other things. Unravelling all that was the difficulty for both sides in the two Holyland trials. Defense "won" the first trial (by mistrial), government won the second.

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

Abe, I take it you know about the Holyland Foundation trials in Dallas, correct? It's much the same kind of issue and obviously much closer to home (criminal charges for providing material support to a terrorist organization).

Actually yeah, that was who I was refering to.


There's no doubt Hamas is at least labeled as a "terrorist organization" by the U.S. government, though it's impossible to know how much of its activities are devoted to charitable causes and how much to ... other things. Unravelling all that was the difficulty for both sides in the two Holyland trials. Defense "won" the first trial (by mistrial), government won the second.I agree that obviously there's a lot of gray area, and I'll add that all I know about the cases is from the Dallas Morning News and some friends who kept up with it.

All I can tell is that there was no smoking gun, and I don't think there should be any restriction on helping people no matter who is in charge of their government.

But I'm not a lawyer and it's definitely not black-and-white, and I didn't know until now that the PA considered HLF a "Hamas-funder," whatever that means exactly I have no idea.