The slightly edited talk was given by George Qarmout, a Palestinian activist educating and mobilizing for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners, at a New York City Workers World Party meeting on January 23, 2025.  Go to https://youtu.be/iVZlbAx41j0 to view the talk. 

“The Palestinian struggle for national liberation is part and parcel of the international movement of peoples for national liberation, international racial and economic justice and an end to occupation, colonialism and imperialism.” – Ahmad Sa’adat 

January 15, 2025, marks the 23rd anniversary of the detention of Ahmad Sa’adat — Palestinian national and leftist leader and the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — by the so-called Palestinian Authority (PA) as part of its “security coordination” with the Zionist occupation.

Every year the week of his arrest is marked by the “International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat.” This year the week of action coincided with the first stages of the liberation of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist prisons being termed “Toufan al-Ahrar” or “The Flood of the Free.”

Ahmad Sa’adat is the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), one of the most important left-wing factions in the Palestinian resistance. He’s been imprisoned since 2001, although not the entire time in Zionist prisons.

Initially, he was arrested by the PA during the time of Yasser Arafat. When he was arrested by PA security forces, he was held in Arafat’s personal dungeon in the presidential palace in Ramallah [on the occupied West Bank] for several months before being moved to Ariha prison in Jericho, a Palestinian-controlled facility [also on the West Bank].

But even there, he was held under American and British guard, not by the PA, which shows the level of coordination and complicity between the PA and imperialist powers.

After some time in Ariha prison, the Israelis decided to seize the prison following Hamas’s victory in the PA elections. Hamas had promised to liberate resistance leaders, including Ahmad Sa’adat, who were being held in Palestinian prisons.

In response, the Israelis besieged the prison, and the PA guards put down their weapons, handing over anyone the Israelis wanted, including comrade Ahmad Sa’adat. Since then, he’s been held in a Zionist prison in the occupied 1948 territories.

The role of armed resistance

Every year, Palestinians organize internationally during the week of action for Ahmad Sa’adat, marking the anniversary of his initial detention about 23 years ago. This year, we’re hopeful it might be the last year we have to organize such a campaign. While we organize around the issue of Palestinian prisoners, we understand that no political organizing alone will liberate our prisoners. It’s the armed resistance and the armed struggle that will free them.

The recent success of the Toufan al-Ahrar [exchange] is a perfect example. The resistance in Gaza secured the liberation of about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for only 33 Zionist captives. This is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Hamas, an Islamist party, led this effort, and while they are more conservative than Palestinians might be, their actions have shown the power of unity among resistance factions.

Ahmad Sa’adat, a Marxist and leader of a left-wing party, represents a different ideology, but the shared goal of national liberation unites us all. Whether it is Islamic Jihad, Hamas or the Popular Front, we understand that national unity stems from the rifle. That is how we are going to liberate Palestine.

Anything else is a waste of time if we start talking about governing a people or a land we do not yet have sovereignty over. We must focus on the real work: making a revolution to liberate our prisoners and our land.

Palestinians’ right to return

Marwan Barghouti, another key leader, has been imprisoned since the Second Intifada in the early 2000s. He started the armed faction of Fatah and led many operations in the West Bank.

Hamas has made it clear that Barghouti is on their list of prisoners they demand to be released in exchange for Zionist captives held in Gaza. But Mahmoud Abbas, the so-called president of the PA, has gone so far as to condemn any prisoner exchange that includes Barghouti. Barghouti’s refusal to give up the rifle, reject normalization or accept capitulation makes him unacceptable to the PA.

The PA is nothing more than an arm of the Zionist occupation. PA officials receive relatively low salaries compared to Israelis, but they enjoy privileges like permits to travel to Yaffa, Haifa or other parts of the occupied 1948 territories. These privileges come at the expense of the broader Palestinian population.

Refugees in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria are not even allowed to return to the West Bank, let alone to their homes in the occupied 1948 lands. Abbas and the PA are willing to sell out the rest of our people and our national struggle for their own benefit.

On January 22, 2025, a demonstration was organized in New York City as a part of the International Week of Action to Free Ahaed Sa’adat. The demonstration started at the PA mission and marched to the Zionist occupation mission. The logo of the PFLP was displayed on several posters during this demonstration, and this logo features an arrow pointing toward ‘Tel Aviv’ (Occupied Yaffa).

This design is intentional — it does not just point to Occupied Yaffa; it goes through Amman and Ramallah. For over 60 years, we have understood that before we can liberate the occupied land from the Zionist occupation, we have to confront the reactionary Arab regimes that collaborate with it, whether in Amman [Jordan], Ramallah, or Cairo [Egypt].

Horrific prison conditions from Israel to the U.S

This has been a huge week for the Palestinian prisoner issue. So far, 90 prisoners have been liberated, including Khalida Jarrar, an intellectual and political leader who had been held in Zionist prisons for over a year, five months of which were in solitary confinement. The occupation tried to murder her, but our resistance, led by Hamas, is the reason she is alive today.

Abla Sa’adat, the wife of Ahmad Sa’adat, was also liberated in the first round of exchanges, making this a successful week of action for Sa’adat’s release.

The next stage of prisoner exchanges will have 50 Palestinian prisoners released for every Zionist captive, with 20 of those prisoners serving life sentences or more. This is a huge victory.

However, most people in Zionist prisons are not even serving sentences or have charges [filed against them].  Many are held under administrative detention, a British Mandate-era practice that allows indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial. The Israelis have kept and expanded this practice, using it at an incredibly high rate.

The conditions in Zionist prisons are horrific. Prisoners are starved, beaten, and denied medical care. Despite this, those released have expressed solidarity with Gaza, saying their thoughts were with their families, friends and colleagues under bombardment. Many have said their freedom feels incomplete without the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners.

The struggle for Palestinian prisoners is deeply connected to the fight against imperialism. In the United States, private prisons and police forces are tied to the Israeli regime. American law enforcement agencies, like the New York Police Department, Chicago Police Department, Atlanta Police Department and Los Angeles Police Department, receive training from the Israel Defense Forces. The same tactics used against Palestinians are used against marginalized communities in the U.S., showing the interconnectedness of these struggles.

The PA’s role in suppressing resistance goes beyond collaboration with the occupation. In the Jenin refugee camp, the PA has worked with Zionist forces to blockade and attack residents and fighters. Under “Operation Homeland Defense,” the PA imposed a siege on Jenin, using heavy weaponry to target resistance fighters and civilians.

When the Israelis intervened, Abbas condemned their involvement, not out of concern for Palestinian lives, but because he saw it as an encroachment on his authority to suppress the Resistance, while continuing to work in tandem with the Zionist occupier against the Palestinian people and the resistance.

Abbas and the PA claim to represent the Palestinian people, but their actions prove otherwise. Security coordination with Israeli forces is considered sacred by Abbas, a stance we reject. For the Palestinian people, the rifle, rocket and revolution are sacred. No security coordination, no peace deals, no negotiations. The rifle, rocket and revolution — that is the only thing we consider sacred.

Freedom to the prisoners! Glory to the martyrs! Revolution until victory!