PFLP: Egypt's revolution brings an end to the era of Camp David

PFLP: Egypt's revolution brings an end to the era of Camp David


Comrade Abu Ahmad Fuad, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said on February 11, 2011 that the Egyptian people have changed the course of history in the region through their revolution, and expressed his confidence that the Egyptian people would see their revolution through to completion.

In an interview with Ajras al-Awda, Comrade Fuad said that "We know that there are still battles to be fought, we know that the revolution is far from complete, we know that there are many forces still trying to make sense of the revolution, and we know that there is much time to come to congratulate each other; nonetheless, we warmly congratulate the great Egyptian people and declare that we stand with them until they achieve all of their demands."

The fall of the regime and the departure of the dictator Hosni Mubarak make us confident that the revolution will be completed, said Comrade Fuad, and we trust that the revolutionary people will not stop until all of their aims are achieved. "The people of Egypt have paid a great price for their freedom and the freedom of their nation," he said. "They accomplished the departure of the tyrant, whose hands were covered with the blood of the Egyptian people, whose coffers were filled with their looted wealth."

Comrade Fuad emphasized that the challenge, and the struggle of the Egyptian people in the post-Mubarak era is rebuilding Egypt, and returning Egypt to the center of an Arab nation eager to welcome Egypt's enhanced role, long lacking due to the natural result of years of the rule of tyrants.

He said that, looking towards Egypt, one could not help to be confident that Egypt would rise, and that Egypt's people are confirming with every action that they will continue until victory. He called for trials and accountability of all of those who looted, plundered and victimized Egypt for years, yet failed to suppress its people's dignity and commitment to rights and freedom.

Furthermore, said Comrade Fuad, "We are convinced, as we have always been, that the Egyptian people have created a shift in the history of the region; in fact, in world history. Egypt is the heart of the world, and the revolution pulses like an engine through its veins. The people of Egypt knew that their country had become junior partners with U.S. imperialism and Zionism, the very forces who were behind all of the disasters which befell Egypt and the Arab nation. We know that this is a big step towards returning the Palestinian issue back on the correct path to total liberation."

He concluded his remarks by expressing his salutes to the Egyptian people, who have returned the Arab nation to life, to dignity and the road to liberation.

Furthermore, the Press Office of the PFLP issued a statement, congratulating the people of Egypt and the Arab nation for their victory against tyranny and subjugation, and saying that "the victory of the great Egyptian revolution is also a victory for the Palestinian cause and the Arab nation as a whole."

The statement continued by noting that "the people of Egypt will be able to achieve the full objectives of their revolution for freedom, democracy and independence, and they will end the era of Camp David and restore Egypt's historically significant role. The fall of tyranny and subordination in Egypt, in the form of the despotic
regime of Hosni Mubarak, is a result of the steadfastness of Egypt's masses, and this historical revolution was triggered by the Egyptian youth and their free people.

The PFLP and all Arab people today welcome their victory that restores Egypt's leading role in the protection of Arab national security and the Palestinian cause." Said the statement, "The triumph of the Egyptian people's revolution is a turning point in the history of the Arab nation. It paves the way for the construction of a new Arab era with no room for the dominance of Zionism and imperialism or the subjugation of the capabilities of the Arab nation...These events in Egypt and the historic transformations to follow have direct consequences for the Palestinian cause and will help the Palestinian cause to end the Oslo agreements and its ensuing approach, and rebuild the Palestinian national movement."

Comrade Dr. Rabah Muhanna, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP, said on February 11, 2011 in Gaza City that the victory of the revolution in Egypt and Tunisia and the wind of democratic change in the Arab world show that the Arab people collectively say no to tyranny, no to U.S. hegemony, and no to poverty. He noted the leading role of workers, youth and women in the Egyptian movement, saying that the revolution came as a result of decades of injustice and oppression. He stressed that the Palestinian people consider the Egyptian revolution and the fall of the subservient reactionary Arab regimes as an important step on the road to liberation.

Furthermore, Comrade Muhanna expressed that it is time for the Palestinian people - in the West Bank, Gaza, Occupied Palestine 48, in the refugee camps, and everywhere in exile and diaspora, to speak with one voice and say that the people want to end the division. He called on the Palestinian masses to act under the slogan "The people want to end the division," as a necessary step towards rebuilding the Palestinian liberation movement.
Source: PFLP (Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine) English Web.

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Palestine - Gaza ,Tunisia , Egypt, Algeria, Yeman , Bahrain ------------!?

Algeria protesters push for change

Pro-democracy demonstrators, inspired by the Egyptian revolution, ignore official ban and march in the capital Algiers.

Last Modified: 12 Feb 2011 20:56 GMT

Algerian security forces and pro-democracy protesters have clashed in the capital, Algiers, amid demonstrations inspired by the revolution in Egypt.

Heavily outnumbered by riot police, at least 2,000 protesters were able to overcome a security cordon enforced around the city's May First Square on Saturday, joining other demonstrators calling for reform.

Earlier, thousands of police in riot gear were in position to stop the demonstrations that could mimic the uprising which forced out Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's long-serving president.

Security forces closed all entrances to Algiers and arrested hundreds of protesters, sources told Al Jazeera.

Elias Filali, an Algerian blogger and activist, said human rights activists and syndicate members were among those arrested at the scene of the protests.

"I'm right in the middle of the march," he told Al Jazeera. "People are being arrested and are heavily guarded by the police."

Officials banned Saturday's opposition march but protesters were determined to see it through.

Peaceful protests

Filali said the demonstrators were determined to remain peaceful, but he claimed that the police "want the crowd to go violent and then get them portrayed as a violent crowd"

Protesters are demanding greater democratic freedoms, a change of government and more jobs.

Many demonstrators in Algeria have been inspired by the events unfolding in Egypt and Tunisia [AFP]

Earlier, police also charged at demonstrators and arrested 10 people outside the Algiers offices of the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), as they celebrated Mubarak's downfall, Said Sadi, RCD leader, told the AFP news agency.

"It wasn't even an organised demonstration. It was spontaneous. It was an explosion of joy," he said.

Mubarak's resignation on Friday, and last month's overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's president for 23 years, have electrified the Arab world.

Many are left wondering which country could be next in a region where a flammable mix of authoritarian rule and popular anger are the norm.

"The timing is absolutely perfect. [Mubarak's departure] couldn't have come at a better time," Filali told Al Jazeera in the run-up to the protests.

"This is a police state, just like the Egyptian regime [was]."

Filali said Algeria's government was "corrupt to the bone, based on electoral fraud, and repression".

"There is a lot of discontent among young people ... the country is badly managed by a corrupt regime that does not want to listen".

Police on alert Said Sadi, the RCD leader, had said earlier that he expected around 10,000 more police officers to reinforce the 20,000 who blocked the last demonstration on January 22, when five people were killed and more than 800 others hurt.

Police presence is routine in Algeria to counter the threat of attacks by al-Qaeda fighters. But Filali called the heavy police presence in the capital on Saturday "unbelievable".

At May First Square, the starting point for the planned march, there were around 40 police vans, jeeps and buses lined up, Filali said.

At several road junctions, the police had parked small military-style armoured vehicles which are rarely seen in the city. Police standing outside a fuel station, about 2km from the square, were wearing anti-riot body armour.

The latest rally is being organised by the National Co-ordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD), a three-week-old umbrella group of opposition parties, civil society movements and unofficial unions inspired by the mass protests in Tunisia and Egypt.

Demonstrators have been protesting over the last few months against unemployment, high food costs, poor housing and corruption - similar issues that fuelled uprisings in other north African nations.

Earlier this month, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria's president, said he would lift emergency powers, address unemployment and allow democratic marches to take place in the country, in a bid to stave off unrest.

"The regime is frightened," Filali said. "And the presence of 30,000 police officers in the capital gives you an idea of how frightened the regime [is] of its people." Wider implications

Widespread unrest in Algeria could have implications for the world economy because it is a major oil and gas exporter, but many analysts say an Egypt-style revolt is unlikely as the government can use its energy wealth to placate most grievances.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Amnesty International, the London-based rights group, said "Algerians must be allowed to express themselves freely and hold peaceful protests in Algiers and elsewhere".

"We urge the Algerian authorities not to respond to these demands by using excessive force".

The government said it refused permission for the rally for public order reasons, not because it is trying to stifle dissent. It said it is working hard to create jobs, build new homes and improve public services.

Other Arab countries have also felt the ripples from the revolts in Egypt and Tunisia.

Jordan's King Abdullah replaced his prime minister after protests.

In Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh promised opponents he would not seek a new term as president.

The Bahraini government has also made several concessions in recent weeks, including promising higher social spending. Activists there have called for protests on February 14, the tenth anniversary of Bahrain's constitution.

Source: AlJazeera Agencies

A silent military coup behind Hosni Mubarak's exit

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi

A silent military coup behind Hosni Mubarak's exit
Associated Press
Cairo, February 12, 2011First Published: 13:07 IST(12/2/2011)

It was the people who forced President Hosni Mubarak from power, but it is the generals who are in charge now. Egypt's 18-day uprising produced a military coup that crept into being over many days - its seeds planted early in the crisis by Mubarak himself. The telltale signs of a coup in the making began to surface soon after Mubarak ordered the army out on the streets to restore order after days of deadly clashes between protesters and security forces in Cairo and much of the rest of the Arab nation. "This is in fact the military taking over power," said political analyst Diaa Rashwan after Mubarak stepped down and left the reins of power to the armed forces. "It is direct involvement by the military in authority and to make Mubarak look like he has given up power."

Army troops backed by tanks and armored fighting vehicles were given a hero's welcome by the protesters angry over brutal treatment by the police. The goodwill was reciprocated when the military vowed not to use force against protesters, a move that set them apart from the much-hated police who operated with near impunity under Mubarak. The generals adopted a go-slow approach, offering Egyptians carefully weighed hints that it was calling the shots. They issued statements describing the protesters' demands as "legitimate" and made halfhearted calls on the demonstrators to go home and allow normal life to resume.

Rather than quit the protests, the demonstrators turned out in ever greater numbers. Mubarak offered one concession after another, but they all fell short of the protesters' demands that he immediately leave.

The military was clearly torn between its loyalty to the regime and the millions of protesters. Mubarak is one of their own, a former air force commander and a hero of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. But as the president continued to defy the growing crowds and cling to power, the Egyptian army moved more definitively toward seizing control for the first time in some 60 years. Thursday brought the surprise announcement that the armed forces' highest executive body, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, was in "permanent session" - meaning that it was on a war footing. State TV showed defense minister Hussein Tantawi presiding over a table seating some two dozen stern faced generals in combat fatigues - but no sign of commander in chief Mubarak. His newly appointed vice president, former army general and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, was not there either - indicating a rift between the civilian and military leadership.

A statement, tellingly referred to as "communique number 1" - phrasing that in the Arab world suggests a coup - made no mention of Mubarak or Suleiman.

The council, it said, met to "discuss what measures and arrangements could be taken to safeguard the homeland and its achievements and the aspirations of the great Egyptian people." Translation: The generals are in charge, not Mubarak, not Suleiman nor the Cabinet.

The communique set the stage for what the crowds of demonstrators expected would be Mubarak's resignation on Thursday night. Instead, Mubarak announced he would stay in office and hand over power to Suleiman, who told protesters to go home and stop watching foreign news reports.

The protesters were furious - and so were the generals. "Both of last night's addresses by Mubarak and Suleiman were in defiance of the armed forces," Maj Gen Safwat el-Zayat, a former senior official of Egypt's General Intelligence, told al-Ahram Online, the Internet edition of Egypt's leading daily, on Friday. Protest leaders pleaded for the military to take over after Mubarak's speech, saying the country would explode until the army intervened.

If Mubarak had stepped down, handing Suleiman his presidential powers in line with the constitution would have kept his regime largely intact after he had gone, something that would have left the protesters unhappy.

In contrast, a military coup would provide a clean break with a regime they hated for so long, opening up a wide range of possibilities - suspending the constitution that many protesters saw as tailored to keep Mubarak in office and dissolving a parliament formed by an election marred by widespread fraud. A coup seemed to be the best way forward.

The first official word the protesters received from the generals on Friday, however, was discouraging.

A second military communique contained what appeared to be a reluctant endorsement of Mubarak's blueprint for a way out of the crisis, though it also projected the military as the ultimate guarantor of the country's highest interests. El-Zayat said the language in the statement was an attempt to avoid an open conflict. Later on Friday, with millions out on the streets demanding that he step down, Mubarak finally did just that. He may have been denied the chance to announce his own departure - say goodbye to the people he had ruled for nearly 30 years. Suleiman announced the decision for him.

Alternatively, he may have not wanted to go on television to say he was stepping down after less than 24 hours after insisting to serve out the remaining seven months of his current term. It was a humiliating end.

Keeping up appearances, The military later issued a third military statement praising Mubarak as a leader who has done much to his country. It hinted that the military would not be in power for long, saying the armed forces were not a substitute for a legitimate administration. But it gave no clue as to what its plans are. "The truth is that even the senior military now at the top of the power structure under Mubarak almost certainly have no clear idea of what happens next," Anthony Cordesman of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a commentary on Thursday. "It will be days before anyone know how well the transition will function, who goes and who stays, and how stable the result really is."

(Source: The Hidustan Times Sat,12 Feb 2011 World)