JAILED Lebanese communist George Abdallah called for unified resistance to the Israeli occupation and support for Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmed Saadat on Saturday.

He slammed the “deal of shame” between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Authority which led to the imprisonment of Mr Saadat in 2003 and demanded his immediate release.

Speaking from his prison cell in France, where he is the longest held political prisoner in Europe, Mr Abdallah said international solidarity has a crucial role in freeing Mr Saadat.

“Undoubtedly, the task of liberating the prisoners of the Palestinian revolution remains more than ever the gateway to building a comprehensive Arab resistance front to confront the crisis-ridden bourgeois regimes and imperialist propaganda,” he said.

He praised “our steadfast and heroic prisoners, at the forefront of which is our comrade and leader Ahmad Saadat, general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”

A week of action has been called pressing for the release of Mr Saadat who was himself jailed following an alleged conspiracy between Israeli, Palestinian, British and US authorities.

They are accused of luring him to the late Yasser Arafat’s former compound in Ramallah on false pretences in 2003. 

Mr Saadat was transferred to Jericho prison, a complex run by British and American forces following what has been described as “a mock trial.”

But they fled in 2006 allowing the jail to be stormed by Israeli security services in Operation Bringing Home the Goods. 

They kidnapped Mr Saadat who was then sentenced to 30 years in prison by an Israeli military court on trumped-up charges.

The mission was carried out days before the Hamas government-elect which had agreed to release him took office.

Mr Abdallah was arrested in France in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison three years later for the murder of US military official Lieutenant Colonel Charles L Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barismantov.

He releases regular statements in support of Mr Saadat and other Palestinian political prisoners and called for support for the week of action for the PFLP leader.

The Lebanese militant slammed the Palestinian Authority for “the treacherous negotiations [with Israel], their “security co-ordination,” and the betrayal of the “resistance fighters and the righteous martyrs.”

This “normalisation” of Israel had led to the arrest of Mr Saadat and the widespread oppression of the Palestinian people, he said.

Actions are taking place across the world from January 15-22 for the freedom of Mr Saadat and all Palestinian prisoners.