Beirut – Saba:
Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah arrived in Beirut on Friday morning to a hero’s welcome at Rafik Hariri International Airport, following more than four decades of detention in French prisons.
Speaking from the airport’s VIP lounge in his first public statement since his release, Abdallah stressed that “the steadfastness of prisoners in captivity is rooted in the steadfastness of their comrades outside,” asserting that the path of resistance remains unshakable.
“The resistance is deeply rooted in this land,” he declared. “Our resistance is not weak—it is strong,” calling on all forces to unite around it “more than ever before.”
Abdallah emphasized that “as long as resistance exists, the return to the homeland remains inevitable,” drawing a symbolic parallel between his release and the broader liberation struggle. He paid tribute to the martyrs of the resistance, describing them as “the foundation of any liberation effort.”
Addressing the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, Abdallah stated: “It is a historical shame that millions of Arabs watch the suffering of the Palestinian people—especially the children of Gaza—as they die of hunger.”
He urged the Egyptian people to take decisive action to halt the genocide and famine in Gaza, saying, “They are capable of doing so.”
In a related statement, senior Hamas official Ali Baraka congratulated the Lebanese people on the release of what he described as “the great Lebanese freedom fighter Georges Ibrahim Abdallah,” who returned home “crowned with pride and dignity” after 41 years of imprisonment in France.
Baraka hailed Abdallah’s decades-long steadfastness as a symbol of unwavering resistance and solidarity with Palestine, and as an embodiment of unity among the world’s freedom-seeking peoples.
“His principled stance reflects the centrality of the Palestinian cause in the conscience of free peoples,” Baraka said, adding that Abdallah’s release is “a historic achievement that further exposes the complicity of Western regimes with the Zionist occupation, and their blatant hostility toward all who resist oppression and hegemony.”
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, whose name is closely associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was born on April 2, 1951, in the village of Qoubaiyat in northern Lebanon’s Akkar District.
Raised during a time of Israeli aggression and civil war, Abdallah was deeply influenced by revolutionary and leftist thought during his studies at the Lebanese University, eventually joining the PFLP.
In 1984, French authorities arrested him for alleged involvement in the assassinations of American and Israeli diplomats in the 1980s. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987. Although his legal sentence ended in 1999, political pressure—particularly from the United States and Israel—prevented his release for decades.
On July 25, the Paris Court of Appeal approved his release on the condition that he leave French territory. He departed Lannemezan Prison early Friday morning.
Abdallah’s release marks a significant moment for Arab political activists and serves as a powerful reminder of the enduring relevance of resistance in the face of occupation and global complicity.
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