PFLP representative speaking at éirígí-organised events

Comrade Wesam al-Khatib is addressing a series of meetings in Ireland, organized by the socialist republican party, éirígí, which held its annual conference or Ard Fheis in Dublin on November 16. al-Khatib greeted the party on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, expressing mutual solidarity in their common struggles against colonialism and for national and social liberation.

al-Khatib was to have accompanied Comrade Leila Khaled, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP, to Ireland. Comrade Khaled’s visa was repeatedly delayed by the Irish government until she could not attend the events. “Ms Khaled’s visa application has been subjected to unexplained and inordinate delays. Those delays were clearly aimed at preventing her from traveling to Ireland to speak about the Palestinian situation. Ms Khaled was due to have attended an event in Dublin City Hall on Monday and several other engagements. Mr Al-Khatib will now speak on her behalf,” said the general secretary of éirígí, Breandán Mac Cionnaith.

Comrade al-Khatib will speak at Dublin’s City Hall on Monday, November 18 and at Chrissy D’s on November 19 in a public meeting. He will discuss the Palestinian struggle for national liberation and return and the struggle to free Palestinian political prisoners, connecting with the long Irish history – and present reality – of republican political prisoners jailed in the struggle for national and social liberation.