The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) extends its deep sympathies to the leadership and members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) on the death of Comrade Ahmad Zaki Abd al-Aal (Khaled Atta), who dedicated more than half a century of his life to the revolutionary struggle of the Palestinian people for national liberation.

We extend our condolences to his relatives, friends, comrades, and the Palestinian people who honor his memory following his passing on December 19 due to a brief illness.

Comrade Ahmad dedicated more than five decades to the Palestinian national struggle through the DFLP. Since its founding in February 1969, he held numerous leadership roles, most recently serving as a member of the DFLP Political Bureau.

Born in 1943 in Beersheba, Palestine, Comrade Ahmad came from a working-class family. He and his family took refuge in the Gaza Strip where he became engaged in the national struggle from an early age. He moved to Cairo in Egypt to pursue his university studies and was later forced to move to Libya and then to Algeria. In these countries, he took an active part in establishing cells of the DFLP and strengthening Palestinian unity.

In 1978, he joined the DFLP leadership based in Lebanon, contributing his expertise as an economist. Alongside comrades in Lebanon, he fought in the battles to defend the Revolution, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the refugee camps. He participated in confronting the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, alongside his comrades and brothers in the Palestinian Revolution and the Lebanese National Movement.

After his work in Lebanon, he moved to the Syrian capital of Damascus where he undertook numerous responsibilities and would later become part of the DFLP’s Political Bureau. He served for many years on the Palestinian National Council and the Central Council.

The life and deeds of Comrade Ahmad will forever live in the collective memory of the Palestinian people. We are certain that his heroism will continue to inspire the DFLP and the entire Palestinian resistance movement in the long march towards freedom and self-determination.

The broad masses of the Filipino people firmly support the Palestinian people’s resistance movement and their struggle for national liberation against the US-supported Zionist state of Israel. The Filipino people stands in solidarity with all peace- and freedom-loving peoples around the world in calling for an end to the Zionist Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people, and for all the criminals to be held accountable and punished.

Like the Palestinian people, the Filipino people have been waging a revolutionary struggle for genuine freedom from semicolonialism for close to century. Although hundreds of miles apart, the Filipino and Palestinian people are marching alongside each other in fighting the epic struggle against imperialism, fascism and all forms of oppression. We will celebrate each other’s victories!