The secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has called for nationwide protests against a return to negotiations.

Ahmad Saadat urged Palestinians to “break all the barriers of silence and step up to defend the national rights that are being threatened in this critical phase in the region,” in a letter received Friday from Shatta prison, where he is serving a 30-year sentence.

Saadat highlighted the importance of wide popular participation in protests to achieve unity and to start a new national phase that will adopt resistance in all its forms.

The PFLP leader was seized by Israeli forces in 2006 from a Palestinian Authority jail in Jericho for his alleged role in masterminding the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rahavam Zeevi in 2001.

US Secretary of State John Kerry announced on July 19 that Israeli and PLO leaders had agreed in principle to return to talks that have been frozen for three years.

Israeli cabinet minister Silvan Shalom said Thursday that talks could resume on Tuesday in Washington.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)