In this year
2014, proclaimed by the General Assembly as the
International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian
People, Israel has chosen to make it the year of a new
war of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian
people. It is the year in which the Assembly, on behalf
of the countries and peoples of the world, conveyed
the world’s yearning and determination to make a just
peace that would achieve freedom and independence
for the Palestinian people in their State of Palestine
alongside Israel. The occupying Power has chosen to
defy the entire world by launching its war on Gaza, in
which its jets and tanks brutally destroyed lives and
devastated the homes, schools and dreams of thousands
of Palestinian children, women and men and, in reality,
destroying any remaining hopes for peace.
I addressed the Assembly on similar days in 2012
(see A/67/PV.12), when I cautioned that the colonial
occupying Power was preparing a new Nakba against
the Palestinian people. I appealed to the Assembly then
to prevent a new Nakba and to support the establishment
of a free and independent State of Palestine. I returned
to the Assembly Hall two months later (see A/67/PV.44)
as Palestine was healing its wounds and its people were
burying their beloved martyred children, women and
men after yet another war waged then against the Gaza
Strip. On that day, I stated that there was certainly
not a single person in the world who needed the loss
of the lives of thousands of Palestinian children in
order to confirm that Israel insisted on occupation. The
international community also did not need thousands
of deadly raids and tons of explosives to remind it that
there was an occupation that must end and a people who
must be freed.
Again today, we find ourselves full of grief and
bitterness, raising the same long-standing conclusions
and questions after a new war, the third in five years,
waged by that racist occupying State against Gaza,
a small, densely populated and precious part of our
country. The difference today is that the scale of
that genocidal crime is larger. The list of martyrs,
especially children, has grown, as hs the number of
the wounded, the disabled and the dozens of families
who have been completely decimated. The difference
today is that approximately half a million people have
been displaced from their homes. An unprecedented
number of homes, schools, hospitals, public buildings,
residential buildings, mosques, factories and cemeteries
have been destroyed — the Israelis pursued their
vengeance against our young even into the cemeteries.
The difference today is that the devastation caused by
that recent aggression is unmatched in modern times,
as confirmed by a witness, the Commissioner-General
of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
The latest war against Gaza constituted a series
of absolute war crimes, carried out before the eyes
and ears of the entire world, moment by moment. It
is inconceivable that anyone today could claim not to
grasp the magnitude and horror of the crimes. No one
can support Israel’s right to self-defence without regard
for the fate of the thousands of victims of our people.
No one can ignore the simple fact, upon which we
insist, that the life of a Palestinian is as precious as the
life of any other human being. Ignoring the facts on the
ground cannot erase such facts. We must also assume
that no one can continue to wonder why extremism is
rising and why the culture of peace is losing ground
and receding, while efforts to achieve it are collapsing.
And yet we continue to believe and hope that this time
no one will try to help out the occupation by supporting
its impunity and its attempts to evade accountability
for its crimes.
Here, today, in the name of Palestine, I affirm that
we will not forget or forgive, and we will not allow war
criminals to escape punishment. Before the Assembly,
I affirm that the Palestinian people will hold fast to
their legitimate right to defend themselves against the
Israeli war machine and to resist Israel’s colonial, racist
occupation. At the same time, I want to affirm that not
for one moment will our grief, trauma and anger make
us abandon our humanity, our values and our ethics. We
will always maintain our respect for and commitment
to international law, international humanitarian law
and the international consensus. We will maintain the
traditions of our national struggle established by the
Palestinian martyrs, to which we have been committed
since the start of the Palestinian revolution in early
1965.
In the midst of a torrent of massacres and the
turmoil of vast destruction, we saw the peoples of the
world gather in huge demonstrations on the streets of
many cities to announce their condemnation of Israel’s
aggression and occupation and their support of freedom
for Palestine. We also saw how an overwhelming
majority of countries around the world declared
themselves for the same noble position and rushed to
give our people all kinds of support and assistance.
And we saw a qualitative and quantitative expansion in
the activities of the international grassroots boycotting
campaign against Israel’s policies of occupation,
apartheid and colonial settlement, especially among
academic, cultural, student and youth groups. In the
name of Palestine, we pay tribute to all who chose
to stand with human values and demanded freedom,
justice and peace. All of those manifestations of true
solidarity constituted an important message to those
who faced genocide in Gaza, helping them to feel that
they were not alone.
The recent war confirmed on the ground the
essence of what the Israeli Government had been saying
behind closed doors in negotiations. It came after long,
difficult negotiations held over more than eight months
under the auspices of the United States and through the
efforts of President Barack Obama and his tenacious
Secretary of State, John Kerry. We engaged in that
endeavour and with the American Administration’s
efforts with open minds and in good faith and a positive
spirit. We laid out firm positions based on resolutions
of international legitimacy. We genuinely respected
all our commitments and understandings. Even as we
watched the ongoing and escalating Israeli violations,
we exercised incredible self-restraint, silencing our
cries and tending to our own wounds in order to give the
American efforts the best possible chance for success.
However, as usual, the Israeli Government missed
no opportunity to undermine the chances for peace.
Throughout the months of negotiations, settlement
construction, land confiscation, home demolition,
killing and arrest campaigns and large-scale forced
displacement in the West Bank continued unabated. The
unjust blockade of the Gaza Strip was tightened. The
occupation’s campaign specifically targeted the city of
Jerusalem and its inhabitants, attempting to artificially
alter the spirit, identity and character of the Holy City
and focusing on Al-Aqsa Mosque while threatening
grave consequences. At the same time, armed gangs
of racist settlers persisted in their crimes against the
Palestinian people and their land, mosques, churches,
property and olive trees.
Again as usual, the Israeli Government failed
the test of peace. It breached an agreement with the
United States Administration regarding the release
from the occupation jails of a number of Palestinian
prisoners, who we continue to insist should all be
released. When confronted with simple questions
during the direct negotiations or through the United
States mediator, Israel had no hesitation in revealing
its true positions. It refuses to end the occupation of
the State of Palestine that began in 1967; rather it seeks
to continue and entrench it, rejecting the Palestinian
State and refusing to reach a just solution to the plight
of the Palestine refugees. That is the Government of
Israel’s official position. At best, the future it proposes
for the Palestinian people consists of isolated ghettos
for Palestinians on fragmented lands, without borders
or sovereignty over its air space, water and natural
resources, under the subjugation and control of the
racist settlers and the army of occupation; at worst, it
is a totally abhorrent form of apartheid. Some of the
Israelis say they are for two States. Where is the State
of Palestine? This is what they intend for the State of
Palestine.
Israel confirmed during the negotiations that it
rejects making peace with its victims, the Palestinian
people. All of this has been carried out along with
an attempt to brand the conflict as a religious one
against a background of increasingly rampant racism
in Israel’s political and media discourse, as well as its
entrenchment in the school curriculum and a series
of laws and practices in favour of the occupation and
its settlers. This culture of racism, incitement and
hatred was glaringly apparent some months ago in
an appallingly despicable crime committed by fascist
settlers, who abducted Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a
young boy from Jerusalem, burned him alive and killed
him.
This brings me to another fact of history. Over the
years, the occupying Power has pursued a policy aimed
at deliberately weakening the Palestinian National
Authority in order to undermine it and make its role
irrelevant. The occupation has targeted our relentless
efforts to establish the foundations for the kind of
State of Palestine that we want — a sovereign and
independent State living in peace and building bridges
of mutual cooperation with its neighbours, respecting
its commitments, obligations and agreements and
strengthening the values of citizenship, equality,
nondiscrimination, the rule of law, human rights and
pluralism.
We want a State that deepens Palestine’s enlightened
traditions of tolerance, coexistence and non-exclusion,
strengthens the culture of peace, promotes the role
of women, establishes an effective administration
committed to the standards of good governance, and
cares for the needs and interests of its people. The
occupation struck, and continues to strike, a blow at
this effort because our quest is the antithesis of Israel’s
settlement policies, and because Israel seeks to destroy
Palestine’s chance of creating an independent State
within the framework of the two-State solution.
When our efforts to end the internal division
through national dialogue succeeded a few months ago
and we prepared to restore the unity of our land, nation
and institutions, we formed a national-consensus
Government and began a process that was to lead to
presidential and legislative elections. All countries
around the world welcomed this achievement, with
the exception of Israel, which has constantly sought to
fragment our land and our national unity.
Where do we go from here? The idea that one can
simply return to the past patterns of actions that failed
repeatedly is naive at best and, in any case, wrong.
For it ignores the fact that it is no longer acceptable or
possible to repeat methods that have proved futile, or
to continue with approaches that have repeatedly failed
and that require comprehensive review and radical
correction.
It is impossible — I repeat, impossible — to return
to the cycle of negotiations that failed to deal with
the core of the Palestinian question. There is neither
credibility nor seriousness in negotiations in which
Israel predetermines the results via its settlement
activities and the occupation’s brutality. Nor is there
meaning or value in negotiations in which the agreed
objective is not ending the Israeli occupation and
achieving the independence of the State of Palestine,
with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the entire
Palestinian territory occupied in the 1967 war. Moreover,
negotiations that are not linked to a firm timetable for
the implementation of this goal have no value. The time
has come to end this colonial occupation.
Palestine refuses to have the right to freedom of its
people, who suffer terrorism at the hands of the racist
occupying Power and its settlers and remain hostage
to Israel’s security conditions. The Palestinian people
are actually the ones who need immediate international
protection — a protection they are seeking through
international organizations. They are in need of the
security and peace that they more than any other people
are denied. And the children of Palestine are worthy
of the world’s efforts to ensure that their childhood,
dreams and lives will not once again be destroyed. It is
time for the chapters of this renewed, ongoing tragedy
to be closed.
Those who were uprooted from their warm homes,
good land and beautiful country in Al-Nakba 66 years
ago, who were pushed into the misery of exile to live
as refugees, and are now being forced into new waves
of expulsion or onto ships of death on the world’s seas,
need assurances. They need to be assured that they
will not be displaced from their homes again, that their
homes will not be destroyed again, and that they will
not spend their lives waiting for the outbreak of a new
war. Is it not time for this long tragedy to end?
We will not forever accept demands to prove our
good intentions by making concessions at the expense
of our rights, to remain silent as we are killed and our
land is stolen, and to understand the conditions of
the other party and the importance of preserving its
coalition Government, while its occupation becomes
more entrenched. We are exhausted by the additional
tests that we must undergo to prove our efficiency,
competence and eligibility to earn our natural, simple
right to live a normal life; our inherent right to expect a
stable and ordinary tomorrow and to dream about more
beautiful days; and the right of our youth to plan their
future safely with peace and freedom prevailing over
our land, like other peoples of the world. The time has
come for a genuine and ust peace to prevail in the land
of peace. As I have said more than once, we are the only
people in the world that remain under occupation.
All the Arab countries and ourselves have
constantly warned about the disastrous consequences
of the continuing Israeli colonial occupation and the
denial of freedom and independence to the Palestinian
people. We have repeatedly pointed out that allowing
Israel to act as a State above the law without being held
accountable or punished for its policies, aggression
and defiance of the international community’s will
and legality has provided fertile ground for, and an
environment conducive to, the growth of extremism,
hatred and terrorism in our region.
Confronting the terrorism that plagues our region
by groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
and others, which have no basis whatsoever in the
tolerant Islamic religion or humanity, and whose
members are committing vile and heinous atrocities,
requires much more than military confrontation. The
matter is of the utmost urgency and requires much
more than condemnations and declarations of positions,
which are of course necessary. What is needed, first and
foremost, is a comprehensive, credible strategy to dry
up the sources of terrorism and eradicate its roots in all
political, intellectual, economic and social spheres in
our region. It requires the creation of solid foundations
for a practical consensus rendering the fight against
all forms of terrorism everywhere a collective task to
be undertaken by an alliance of peoples, nations and
civilizations. It requires, as a priority, ending the Israeli
occupation, that in its practices and perpetuation,
constitutes an abhorrent form of State terrorism and a
breeding ground for incitement, tension and hatred.
At a time when we are still suffering from the horrors
of war, we face a formidable challenge to reconstruct
what has been destroyed by occupation. This is the third
time we are attempting to rebuild after the destruction
inflicted on us by the occupation. We greatly appreciate
the fact that next month, at the invitation of the Arab
Republic of Egypt and the Kingdom of Norway, the city
of Cairo will host an international conference on relief
and reconstruction for the Gaza Strip. Our Government
will present comprehensive reports to the conference
on the losses the acts of aggression have inflicted on
various sectors of society, and it will provide details
of plans and programmes to be rapidly implemented
in the Gaza Strip, aimed at meeting immediate relief
needs and the requirements for reconstruction, in full
coordination with and under the supervision of the
relevant United Nations agencies and bodies.
Just a couple of days ago, the Palestinian faction
emphasized its support for Gaza in order to facilitate
reconstruction. While we reiterate our appreciation and
gratitude to all the countries and organizations that
hastened to help the Palestinian people both during
and after the war, we are confident that brotherly and
friendly countries will not waver in their support for
the plans and programmes we will present, and that
the conference will have practical results that can meet
the expectations and needs of the victims of this act of
aggression.
We reaffirm here that the chief prerequisite for
the success of all these plans and efforts is an end
to the despicable ongoing Israeli blockade that has
suffocated the Gaza Strip for years and turned it into
the largest prison in the world for nearly 2 million
Palestinian citizens. At the same time, we affirm our
commitment to and the importance of consolidating
the ceasefire through the negotiations being conducted
under the auspices of Egypt. However, in order to avoid
a repetition of the cycle of war and reconstruction every
two or three years, it is imperative that we focus on
the fundamental issue and starting point, which is that
Gaza’s suffering will never be completely over until
the occupation is ended and the State of Palestine’s
independence achieved.
During the past two weeks, Palestine and the Group
of Arab States have been working intensively with the
various regional groups in the United Nations to prepare
for the introduction of a draft resolution on the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict for adoption by the Security Council
and to advance efforts to achieve peace, which we still
believe can be accomplished through international
legitimacy. This endeavour reaffirms our commitment
to achieving a just peace through a negotiated solution
and a diplomatic and political effort through United
Nations bodies. It is inspired by and based fully on the
spirit and provisions of the many resolutions that have
been adopted in the General Assembly and the Security
Council, laying the foundations for a lasting solution
and a just peace. There is nothing new here. All of these
are previously adopted resolutions.
This endeavour hopes to correct the failure of
previous efforts to achieve peace by affirming the
goal of ending the Israeli occupation and achieving
a two-State solution for the State of Palestine, with
East Jerusalem as its capital, over the entire territory
occupied in 1967, alongside the State of Israel, and with a
just and agreed-on solution to the plight of the Palestine
refugees on the basis of resolution 194 (III), with a
specific time frame for implementing those objectives,
as stipulated in the Arab Peace Initiative. There must
be a time frame. That will be linked to the immediate
resumption of negotiations between Palestine and Israel
in order to demarcate the borders, reach a detailed and
comprehensive agreement on all final status issues and
then draft a comprehensive peace treaty between us and
them.
We are confident that this endeavour will enjoy the
full support of those who are committed to ensuring that
our country will not witness new wars and atrocities,
who wish to support a campaign to combat terrorism,
who believe we must act expeditiously to rectify the
historical injustice inflicted by the Nakba on the people
of Palestine, and who wish to see peace prevail in the
land of monotheistic religions. The adoption of that
draft resolution will affirm that this year the Assembly
is striving to realize the International Year of Solidarity
with the Palestinian People, who will continue to be
steadfast in their struggle and will rise brave and strong
from the rubble of destruction. As our poet Mahmoud
Darwish has said, we are infected with the incurable
disease of hope, and we love life if we are given a
chance at it.
There is an occupation that must end now. There is
a people who must be freed immediately. The hour of
independence of the State of Palestine has arrived, and
I believe you are listening for it.