At the
outset, I extend my congratulations to you, Sir, on your
assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly
for this session. I wish you every success.
Today, on behalf of the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian people, I
extend my sincere congratulations to the Government
and the people of South Sudan on their deserved
admission as a full Member of the United Nations. We
wish them progress and prosperity.
I also congratulate the Secretary-General,
Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on his election for a new term at the
helm of the United Nations. This renewal of trust
reflects the world’s appreciation for his efforts, which
have strengthened the role of the Organization.
The question of Palestine is intricately linked
with the United Nations through the resolutions
adopted by its various organs and agencies and through
the essential and lauded role of the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the
Near East (UNRWA). UNRWA embodies the
international responsibility with regard to the plight of
Palestine’s refugees, who are the victims of Al-Nakba,
the catastrophe that occurred in 1948.
We aspire to and seek a greater and more
effective role for the United Nations in working to
achieve a just and comprehensive peace in our region,
one that ensures the inalienable, legitimate national
rights of the Palestinian people as defined by the
resolutions of international legitimacy and as embodied
by the United Nations.
A year ago, on this same occasion and in this
same Hall, many leaders and heads of delegations
addressed the stalled peace efforts in our region.
Everyone had high hopes for a new round of final
status negotiations, which had begun in early
September in Washington under the direct auspices of
President Obama and with participation of the Quartet,
Egypt and Jordan, to reach a peace agreement within
one year. We entered those negotiations with open
hearts and attentive ears and sincere intentions. We
were ready with our documents, files, papers and
proposals. But the negotiations broke down just weeks
after they were launched.
After that, we did not give up and did not cease
our efforts to craft initiatives and make contacts. Over
the past year, we did not leave a door to be knocked on
or a channel to be tested or a path to be taken. We did
not ignore any formal or informal party of influence
and stature that could be addressed. We considered
positively the various ideas and proposals and
initiatives presented by many countries and parties. But
all of those sincere efforts and endeavours by
international parties were repeatedly smashed against
the rocks of the positions of the Israeli Government,
which quickly dashed the hopes raised by the launch of
negotiations last September.
The core issue here is that the Israeli Government
refuses to commit to terms of reference for the
negotiations that are based on international law and
United Nations resolutions, and that it frantically
continues to intensify the building of settlements on the
territory of the future State of Palestine.
Settlement activities embody the core of the
policy of colonial military occupation of the land of the
Palestinian people and all of the brutality, aggression
and racial discrimination against our people that that
policy entails. The policy constitutes a breach of
international humanitarian law and United Nations
11-51185 26
resolutions. It is the primary cause of the failure of the
peace process, the collapse of dozens of opportunities
and the burial of the great hopes that arose from the
signing of the Declaration of Principles in 1993
between the Palestine Liberation Organization and
Israel to achieve a just peace that would begin a new
era for our region.
Reports by United Nations missions and by
several Israeli civil institutions and societies convey a
horrific picture of the size of the settlement campaign,
which the Israeli Government does not hesitate to boast
about and which it continues to execute through the
systematic confiscation of Palestinian lands. It invites
tenders for the construction of thousands of new
settlement units in various areas of the West Bank,
particularly in the Arab parts of Jerusalem. It
accelerates construction of the apartheid separation
Wall that is eating up large tracts of our land, dividing
it into separate and isolated islands, destroying family
life and communities and harming the livelihoods of
tens of thousands of Palestinian families.
The occupying Power also continues to refuse to
issue permits for our people to build in occupied East
Jerusalem. At the same time, it intensifies its decades-
long campaign of demolition and confiscation of
homes, displacing Palestinian owners and residents
under a multipronged policy of ethnic cleansing aimed
at pushing Palestinians away from their ancestral
homeland. Moreover, matters have reached the point
where orders have been issued to deport elected
representatives from their city of Jerusalem.
The occupying Power also continues to undertake
excavations that threaten our Holy Places, and its
military checkpoints prevent our citizens from gaining
access to their mosques and churches. It continues to
besiege the Holy City with a ring of settlements and a
separation Wall imposed to separate the Holy City from
the rest of the cities of Palestine. The occupation is
racing against time to redraw the borders on our land
according to what it wants and to impose a fait
accompli on the ground that changes its realities and
features and that is undermining the realistic potential
for the establishment of the State of Palestine.
At the same time, the occupying Power continues
to impose its strict blockade on the Gaza Strip and to
target Palestinian civilians by assassinations, air strikes
and artillery shelling. It persists with its war of
aggression of three years ago on Gaza, which resulted
then in the massive destruction of homes, schools,
hospitals and mosques and thousands of martyrs and
wounded. The occupying Power also continues its
incursions into areas of the Palestinian National
Authority through raids, arrests and killings at the
checkpoints.
In recent years, the criminal actions of armed
settler militias, who enjoy the special protection of the
occupation army, have intensified. They have
perpetrated frequent attacks against our people,
targeting their homes, schools, universities, mosques,
fields, crops and trees. Today they killed one
Palestinian who was protesting peacefully. Despite our
repeated warnings, the Israeli authorities have not
acted to curb those attacks, and we hold them fully
responsible for the crimes of the settlers.
Those are just a few examples of the policy of the
Israeli settlement occupation. That policy is
responsible for the repeated failure of the successive
international attempts to salvage the peace process.
The policy will destroy the chances of achieving a two-
State solution, upon which there is an international
consensus. Here I caution, and I caution aloud, that the
settlement policy threatens also to undermine the
structure of the Palestinian National Authority and
even to end its existence.
In addition, we now face new conditions not
previously imposed, conditions that will transform the
raging conflict in our inflamed region into a religious
conflict, one that will be a threat to the future of a
million and a half Palestinians who are citizens of
Israel. We reject that eventuality; it is impossible for us
to accept being dragged into it.
All of those unilateral Israeli actions in our
country are aimed at perpetuating the occupation.
Israel has re-established the civil and military authority
in the West Bank by a unilateral action, and its military
authorities determine whether or not a Palestinian
citizen has the right to reside in any part of the
Palestinian territory. Israel is the entity that decides to
confiscate our land and our water and to obstruct our
movement and the movement of goods, and indeed our
whole destiny. All of that is unilateral. Yet Israel
complains of unilateralism — despite our agreements
with it, which forbid unilateral individual actions.
In 1974, our leader the late Yasser Arafat came to
this Hall and assured the members of the General
Assembly of our affirmative pursuit for peace, urging
27 11-51185
the United Nations to realize the inalienable national
rights of the Palestinian people, stating: “Do not let the
olive branch fall from my hand.” (A/PV.2282, para. 82)
In 1988, President Arafat again addressed the
General Assembly, which convened in Geneva to hear
him. There he submitted the Palestinian peace
programme adopted by the Palestine National Council
at its session held that year in Algeria. When we
adopted that programme, we were taking a painful and
very difficult step for all of us, especially those of us,
including myself, who during the 1948 Al-Nakba were
forced to leave their homes and their towns and
villages, carrying only some of our belongings —
along with our grief and our memories and the keys to
our homes — to camps of exile and diaspora. That
catastrophic exodus was one of the worst operations of
uprooting, destruction and removal of a vibrant and
cohesive society that had been contributing in a
pioneering and leading way to the cultural, educational
and economic renaissance of the Arab Middle East.
Still, because we believe in peace, because of our
commitment to international legitimacy and because
we had the courage to make difficult decisions for our
people, and in the absence of absolute justice, we
decided to adopt the path of relative justice, justice that
is possible and could correct part of the grave historical
injustice committed against our people. Thus, we
agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22 per
cent of the territory of historical Palestine — on all the
Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967. By
taking that historic step, which was welcomed by the
States of the world, we made a major concession in
order to achieve a historic compromise that would
allow peace to be made in the land of peace.
In the years that followed, from the Madrid
Conference and the Washington negotiations leading to
the Oslo agreement, which we signed 18 years ago in
the White House garden and which was linked with the
letters of mutual recognition — mutual recognition —
between the PLO and Israel, we persevered and dealt
positively and responsibly with all efforts aimed at the
achievement of a lasting peace agreement. Yet, as we
said earlier, every initiative, every conference, every
new round of negotiations and every movement was
shattered on the rock of the Israeli settlement
expansion project.
On behalf of the Palestine Liberation
Organization — the sole legitimate representative of
the Palestinian people, which will remain so until the
end of the conflict in all its aspects and until the
resolution of all final status issues — I affirm the
following points.
The goal of the Palestinian people is the
realization of their inalienable national rights and of
their independent State of Palestine, with East
Jerusalem as its capital, on all the land of the West
Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip,
which Israel occupied in the June 1967 war. This goal
must be realized in conformity with the resolutions of
international legitimacy and with the achievement of a
just and agreed-upon solution to the Palestine refugee
issue in accordance with General Assembly resolution
194 (III), as stipulated in the Arab Peace Initiative.
That Initiative presented the consensus Arab and
Islamic vision to resolve the core of the Arab-Israeli
conflict and to achieve the just and comprehensive
peace to which we are committed and are working
towards.
We are committed to this. Achieving this much-
desired peace also requires the release of political
prisoners, prisoners of freedom and Palestinian
detainees in Israeli prisons without delay.
Secondly, the PLO and the Palestinian people are
committed to renouncing violence and reject and
condemn terrorism in all its forms, especially State
terrorism, including terrorism by settlers. We also
adhere to all agreements signed between the PLO and
Israel.
Thirdly, we are committed to the option of
negotiating a lasting solution to the conflict in
accordance with the resolutions of international
legitimacy. I affirm here that the Palestine Liberation
Organization is ready to return immediately to the
negotiating table on the basis of the adopted terms of
reference and consistent with international legitimacy
and a complete cessation of settlement activities.
Fourthly, our people will continue their popular
peaceful resistance to the Israeli occupation, its
settlement and apartheid policies, and its construction
of the racist separation Wall, and they receive support
for their resistance that is consistent with international
humanitarian law and international conventions. They
have the support of peace activists from Israel and
around the world, reflecting an impressive, inspiring
and courageous example of the strength of this
defenceless people, armed only with their dreams,
11-51185 28
courage, hope and slogans in the face of bullets, tanks,
tear gas and bulldozers.
Fifthly, when we bring our plight and our case to
this international forum, it is a confirmation of our
reliance on the political and diplomatic option and is a
confirmation of the fact that we do not undertake
unilateral steps. Our efforts and moves are not aimed at
isolating Israel or at delegitimizing it; rather, we want
to gain legitimacy for the cause of the people of
Palestine. We aim to delegitimize only the settlement
activities, the occupation and apartheid and the logic of
ruthless force, and we believe that all the countries of
the world stand with us in this regard.
I am here to say on behalf of the Palestinian
people and the Palestine Liberation Organization that
we extend our hand to the Israeli Government and the
Israeli people for peacemaking. I say to them: let us
urgently build together a future for our children where
they can enjoy freedom, security and prosperity. Let us
build bridges of dialogue instead of checkpoints and
walls of separation. Let us build cooperative relations
based on parity, equity and friendship between two
neighbouring States — Palestine and Israel — instead
of policies based on occupation, settlement, war and
elimination of the other.
Despite the unquestionable right of our people to
self-determination and to the establishment of an
independent State, as stipulated in international
resolutions, we have accepted over the past few years
to engage in what appeared to be a test of our
worthiness, entitlement and eligibility. During the past
two years, our national Authority has implemented a
programme to build our State institutions. Despite the
extraordinary situation and the obstacles imposed on us
by Israel, a serious and extensive project was launched
that has included the implementation of plans to
enhance and advance the judiciary and the apparatus
for the maintenance of order and security; the
development of administrative, financial and oversight
systems; the upgrading of the performance of
institutions; and enhancing self-reliance to reduce the
need for foreign aid.
With the support of brotherly Arab countries and
donors from friendly countries, for which we are
thankful, a number of large infrastructure projects have
been implemented, focused on various aspects of
services, with special attention to rural and
marginalized areas. In the midst of this massive
national project, we have been strengthening what we
wish to be the features of our future State: the
preservation of security for citizens and public order;
the promotion of judicial authority and the rule of law;
strengthening the role of women via legislation, laws
and participation; ensuring the protection of public
freedoms and strengthening the role of civil society
institutions; and institutionalizing rules and regulations
for ensuring accountability and transparency in the
work of our ministries and departments; to entrenching
the pillars of democracy as the basis of Palestinian
political life.
When division struck the unity of our homeland,
our people and our institutions, we were determined to
adopt dialogue as a path to the restoration of our unity.
We succeeded months ago in achieving national
reconciliation, and we hope that its implementation
will be accelerated in the coming weeks. The core
pillar of this reconciliation involved turning to the
people through legislative and presidential elections, to
be conducted within a year, because the State we want
is one characterized by the rule of law, the exercise of
democracy, the protection of the freedoms and equality
of all citizens without any discrimination, and the
transfer of power through the ballot box.
We believe that the reports issued recently by the
United Nations, the World Bank, the Ad Hoc Liaison
Committee for the Coordination of International
Assistance to Palestinians (AHLC) and the
International Monetary Fund have confirmed and
lauded what has been accomplished, and have
considered it an exceptional and unprecedented model.
The consensus conclusion of the AHLC a few days ago
here, in this very city, described what has been
accomplished as a remarkable international success
story and confirmed the full readiness of the
Palestinian people and their institutions for the
immediate independence of the State of Palestine. That
was a testimonial from the international community.
I do not believe that anyone with even a shred of
conscience could reject our application for full
membership in the United Nations and our admission
as an independent State.
It is no longer possible to redress the issue of the
blocked horizon of the peace talks with the same
means and methods that have been repeatedly tried and
have proved unsuccessful in past years.
29 11-51185
The crisis is far too deep to be neglected; it is far
more dangerous and critical to simply be circumvented
or to postpone its inevitable explosion. It is neither
possible, nor practical nor acceptable to return to
conducting business as usual, as if everything were
fine. It is futile to go into negotiations without clear
parameters, terms of reference, credibility or a specific
timetable. Negotiations will be meaningless as long as
the occupation army on the ground continues to
entrench its occupation instead of rolling it back, and
to change the demography of our country in order to
create a new basis on which to alter the borders. That is
totally unacceptable.
This is the moment of truth. Our people are
waiting to hear the world’s answer. Will it allow Israel
to continue the last occupation in the world? We are the
last people to remain under occupation. Will the world
allow Israel to occupy us forever and to remain a State
above the law and accountability? Will it allow Israel
to continue rejecting the resolutions of the Security
Council and the General Assembly and the
International Court of Justice and the positions of the
overwhelming majority of countries in the world? Is
this acceptable?
The heart of the crisis in our region is very simple
and clear. There are those who believe that we are an
unnecessary people in the Middle East and those who
believe that there is in fact a missing State that needs to
be established immediately. I come before the General
Assembly today from the Holy Land, the land of
Palestine, the land of divine messages, ascension of the
Prophet Muhammad and the birthplace of Jesus Christ,
to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people, in the
homeland and in the diaspora, and to say, after 63 years
of suffering the ongoing Al-Nakba: enough, enough,
enough.
It is time for the Palestinian people to gain their
freedom and independence. The time has come to end
the suffering and the plight of millions of Palestinian
refugees in the homeland and the diaspora, some of
whom have been forced to seek refuge more than once
in different places of the world, to end their
displacement, and to realize their rights.
At a time when the Arab peoples affirm their
quest for democracy — in what is now called the Arab
Spring — the time has also come for the Palestinian
Spring, the time for independence. The time has come
for our men, women and children to live normal lives;
for them to be able to sleep without waiting for the
worst that the next day might bring; for mothers to be
assured that their children will return home without
fear of being killed, arrested or humiliated; for students
to be able to go to their schools and universities
without checkpoints obstructing them.
The time has come for sick people to be able to
reach hospitals normally, and for our farmers to be able
to tend their rich soil without fear that the occupier will
seize their land and water, which the separation wall
prevents access to, and without fear of the settlers with
their guard dogs who attack Palestinians. They build
their settlements on our lands and uproot and burn
olive trees that have existed in Palestine for hundreds
of years. The time has come for the thousands of
prisoners of conscience and freedom to be released
from prisons and return to their families and their
children and become a part of building their homeland,
for the freedom of which they have sacrificed so much.
My people want to exercise their right to enjoy a
normal life like the rest of humankind. They believe in
what our great poet Mahmoud Darwish said: “Standing
here, staying here, permanent here, eternal here, and
we have one goal, one goal, one goal - to be. And we
shall be.”
We profoundly appreciate and value the positions
of all the States that have supported our struggle and
our rights and recognized the State of Palestine
following the Declaration of Independence in 1988, as
well as those that have recently recognized the State of
Palestine and upgraded the level of Palestine’s
representation in their capitals. I also salute Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon, who spoke the truth a few days
ago when he said that the Palestinian State should have
been established years ago.
The General Assembly may rest assured that such
support for our people is more valuable to them than
anyone can imagine, for it makes them feel that
someone is listening to their narrative and that their
tragedy, the horrors of Al-Nakba and the occupation,
under which they have suffered terribly, are not being
ignored. It reinforces their hope and belief that justice
is possible in this world. The loss of hope is the most
ferocious enemy of peace, and despair is the strongest
ally of extremism.
The time has come for my courageous and proud
people, after decades of displacement, colonial
occupation and ceaseless suffering, to live like other
11-51185 30
peoples of the Earth, free in a sovereign and
independent homeland.
Mr. President, I would like to inform you that,
before delivering this statement, I, in my capacity as
President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the
Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation
Organization, submitted to Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon an application for the admission of Palestine
as a full Member of the United Nations on the basis of
the 4 June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its
capital.
I hold in my hands a copy of the application. I
call upon the Secretary-General to expedite transmittal
of our request to the Security Council, and I call upon
the members of the Council to vote in favour of our
full membership. I also appeal to the States that have
not yet done so to recognize the State of Palestine.
The support of the countries of the world for our
endeavour is a victory for rights, freedom, justice, law
and international legitimacy. It will provide
tremendous support for the peace option and enhance
the negotiations’ chances of success. The Assembly’s
assistance and support for the establishment of the
State of Palestine and for its admission to the United
Nations as a full Member State are the greatest
contribution to peacemaking in the land of peace, and
throughout the world.
I have come here today carrying a message from
a courageous and proud people. Palestine is
experiencing its rebirth. That is my message. May all
the people of the world stand with the people of
Palestine now as they march steadfastly to meet their
appointment with history, freedom and independence.
And I hope that we will not have long to wait.