President Mahmoud Abbas Speech in The General Assembly of the United Nations
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
At the
outset, I wish to extend my congratulations to H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz
Al-Nasser on his assumption of the Presidency of the Assembly for this session,
and wish him all success.
I
reaffirm today my sincere congratulations, on behalf of the Palestine Liberation
Organization and the Palestinian people, to the government and people of South
Sudan for its deserved admission as a full member of the United Nations, wishing
them progress and prosperity.
I also
congratulate the Secretary-General, H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on his election for a
new term at the helm of the United Nations. This renewal of confidence reflects
the world’s appreciation for his efforts, which have strengthened the role of
the United Nations.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
The
Question of Palestine is intricately linked with the United Nations via the
resolutions adopted by its various organs and agencies and via the essential and
lauded role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
in the Near East - UNRWA - which embodies the international responsibility
towards the plight of Palestine refugees, who are the victims of Al-Nakba
(Catastrophe) that occurred in 1948. We aspire for and seek a greater and more
effective role for the United Nations in working to achieve a just and
comprehensive peace in our region that ensures the inalienable, legitimate
national rights of the Palestinian people as defined by the resolutions of
international legitimacy of the United Nations.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
A year
ago, at this same time, distinguished leaders in this hall 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 Barack Obama and with participation of the Quartet,
and with Egyptian and Jordanian participation, to reach a peace agreement within
one year. We entered those negotiations with open hearts, attentive ears and
sincere intentions, and we were ready with our documents, papers and proposals.
But the negotiations broke down just weeks after their launch.
After
this, we did not give up and did not cease our efforts for initiatives and
contacts. Over the past year we did not leave a door to be knocked or channel to
be tested or path to be taken and we did not ignore any formal or informal party
of influence and stature to be addressed. We positively considered the various
ideas and proposals and initiatives presented from many countries and parties.
But all of these sincere efforts and endeavors undertaken by international
parties were repeatedly wrecked by 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 building of
settlements on the territory of the 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 of aggression and racial
discrimination against our people that this policy entails. This policy, which
constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law and United Nations
resolutions, is the primary cause for 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.
The
reports of United Nations missions as well as by several Israeli institutions
and civil societies convey a horrific picture about 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 the
Palestinian lands and the construction of thousands of new settlement units in
various areas of the West Bank, particularly in East Jerusalem, and accelerated
construction of the annexation Wall that is eating up large tracts of our land,
dividing it into separate and isolated islands and cantons, destroying family
life and communities and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families. The
occupying Power also continues to refuse permits for our people to build in
Occupied East Jerusalem, at the same time that it intensifies its decades-long
campaign of demolition and confiscation of homes, displacing Palestinian owners
and residents under a multi-pronged policy of ethnic cleansing aimed at pushing
them away from their ancestral homeland. In addition, orders have been issued to
deport elected representatives from the city of Jerusalem. The occupying Power
also continues to undertake excavations that threaten our holy places, and its
military checkpoints prevent our citizens from getting access to their mosques
and churches, and it continues to besiege the Holy City with a ring of
settlements imposed to separate the Holy City from the rest of the Palestinian
cities.
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 the
realities and that is undermining the realistic potential for the existence of
the State of Palestine.
At the
same time, the occupying Power continues to impose its blockade on the Gaza
Strip and to target Palestinian civilians by assassinations, air strikes and
artillery shelling, persisting with its war of aggression of three years ago on
Gaza, which resulted in massive destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, and
mosques, and the thousands of martyrs and wounded.
The
occupying Power also continues its incursions in 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, has intensified with the perpetration
of frequent attacks against our people, targeting their homes, schools,
universities, mosques, fields, crops and trees. Despite our repeated warnings,
the occupying Power has not acted to curb these attacks and we hold them fully
responsible for the crimes of the settlers.
These are
just a few examples of the policy of the Israeli colonial settlement occupation,
and this policy is responsible for the continued failure of the successive
international attempts to salvage the peace process.
This
policy will destroy the chances of achieving a two-State solution upon which
there is an international consensus, and here I caution aloud: This settlement
policy threatens to also undermine the structure of the Palestinian National
Authority and even end its existence.
In
addition, we now face the imposition new conditions not previously raised,
conditions that will transform the raging conflict in our inflamed region into a
religious conflict and a threat to the future of a million and a half Christian
and Muslim Palestinians, citizens of Israel, a matter which we reject and which
is impossible for us to accept being dragged into.
All of
these actions taken by Israel in our country are unilateral actions and are not
based on any earlier agreements. Indeed, what we witness is a selective
application of the agreements aimed at perpetuating the occupation. Israel
reoccupied the cities of the West Bank by a unilateral action, and reestablished
the civil and military occupation by a unilateral action, and it is the one that
determines whether or not a Palestinian citizen has the right to reside in any
part of the Palestinian Territory. And it is confiscating our land and our water
and obstructing our movement as well as the movement of goods. And it is the one
obstructing our whole destiny. All of this is unilateral.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
In 1974,
our deceased leader Yasser Arafat came to this hall and assured the Members of
the General Assembly of our affirmative pursuit for peace, urging the United
Nations to realize the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people,
stating: “Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand”.
In 1988,
President Arafat again addressed the General Assembly, which convened in Geneva
to hear him, where he submitted the Palestinian peace program adopted by the
Palestine National Council at its session held that year in Algeria.
When we
adopted this program, we were taking a painful and very difficult step for all
of us, especially those, including myself, who were forced to leave their homes
and their towns and villages, carrying only some of our belongings and our grief
and our memories and the keys of our homes to the camps of exile and the
Diaspora in the 1948 Al-Nakba, 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 in the cultural, educational and
economic renaissance of the Arab Middle East.
Yet,
because we believe in peace and because of our conviction in 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% of the territory of historical Palestine - on
all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967.
We, by
taking that historic step, which was welcomed by the States of the world, 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 was signed 18 years ago in the garden of
the White House and was linked with the letters of 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 and every conference and every new round of
negotiations and every movement was shattered on the rock of the Israeli
settlement expansion project.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
I
confirm, 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, the following:
1. The goal
of the Palestinian people is the realization of their inalienable national
rights in 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, 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
resolution 194, as stipulated in the Arab Peace Initiative which presented the
consensus Arab vision to resolve the core the Arab-Israeli conflict and to
achieve a just and comprehensive peace. To this we adhere and this is what we
are working to achieve. Achieving this desired peace also requires the release
of political prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons without
delay.
2 . The PLO
and the Palestinian people adhere to the renouncement of violence and rejection
and condemning of terrorism in all its forms, especially State terrorism, and
adhere to all agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization
and Israel.
3. We adhere
to the option of negotiating a lasting solution to the conflict in accordance
with resolutions of international legitimacy. Here, I declare that the Palestine
Liberation Organization is ready to return immediately to the negotiating table
on the basis of the adopted terms of reference based on international legitimacy
and a complete cessation of settlement activities.
4. Our
people will continue their popular peaceful resistance to the Israeli occupation
and its settlement and apartheid policies and its construction of the racist
annexation Wall, and they receive support for their resistance, which is
consistent with international humanitarian law and international conventions and
has the support of peace activists from Israel and around the world, reflecting
an impressive, inspiring and courageous example of the strength of this
defenseless people, armed only with their dreams, courage, hope and slogans in
the face of bullets, tanks, tear gas and bulldozers.
5. When we
bring our plight and our case to this international podium, it is a confirmation
of our reliance on the political and diplomatic option and is a confirmation
that we do not undertake unilateral steps. Our efforts are not aimed at
isolating Israel or de-legitimizing it; rather we want to gain legitimacy for
the cause of the people of Palestine. We only aim to de-legitimize the
settlement activities and 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: We extend our hands to the Israeli government and the Israeli
people for peace-making. 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 the bridges of dialogue instead of checkpoints and walls of separation,
and build cooperative relations based on parity and equity between two
neighboring States - Palestine and Israel - instead of policies of occupation,
settlement, war and eliminating the other.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
Despite
the unquestionable right of our people to self-determination and to the
independence of our State as stipulated in international resolutions, we have
accepted in the past few years to engage in what appeared to be a test of our
worthiness, entitlement and eligibility. During the last two years our national
authority has implemented a program to build our State institutions. Despite the
extraordinary situation and the Israeli obstacles imposed, a serious extensive
project was launched that has included the implementation of plans to enhance
and advance the judiciary and the apparatus for maintenance of order and
security, to develop the administrative, financial, and oversight systems, to
upgrade the performance of institutions, and to enhance self-reliance to reduce
the need for foreign aid. With the thankful support of Arab countries and donors
from friendly countries, a number of large infrastructure projects have been
implemented, focused on various aspects of service, with special attention to
rural and marginalized areas.
In the
midst of this massive national project, we have been strengthening what we
seeking to be the features of our State: from the preservation of security for
the citizen and public order; to the promotion of judicial authority and rule of
law; to strengthening the role of women via legislation, laws and participation;
to ensuring the protection of public freedoms and strengthening the role of
civil society institutions; to 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 for the
Palestinian political life.
When
division struck the unity of our homeland, people and institutions, we were
determined to adopt dialogue for 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
was to turn to the people through legislative and presidential elections within
a year, because the State we want will be a State characterized by the rule of
law, democratic exercise and protection of the freedoms and equality of all
citizens without any discrimination and the transfer of power through the ballot
box.
The
reports issued recently by the United Nations, the World Bank, the Ad Hoc
Liaison Committee (AHLC) and the International Monetary Fund confirm and laud
what has been accomplished, considering it a remarkable and unprecedented model.
The consensus conclusion by the AHLC a few days ago here described what has been
accomplished as a “remarkable international success story” and confirmed the
readiness of the Palestinian people and their institutions for the immediate
independence of the State of Palestine.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
It is no
longer possible to redress the issue of the blockage of the horizon of the peace
talks with the same means and methods that have been repeatedly tried and proven
unsuccessful over the past years. The crisis is far too deep to be neglected,
and what is more dangerous are attempts to simply circumvent it or postpone its
explosion.
It is
neither possible, nor practical, nor acceptable to return to conducting business
as usual, as if everything is fine. It is futile to go into negotiations without
clear parameters and in the absence of credibility and 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 continues
to change the demography of our country in order to create a new basis on which
to alter the borders.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
It is a
moment of truth and my people are waiting to hear the answer of the world. Will
it allow Israel to continue its occupation, the only occupation in the world?
Will it allow Israel 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 of the United Nations and the International Court of
Justice and the positions of the overwhelming majority of countries in the
world?
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
I come
before you today from the Holy Land, the land of Palestine, the land of divine
messages, ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the
birthplace of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), to speak on behalf of the
Palestinian people in the homeland and in the the Diaspora, to say, after 63
years of suffering of the ongoing Nakba: 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 Palestine refugees
in the homeland and the Diaspora, to end their displacement and to realize their
rights, some of them forced to take refuge more than once in different places of
the world.
At a time
when the Arab peoples affirm their quest for democracy - the Arab Spring - the
time is now 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 will bring; for
mothers to be assured that their children will return home without fear of
suffering killing, arrest or humiliation; 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 take care of their good land without fear of the occupation seizing
the land and its water, which the wall prevents access to, or fear of the
settlers, for whom settlements are being built on our land and who are uprooting
and burning the olive trees that have existed for hundreds of years. The time
has come for the thousands of prisoners to be released from the prisons to
return to their families and their children to become a part of building their
homeland, for the freedom of which they have sacrificed.
My people
desire to exercise their right to enjoy a normal life like the rest of humanity.
They believe what the great poet Mahmoud Darwish said: Standing here, staying
here, permanent here, eternal here, and we have one goal, one, one: to
be.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
We
profoundly appreciate and value the positions of all 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 the countries that have recently
recognized the State of Palestine and those that have upgraded the level of
Palestine’s representation in their capitals. I also salute the
Secretary-General, who said a few days ago that the Palestinian State should
have been established years ago.
Be
assured that this support for our people is more valuable to them than you can
imagine, for it makes them feel that someone is listening to their narrative and
that their tragedy and the horrors of Al-Nakba and the occupation, from which
they have so suffered, are not being ignored. And, it reinforces their hope that
stems from the belief that justice is possible in this in this world. The loss
of hope is the most ferocious enemy of peace and despair is the strongest ally
of extremism.
I say:
The time has come for my courageous and proud people, after decades of
displacement and colonial occupation and ceaseless suffering, to live like other
peoples of the earth, free in a sovereign and independent homeland.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
I would
like to inform you that, before delivering this statement, I submitted, in my
capacity as the President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the
Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to H.E. Mr. Ban
Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, an application for the
admission of Palestine on the basis of the 4 June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds
Al-Sharif as its capital, as a full member of the United Nations.
I call
upon Mr. Secretary-General to expedite transmittal of our request to the
Security Council, and I call upon the distinguished members of the Security
Council to vote in favor of our full membership. I also call upon the States
that did not recognized the State of Palestine as yet to do so.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
The
support of the countries of the world for our endeavor is a victory for truth,
freedom, justice, law and international legitimacy, and it provides tremendous
support for the peace option and enhances the chances of success of the
negotiations.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
Your
support for the establishment of the State of Palestine and for its admission to
the United Nations as a full member is the greatest contribution to peacemaking
in the Holy Land.
I thank
you.