Full Official Text of President Mahmoud Abbas' Speech at the UNGA
President Mahmoud
Abbas called in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on
Friday on the world community to support his bid for membership in the
UN and for statehood, describing it as support for truth.
“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,” he said.
“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,” said Abbas to a roaring applause.
He said he had
submitted an application for UN membership shortly before making his
speech, urging the UN Secretary-General “to expedite transmittal of our
request to the Security Council.” He called upon the members of the
Security Council “to vote in favor of our full membership.”
Abbas received a warm
welcome and standing ovation when he took to the podium of the UN
General Assembly to make his 40-minute long speech. Following is an
official translation of the full text of the speech.
Mr. President of the General Assembly of the United Nations,
Mr. Secretary-General 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 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 and 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.
