“United Nations General Assembly on 26 November 2013, adopted resolution and decides to proclaim the
Committee to organize activities to he held during the year, in cooperation with Governments, relevant
organizations of the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations and civil society organizations.”
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
At the outset, I wish to convey to you the greetings of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian people, and to all our friends participating in the commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People around the world. We commemorate this occasion one year after the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly, on 29 November 2012, of the historic resolution to raise the status of Palestine to a non-member observer State in the United Nations. Of course, our objective and endeavor remain full membership in the United Nations, which is our people’s legitimate and legal right.
We underscore, in this regard, the call in General Assembly resolution 181(II)-by which historic Palestine was partitioned – for consideration to be given to the application for membership in the United Nations by either State. We recall further that Israel’s admission to the United Nations in 1949 was accompanied by two conditions: it’s commitment to resolution 181(II) and the establishment of the Palestinian State, as well as the resolution 194(III), which was reaffirmed in the Arab Peace Initiative, with regard to reaching a just and agreed solution to the plight of Palestine refugees.
This year marked the passage of 46 years since June 1967, when Israel forcibly occupied the remainder of historic Palestine-the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. We stress that this injustice must end and this military occupation of our land and our people must end. We reiterate our urgent calls to the international community to act forthwith to compel Israel, the occupying Power, to comply with its legal obligations, relevant United Nations resolutions and international commitments and to cease its violations of international law and its illegal, aggressive and destructive policies and practices.
The insidious Israeli settlement campaign and the confiscation of Palestinian lands in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, the capital of our State, must be completely halted. The demolition of Palestinian homes and the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and properties must stop. Construction of the apartheid annexation wall must be ceased. Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails must be released. The unjust, inhumane blockade imposed on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip must be lifted. The illegal actions and measures to Judaize East Jerusalem and alter or erase the Christian and Muslim Palestinian presence and identity in the Holy City must come to an end. All acts of violence and terrorism perpetrated by Israeli settlers against the Palestinian civilian population must be stopped.
We have expressed our readiness for decades to reach a solution to the conflict with Israel that conform with international resolutions and initiatives through the establishment of our Palestinian State on only 22 percent of the territory of historic Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and to reach a just and agreed upon solution to the plight of Palestine refugees in accordance with General Assembly resolution 194(II).
On this day, which marks the sixty-sixth anniversary of the adoption of the partition resolution in 1947, the Palestinian people look forward with great hope to the future. They are determined to remain steadfast on their land and to realize their inalienable rights, confident that the international community will not allow the current opportunity to be lost to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict on all tracks, starting with the core and basis of this conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It is an opportunity to open a new area of cooperation and coexistence in the region where there is hope, peace, security and prospects for a better future for all our children.
May peace and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you.
(Message of H.E.Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity, 29 November 2013)
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