00:00President of the General Assembly, His Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United
00:05Nations, Your Excellencies, Highnesses, and Heads of Delegations, may the mercy and blessings of
00:11God be upon you. I speak to you today after almost two years in which our Palestinian people in the
00:19Gaza Strip have been facing a war of genocide, destruction, starvation, and displacement,
00:28waged by the Israeli occupation forces, in which they killed and injured more than 220,000
00:39Palestinians, the majority of whom are unarmed children, women, and the elderly, a war in which
00:47they displaced hundreds of thousands and prevented the entry of food and medical supplies and caused
00:54the starvation of two million Palestinians. They imposed a stifling siege on an entire people
01:03and destroyed more than 80% of homes, schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, facilities, and
01:13infrastructure. What Israel is carrying out is not merely an aggression. It is a war crime and a crime
01:24against humanity that is both documented and monitored and it will be recorded in history books and the
01:34pages of International Consciousness as one of the most horrific chapters of humanitarian tragedy in the
01:4120th and 21st centuries. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the capital of the state of Palestine,
01:55the extremist Israeli government continues to implement its settlement policies through illegal settlement
02:03expansion and developing projects for annexing settlements. The latest was the construction plan for E-1, which would divide the West Bank into two parts and would isolate occupied Jerusalem for its surroundings and would undermine the option of the two-state solution in a blatant violation of international law and relevant Security Council resolutions,
02:32specifically Resolution 2334. Furthermore, the Israeli Prime Minister announced a plan for what he calls Greater Israel, which we reject and completely deplore, and which involves expanding into sovereign Arab states.
02:58In addition to the brutal attack against the sisterly state of Qatar, which we condemn and see as an escalation that is grave and a blatant violation of international law, which requires a decisive intervention and deterring procedures and measures for such expansionary plans.
03:24With official support and through increasing facilities, the terrorism of settlers increases. They burn homes and fields. They uproot trees and attack villages and attack unarmed Palestinian civilians. In fact, they killed them in broad daylight under the protection of the Israeli occupation army.
03:51Furthermore, the Islamic and Christian religious sites in Jerusalem, Hebron and Gaza Strip have not been spared the attacks which have damaged the mosques, churches and cemeteries in a blatant violation of the historic status quo.
04:19And in a clear violation of the provisions of the provisions of the international law.
04:26Despite all what our people have suffered, we reject what Hamas carried out on the 7th of October, these actions that targeted Israeli civilians and took them hostages because these actions do not represent the Palestinian people, nor do they represent their just struggle for freedom and independence.
04:51We have affirmed and we have affirmed and we will continue to affirm that the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the state of Palestine and that we are ready to bear full responsibility for governance and security there.
05:08Hamas will not have a role to bear. Hamas will not have a role to bear. Hamas will not have a role to play in governance. Hamas and other factions will have to hand over their weapons to the Palestinian national authority as part of a process to build the institutions of one state, one law and one legal security forces.
05:36We reiterate that we do not want an armed state. Ladies and gentlemen,
05:43Ladies and gentlemen, our wounds are deep and our calamity is great. Seven million Palestinians are still living the tragedies of the Nakba and displacement since 1948.
05:58Our people in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and in the Gaza Strip are still living the tragedies of the Israeli aggression and occupation for decades.
06:13Years that our people have spent under occupation, killing, arrests and settlement and the theft of money, property and lands. And this still continues without any deterrent or accountability.
06:32Years of oppression, deprivation and the protection for the occupier and enabling the occupier instead of protecting the people under the occupation.
06:43And more violations of the rights of our Palestinian people to self-determination to freedom, dignity, independence and sovereignty on the land of the occupied state, on the land of the state of Palestine occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem.
07:02More than 1,000 resolutions at the United Nations, not one of them was implemented.
07:14There have been many efforts, many international initiatives without reaching an end to this tragic situation that the Palestinian people are living under the yoke of occupation.
07:28In 1993, we signed the Oslo Accords and we adhered to all its items and we recognized the state of Israel.
07:42Israel, at the time, recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
07:54Based on that, we restructured our institutions and we amended our national charter and we rejected violence and terrorism and we adopted a culture of peace.
08:08We made all our efforts to build the institutions of a modern Palestinian state that lives side by side in peace and security with Israel.
08:20But Israel did not adhere to the signed agreements and has worked systematically on undermining them.
08:32Ladies and gentlemen, just three days ago, we met at a high level international conference in New York under the joint chairmanship of France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
08:48With wide scale international presence and united positions that expressed a genuine international will to put an end to this historic conflict by recognizing the state of Palestine, ending the occupation and returning hope to both the Palestinian and Israeli people.
09:14And here, I would like to, on behalf of the Palestinian people, to express our gratitude and appreciation to all the states that recently recognized the state of Palestine and those that intend to recognize the state of Palestine soon.
09:33We urge all the states that have not done so yet to recognize the state of Palestine.
09:40We call on supporting Palestine obtaining full membership in the United Nations.
09:48The United Nations.
09:49It should be noted that we have already recognized Israel's right to exist in 1988 and in 1993 and we still recognize this right.
10:05In this regard, we would like to thank France, the UK, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra and Denmark for their recognition of the state of Palestine.
10:26We would like to thank all 149 states which had previously recognized the state of Palestine.
10:36Our people will not forget this noble position.
10:40We would also like to commend the role of the chairmanship of this conference, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and France and also the United Kingdom.
10:55We would also like to thank all the states that headed the various working groups and those which participated and continue to participate in the International Alliance for Peace.
11:08We would also like to thank the states that are supporting our efforts to stop the genocide and the occupation and achieve peace.
11:23We highly appreciate all the peoples and organizations around the world.
11:33We would also like to thank the people who protested in support of the rights of the Palestinian people to freedom and independence and to stop the war, destruction and starvation.
11:43We reject confusing the solidarity with the Palestinian cause and the issue of anti-Semitism, which is something that we reject based on our values and principles.
11:58Within the framework of welcoming the outcomes of the International Conference for Peace, we reiterate today before the General Assembly the following points.
12:11First, the need for an immediate and permanent end to the war in Gaza.
12:17Second, the entry without conditions of humanitarian aid through United Nations organizations, including the UNRWA and to stop using starvation as a weapon.
12:32And here we would like to thank the brotherly and friendly states and organizations that have been sending aides.
12:41Third, the release of all hostages and prisoners on both sides.
12:47Fourth, the complete withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip and the rejection of the plans for displacement and putting an end to settlement, the terrorism of settlers and the theft of Palestinian lands and property under the headline of annexation and stopping the aggression against the status quo.
13:15Also in holy sites.
13:18These are all unilateral actions that undermine the two state solution in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
13:25Fifth, the state of Palestine should take their full responsibility, starting with the administrative committee for the Gaza Strip, which is chaired by a minister in the Palestinian government to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip.
13:43For a temporary period.
13:46And then to connect that with the West Bank, all through Arab and international support and with Arab and international presence to protect civilians in Gaza and support the Palestinian forces under the umbrella of the United Nations.
14:04Rather than being a replacement.
14:07Sixth, to guarantee that the residents of the Gaza Strip remain on their lands without displacement and to implement a recovery and reconstruction plan in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
14:23Seventh, releasing the Palestinian tax money that is being held by the state of Israel unjustly and lifting the economic siege and the barriers from the Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps.
14:44Eighth, supporting our national efforts towards reform and conducting presidential and parliamentary elections within a year after the end of the war.
14:59The practical procedures have begun.
15:03A committee has been assigned to draft a contemporary constitution and it will end its work within three months so that we move from authority to state.
15:15We want a modern and democratic state that abides by international law, the rule of law and multilateralism and the peaceful transition of power.
15:30And we are extremely keen to empower women and the youth.
15:37Ninth, we declare that we are ready to work with U.S. President Donald Trump and with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and France, the United Nations and all partners to implement the peace plan that was approved in the conference that was held.
15:59On the 22nd of September in a way that would lead towards a just peace and regional cooperation.
16:09Ladies and gentlemen, today we say clearly peace cannot be achieved if justice is not achieved.
16:22And there can be no justice if Palestine is not freed.
16:29We want to live in freedom, security and peace like all other people on earth in an independent sovereign state on the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as our capital.
16:44In security and peace with our neighbors, we want a modern civilian state that is free of violence, weapons and extremism.
16:54One that respects law, human rights and invests in people, development, technology and education, not in wars and conflict.
17:07The time has come for the international community to do right by the Palestinian people so that they may obtain their rightful, their legitimate rights to be rid of the occupation and to not remain a hostage to the temperament of Israeli politics which denies our rights and continue in their injustice, oppression and aggression.
17:35We are continuing to move forward and we will continue our peaceful, legal and diplomatic fight to obtain our rights.
17:47In conclusion, we say to our sons and daughters in the homeland, in the exile and in the diaspora, no matter how much our wounds bleed and no matter how long the suffering lasts, it will not break our will to live and survive.
18:07The dawn of freedom will emerge and the flag of Palestine will fly high in our skies as a symbol of dignity, steadfastness and being free from the yoke of occupation.
18:23Palestine is ours.
18:25Palestine is ours.
18:26Jerusalem is the jewel of our heart and our eternal capital.
18:31We will not leave our homeland.
18:33We will not leave our lands.
18:35Our people will remain rooted like the olive trees, firm as the rocks.
18:41We will rise from under the rubble to rebuild and to send from our blessed and holy land the messages of hope and the sound of truth and right and build the bridges of just peace for the people of our region and the entire world.
19:01May the peace and mercy and blessings of God be upon you.
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