YouSaid · the spoken record

Mahmoud ABBAS

lines on the record: 429
first: 2006-09-24
most recent: 2023-09-24
sittings or episodes: 18
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We are asking the international community to implement just one. Finally. I address all of our people in Palestine, in the refugee camps, in the diaspora and in every place in this vast world, with the highest expressions of appreciation and gratitude for their steadfastness and insistence on upholding their rights. I pay tribute to our righteous martyrs, our brave prisoners and our heroic injured people, and I say to everyone: A right is never lost when there is a demand behind it. Victory is ours, and we will celebrate the independence of our State in Jerusalem, our eternal capital, the crown jewel and flower of all cities. They see it as far-fetched, and we see it as quite near.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“My message today to the Israelis is that the hideous occupation against us will not last regardless of their ambitions and delusions, because the Palestinian people are remaining on their land, which they have inhabited for thousands of years, generation after generation, as again confirmed by a recent UNESCO resolution regarding the city of Jericho, which has existed for 10.000 years. The Palestinians cannot leave their land, and if anyone must leave it must be the occupiers. We will stay in our land. My message to the international community is that it should assume its responsibilities with full courage and implement its resolutions related to realizing Palestinian rights. We ask for no more than our rights and the implementation of the relevant resolutions. A thousand resolutions have been adopted.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“That is the least that the United Nations should do in honour of those victims and in condemnation of the human tragedy of the 1948 Nakba. For several years, we have presented our Palestinian narrative and the story of our people, which has been deliberately distorted by the Zionist and Israeli propaganda. We are relieved that the peoples of the world and many of its countries have begun to believe our narrative and sympathize with it after having been misled for decades. We thank all those who contribute to sharing and supporting that narrative and all those who sympathize with it. We also thank people of conscience everywhere in the world who today are standing up for Palestinian rights and supporting our people’s struggle for freedom and independence.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“I participated in the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1948 Palestinian Nakba. a tragedy recognized by the Organization. That painful anniversary continues to be ignored and denied by Israel, which is the first to be responsible for the Nakba. I call on the Assembly today to criminalize the denial of the Nakba and to designate 15 May of each year as an international day to commemorate its anniversary in order to remember the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were killed in massacres committed by Zionist gangs, whose villages were demolished and who were forcibly displaced from their homes. The number of those refugees was 950.000 in 1948. constituting more than half of the Palestinian population at the time.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“The first three elections took place in East Jerusalem, but since then they have been prevented, despite the significant intervention of many countries, as well as regional and international organizations, to enable our Palestinian people in Jerusalem to vote and run in those elections. Today we reiterate our rejection of any position holding us responsible for not convening those elections, which are a Palestinian necessity that we want today and not tomorrow. We want elections, but we want them to be held in East Jerusalem. Why does Israel prevent us from doing so? Someone should ask it. In the face of the intransigent position of the Israeli Government, we will continue to approach the relevant international bodies to hold the Israeli Government accountable and force it to allow us to hold the long overdue elections. Last May.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Our State institutions are engaged in a comprehensive development and reform process, and in that context they are cooperating with international institutions and with our partners in the region and the world. We have recently held local elections and elections for institutions, federations, unions and others. There is a specialized committee to develop the justice sector in Palestine. Civil society is also playing its role in adding vitality to our political system. All that remains for us is to hold democratic general elections, as we did in 1996. 2005 and 2006. We have been unable to hold elections since then because the Israeli Government is obstructing them through its decision to prevent elections from being held in East Jerusalem.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Some of that violence is spilling over into our areas, posing a great threat to the societal security of Palestinians everywhere in our territory. I must inform the Assembly that so long as we continue to suffer under the abhorrent Israeli occupation, we will continue to need financial assistance from the international community, in addition to the crucial provision of financial support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which is in dire need of assistance in supporting the refugees. We are thankful to the international community for the support it has given us to build our State and our economy, and we look forward to the continuation of that support until the occupation ends. If the international cooperation helps us get rid of the occupation, we will be able to rely on ourselves.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We will continue our peaceful popular resistance to that brutal occupation until it withdraws from our land. We are managing our affairs under extremely difficult and complex circumstances as a result of the restrictions that are being imposed on us by the occupying Power, which prevents us from accessing our natural resources, withholds our money for no just cause and continues its siege on our people in the Gaza Strip, with the consequent exacerbation of the suffering of our people. Moreover. Israel bears full responsibility, through its control over all the crossing points and dividing lines between the occupied West Bank and its surroundings, for the deliberate spread of weapons, drugs and criminal killings taking place in Arab cities inside Israel. Every day sees a new murder, for which Israel is responsible.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We therefore call on the Organization to take deterrent measures against Israel until it at least fulfils its obligations under a written declaration by its Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1949. Moshe Sharett. He issued a written commitment to implementing those resolutions at that time, but nothing has happened since then. Our request is for the sake of peace and justice and out of respect for international law. international legitimacy and the Organization. Our people are defending their homeland and their legitimate rights through peaceful popular resistance as a strategic option for self-defence, and to liberate the land from a settlement occupation that does not believe in peace and has no regard for the principles of truth, justice and human values.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“The entire world is talking about them. The State of Israel is recognized by the entire world. Why not the State of Palestine? I can neither understand nor accept that some States, including the United States and European States, are reluctant to recognize the State of Palestine, which the United Nations has accepted as an observer State. Those States confirm their support for the two- State solution every day. but they recognize only one of them, namely. Israel. Why? What is the danger posed by the State of Palestine’s obtaining full membership in the United Nations? Israel enjoys international recognition, although it has not adhered to the conditions for its accession to the United Nations, namely, the implementation of resolutions 181 (II) and 194 (III).”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We demand protection from the constant aggressions of the occupation army and the terrorist Israeli settlers. We call for support for our approach to the international courts and bodies with jurisdiction because the current situation is intolerable. In the face of all that Israel is doing to systematically destroy the two-State solution, it has become necessary for me. in order to save that solution, to call on the States Members of the Organization, each State in its national capacity, to take practical steps on the basis of the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy and international law. I also call on the States that have not yet recognized the State of Palestine to declare their recognition and for the State of Palestine to be admitted to full membership of the United Nations. There are two States.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“In the light of the deadlock in the peace process due to Israel’s policies, we come to the General Assembly to appeal for the holding of an international peace conference — is that so difficult? — in which all countries concerned with achieving peace in the Middle East would participate. I therefore ask the Organization and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to take the necessary measures and call for the convening of that conference, which may be the last opportunity to salvage the two-State solution and to prevent the situation from deteriorating more seriously, threatening the security and stability of our region and the entire world. I also call on the Organization and the Secretary- General to implement the resolutions pertaining to providing protection for the Palestinian people.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“For our part, we will persist with our pursuit of accountability and justice before the relevant international bodies against Israel because of the continued Israeli occupation of our land and the crimes that have been committed and are still being committed against us. as well as against both Britain and the United States for their roles in the fateful Balfour Declaration — yes. the United States and Britain — and everyone who has had a role in the catastrophe and tragedy of our people. We will not forget history and we will not forget miseries. We call for acknowledgment, apology, reparations and compensation in accordance with international law.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“I hereby call on the international community to assume its responsibilities in preserving the historical and legal status of Jerusalem and its sacred places, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil/Hebron. Here I wonder: Why remain silent about all the flagrant violations of international law that are being committed by Israel, the occupying Power? Why is Israel not subjected to serious accountability? Why are sanctions not imposed on it for ignoring and violating international resolutions, as is the case with other countries? Why practice double standards when it comes to Israel? Why accept that Israel is a State above the law? Is it not time to answer those questions?”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“The Israeli occupation Government also continues to violate the city of Jerusalem and its people, assault our Islamic and Christian sacred sites, and violate the historical and legal status of the holy sites, especially the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which international legitimacy — pursuant to a 1930 resolution of the League of Nations — has recognized as a place of worship for Muslims alone, as well as the Bab Al-Rahma prayer hall and the Al-Buraq wall. The occupying Power is also feverishly digging tunnels under and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque, threatening its collapse or partial collapse, which would lead to an explosion with untold consequences. We have repeatedly warned against transforming the political conflict into a religious one. for which Israel will bear full responsibility.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“As I stand here, the Israeli racist right-wing Government continues its attacks on our people and. through its army and its racist terrorist settlers, continues to intimidate and kill our people, destroy homes and property, steal our money and resources and detain the bodies of the martyrs. More than 600 bodies are still detained, and I do not know for what reason. This is being done in full view of the world and without any deterrence, punishment or accountability, and the leaders and ministers of that Government have even been bragging about their apartheid policy against our people under occupation.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Despite that painful reality, and 30 years after the Oslo Accords, which Israel has totally discarded, we still maintain hope that the Organization will be able to implement its resolutions demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of our territory and the realization of the independence of the fully sovereign State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, within the borders of 4 June 1967. We still maintain hope to resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees, in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy, especially resolution 194 (III), the relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions — in particular Security Council resolution 2334 (2016) — and the Arab Peace Initiative, all of which affirm the illegality of the Israeli occupation and its settlements.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Those who believe that peace can prevail in the Middle East without the Palestinian people enjoying their full legitimate national rights are delusional. Once again. I come to the Assembly carrying the cause of my people, who are struggling for freedom and independence, to remind members of the tragedy caused by the Nakba 75 years ago. the effects of which continue to be exacerbated by the Israeli occupation of our territory. The occupation challenges the resolutions adopted by the United Nations, which now number more than 1.000. and violates the principles of international law and international legitimacy, while racing against time to change the historical, geographical and demographic reality on the ground, aimed at perpetuating the occupation and entrenching apartheid.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“In conclusion, I would like to say to the General Assembly, which represents the international community and embodies international legitimacy, that the occupation will definitely end, sooner or later. Let the Assembly now bear the responsibility for implementing its resolutions. Let us achieve a just and comprehensive peace instead of achieving a peace with further sacrifices. We have been waiting for too long. We are very tired. We have had to live through long bitter days. Does the General Assembly have a solution? I want a solution.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“From this rostrum, I would like to pay tribute to the mother of Nasser, a mother of prisoners and martyrs. Unfortunately, the occupying Power has not allowed her to see her son, the prisoner and hero, for a single minute while he is fighting death because of medical negligence. He is a prisoner with cancer. He committed a crime but, from a humanitarian point of view, he should be receive treatment but he is not allowed to. He is not allowed to see his mother, and no one will be allowed to see him, even after he passes away. We have hundreds of graves with numbers. They put deceased martyrs in a digital prison to punish his mother — and us. Since 1967, martyrs are held in digital prisons and mortuaries. Is this acceptable? Who can accept that?”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Which international law — which good conscience — can accept that a seven-year-old child is prosecuted and imprisoned? Legally and practically speaking, children are not responsible for all their acts. I would like to talk about the hero and prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid whose transformation since he was sentenced is shocking. Look at how he was before and how he is now. Now, he is just waiting for his death to come at any time. His mother is asking to see him for just one minute. Why are they not allowing his mother to see him for a single minute? She is the mother of martyrs and prisoners. The mother of Nasser Abu Hamid has numerous children, and among them are martyrs and prisoners. She wants to see her son, but she is forbidden to see him. No religion, no law can find this acceptable.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“As for our brave prisoners, they are the living conscience of our people. They are sacrificing their freedom for the freedom of their people. Words cannot describe them. They are living martyrs. Some have received four or five life sentences, keeping them endlessly in prisons. They are heroes and deep-rooted leaders. We will always work for their freedom. We will not fail them until they are freed. We will not fail their sons and their daughters. We will not fail their families and their relatives. Some of our prisoners are children — of 10 years of age, 8 years of age, 7 years of age, 6 years of age — yet they are prisoners. We have one child who was arrested by 30 soldiers. Is it acceptable? Tens of thousands of our children are in prison. Who can accept that?”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Despite all the conspiracies and pressures that were placed on our people, we have maintained our independent national decision, which is a decision with which no one can interfere. The decisions we take are our own, and no one can interfere in them. We are also attached to our national constants, which are well known, and we reiterate our rejection of any order or directive from whomever in the world. We are not ready to accept directives from any State, whether large or small. We make our own decisions. I would like to pay tribute to the Palestinian martyrs who have lit the way to freedom and independence with their blood. They will remain symbols to be remembered by generations of Palestinians one after the other with gratitude and reverence, and we will live up to the responsibility they left us.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Let us make peace so that we can live in security, stability and prosperity for the benefit of future generations of all the peoples of the region. We want peace. We are fighting terrorism wherever it is found. The Assembly knows that we have signed agreements to fight global terrorism with 85 States around the world, at the forefront of which is the United States. No one can deny it. What more is required from us? We are ready for that. I want to tell my people and the whole world that I am proud to have spent many decades of my life struggling with my brethren, the leaders of the Palestinian people, some who have passed away and some who are still alive, to preserve the rights of our heroes and courageous people, which have been the best example of sacrifice.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Undoubtedly, this is a positive development. The real test for the seriousness and credibility of this stance — because we have had enough of resolutions and words — is for the Israeli Government to return to the negotiating table immediately, tomorrow, to implement the two-State solution in line with the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative, and to end all the unilateral measures that undermine the two-State solution. Israel cannot negotiate while building settlements, killing and injuring people, and demolishing houses. On the contrary, those acts must cease even temporarily to let us negotiate. If the negotiations fail, then Israel can do whatever it wants. But if it wants to negotiate, it has to stop these unilateral measures. In reality, the State of Palestine is looking forward to peace.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“On the other hand, we call upon the Secretary- General of the United Nations to work tirelessly to come up with an international plan to end the occupation of the land of the State of Palestine, to achieve peace, security and stability in the region, in line with the resolutions of the international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative. The Arab Peace Initiative has been violated by some, but it still exists, and resolution 1515 (2003) still needs to be implemented. When we hear something positive, we acknowledge it. Yesterday and the day before, I listened to President of the United States Joe Biden and the Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid (see A/77/PV. 6 and A/77/PV.8, respectively), and to other world leaders. I heard them supporting the two-State solution, and I was pleased to hear that.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Palestine has been working seriously and responsibly with other States of the world in different committees and specialized organs. It has successfully and with great efficiency chaired the Group of 77 and China. We are an observer State, and yet we have chaired that Group and succeeded in our work, and the Assembly has recognized that. So why we are not allowed to be a full member? What are we lacking? Why is it that those States cannot recognize the State of Palestine and accept its full-fledged membership in the United Nations? We therefore wish, beg and plead as we reiterate our request to attain full membership now. We also ask why double standards are imposed upon us? We are the exception. We are the only ones in the world on whom double standards are being imposed.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“We will accept whatever is decided. We just want the injustice to be acknowledged. Sadly enough, the United States and several European States that are enthusiastic about the two- State solution have recognized the State of Israel but have not so far recognized the State of Palestine. Our State exists and should be recognized in order to achieve peace. Those States have not so far recognized the State of Palestine, and they threaten to use the veto right if we try to ask for a full membership at the United Nations. If we ask — or when we ask — for full membership, they threaten us with the use of the veto right. To whom can we complain? We can only complain to God. For 10 years now, the Observer State of Palestine at the United Nations has proved that Palestine qualifies for full membership. We have all recognized this.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Do members of the Assembly remember the Balfour Declaration? Of course they do not, because we are the only ones who are suffering its consequences. And then came the mandate and the sustained injustice against the Palestinian people when those States refused to compel Israel to end its occupation and aggression and respect the resolutions of international legitimacy. Those States therefore bear, along with Israel, the responsibility for the plight of the Palestinian people. We therefore request Britain, the United States and Israel — and this is an official request — to acknowledge their responsibility for the major crime that was committed against our people and apologize for it. We ask for remedy and redress and for compensation to be granted to the Palestinian people — compensation that would be decided under international law.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Why is Israel acting as if it were a State above the law? Can anyone answer me? No one will answer me. Surprisingly, States like the United States of America claim that they uphold international law and human rights, while at the same time — and I will speak frankly in this context — they provide unlimited support to Israel, and protect Israel from accountability. Those States assist Israel in pursuing its hostile policies, in contempt of the international community as a whole. Israel would not have been able to do what it is doing without the cover or the support of those States. Honestly put, even if members do not say that out of courtesy, I will say it. Some of those States were partners at the very beginning, when they adopted decisions that led to the Nakba of the Palestinian people, in particular the ominous Balfour Declaration.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“With all due respect to what the international community has done — or has at least tried to do, because it has not done everything — in terms of support to our people and our just question politically and materially, it has unfortunately been unable to end the Israeli occupation and the heinous and continuous Israeli aggression against our people and provide them with protection. We want to be protected. We ask that we be protected. Protect us. We will not resort to weapons. We will not resort to violence. That I can promise. We will not resort to terrorism. Working hand in hand with members of the General Assembly, we will fight terrorism, but we want to be protected from violence, terrorism and arms just like other peoples of the world. The occupying State is acting as if it were a State above the law.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“We have the right to hope. We hope to be able to hope. We are living on hope. We are confident that the General Assembly will fully shoulder its responsibilities. I am also confident that the Assembly will understand why we are going to take all those steps now. Throughout the years we have tried everything to convince Israel to return to the negotiating table based on the resolutions of international legitimacy and the signed agreements, but Israel has refused and continues to refuse to do so.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Trump cancelled everything, including resolution 2334 (2016), and subsequently came up with his ultimate deal, which, together with all his other projects, we have totally rejected. Resolution 2334 (2016) was submitted by the United States and adopted under its sponsorship. But it went away because Mr. Trump rejected it. I would like to remind the Assembly that we no longer need double standards. If the State of Palestine is prohibited from obtaining full membership at the United Nations and if the Palestinian people are not protected from aggression — but no one has done anything — and if practical steps are not taken to end occupation and achieve peace, then we will have to resort once again to petitioning the General Assembly, asking for legal measures and political steps to be taken to achieve those goals. Then we will have hope.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“That membership status allows us to accede to other international organizations, and starting tomorrow we will pursue our right and accede to them. It is our right to do so. We will join the World Health Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization. We are going to accede to those organizations, which is our right to do, and no one should blame us. The Security Council has adopted clear resolutions, whose implementation would achieve a just and comprehensive peace. The most recent of those was resolution 2334 (2016), which the United States itself submitted for adoption. The resolution was adopted, and two days after taking office Mr.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“But until now neither resolution has been implemented. I want resolution 181 (II) to be implemented — one single resolution. It is our right to ask for its implementation. I therefore ask that the General Assembly implement resolution 181 (II) and tell us that it has done so. We have submitted a request to the Secretary- General to implement that resolution. Is that possible or the Assembly will ignore us once again, as always? The State of Palestine will also start the process of acceding to other international organizations. We were allowed to join the United Nations as an observer State. We are now an observer State at the United Nations. There are 15 million Palestinians, all of them educated, some of them highly educated, but we are only observer member.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Not a single resolution has been implemented. We ask that one single resolution be implemented, so we can know that it has been implemented. We now want the implementation of a single resolution, resolution 181 (II), which was adopted by the General Assembly, and which unjustly and aggressively partitioned Palestine. Yes, we want that resolution to be implemented. We want the General Assembly to implement resolution 181 (II), and with it, another resolution, namely, resolution 194 (III). We want those two resolutions to be implemented because they are preconditions for Israel being accepted as a member of the United Nations. When those resolutions were adopted, Moshe Sharett, the Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs at the time, pledged to implement them, and as a result, Israel was accepted as member of the United Nations.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“The PLO brings together all Palestinian people, wherever they are in the world, be it inside Palestine, in the refugee camps or in the diaspora. All those who have Palestinian nationality or used to have the Palestinian nationality fall under the umbrella of the PLO. The United Nations, with its different bodies, has adopted hundreds of resolutions on Palestine. None has been implemented. How is that possible? Not a single resolution has been implemented. I am talking about 754 General Assembly resolutions, 97 Security Council resolutions and 96 Human Rights Council resolutions — and not a single one has been implemented. How come? Why is that? Whenever a resolution is adopted, everyone calls for its implementation in line with international legitimacy, but no one cares about any of the resolutions adopted for Palestine.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Until when will we be the only ones committed to these agreements? It is therefore our right — or, rather, our obligation — to look for other means to recover our rights and achieve a peace built on justice, including the implementation of the resolutions that were adopted by our respective leaders, in particular our parliaments. Seven years ago, our parliament adopted decisions, and we told its members to wait awhile, since maybe things will change; we told them to be patient, since maybe the United States or Israel will change its stance. But no one listened to us. We have made these decisions in order to preserve our national existence on our land and to uphold our historical rights as a nation under the umbrella of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“They even take the rain that falls on us, and then they sell it back to us. They take our rain, and they sell it back to us. We do not accept remaining the only party to respect the agreements we signed with Israel in 1993. Those agreements are no longer valid on the ground because of Israel’s persistence on violating them. Although we have asked Israel to end its occupation, its hostile measures and policies and unilateral actions, which were explicitly prohibited in the Oslo Accords and which President Biden mentioned to me personally — he said that unilateral actions should be ended — and while the Oslo Accords state that they should be ended, Israel has been the first to violate this prohibition, taking nothing but unilateral actions, while we have not taken any. We do not want to do that, and we do not want to violate agreements.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Yes, we will go to the International Criminal Court, and to all the courts of the world, but first and foremost to the International Criminal Court to ask Israel to assume its legal, political, moral and material responsibilities. Do the Israeli people want to remain colonizers forever? They have been colonizers for nearly 75 years. How much longer do they want to remain so? I ask the Assembly, should we wait for a century, or maybe for two centuries? Why are we the only people on this planet still living under occupation? I ask the General Assembly, the Security Council and advocates of human rights, why should we remain under occupation? What are we still missing? What are the Israelis going to teach us? What are we missing that they need to occupy us, teach us, kill us, slaughter us or confiscate our land and loot our resources?”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“I would like to provide the Assembly with the lists of the villages that were destroyed and the massacres that were perpetrated, and I would ask Israel, from this rostrum, to acknowledge its responsibility for destroying those villages, committing those massacres and displacing the Palestinian citizens and to apologize to the Palestinian people. After all that killing, Israel must apologize. We call on Israel to bear the legal, political, moral and material responsibilities. It should be held accountable, and the international community must hold it accountable. We ask the international community right now to hold Israel accountable for the massacres it has committed.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Israel admitted that it had deliberately committed those massacres and targeted farmers returning from their farmland and killed them in cold blood. There have been 50 or 51 massacres, the most recent of which was against Gaza, which was targeted with missiles. I will not tell the Assembly how many elderly persons it killed, but The New York Times, a United States newspaper, said 67 children were killed in Gaza, as if they had been carrying rockets, using tanks and launching missiles. Sixty-seven children were killed by Israel. These are their photos. Who is going to assume responsibility for that? Why did Israel kill them?”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Since its creation, Israel has committed brutal crimes against our people. It destroyed 529 Palestinian villages and expelled their residents during and after the war of 1948. It displaced 950,000 Palestinian refugees, in other words, half of the Palestinian population at the time. That is a figure that some try to manipulate. It is not, as Israel says, 250,000 refugees. No, the figure is indeed 950,000, according to the statistics of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, that is, the United Nations. And of course, now the number of displaced is in the millions. Since 1948, Israel has committed more than 50 massacres, including in Tantoura and Kafr Qasim.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“It is the United Nations, and foremost of which the most powerful in the United Nations. Why practise double standards when it comes to Israel? Israel has repeatedly violated our land, and recently it closed the headquarters of six Palestinian human rights organizations. Israel tries to implement the law, but if we make a mistake, it holds us accountable and says, “You have made a mistake.” Israel determined, suddenly, that those organizations were terrorist organizations, and it raided their headquarters, looted their assets, confiscated their documents and burned them and did whatever it wanted. The whole world says that was wrong, except for Israel. Israel is saying that it was not wrong. If that is what Israel did to the offices of human rights organizations, imagine what it would have done if they were not human rights organizations.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Therefore, we did not cancel the elections, we only postponed them. When Israel allows the elections to take place, or when some party tells Israel that it can allow us to hold elections, or when orders reach Israel to allow elections to take place, we will then organize them. Israel is enacting racist laws and consecrating the apartheid regime. Yes, it is apartheid. Even if Israel does not like that appellation, it is apartheid. Israel is an apartheid regime. This is not only between Palestinians and Jews. Israel is taking actions against our people before the eyes of the international community with impunity. Why is Israel not being held accountable for violating international law? Who is protecting Israel from being held accountable? I have no idea. Do Member States know who is protecting Israel from being held accountable?”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“That is what Israel is doing to the holy sites. Israel is imposing falsified curriculums in our schools in the occupied Jerusalem. They are inventing curriculums. They take books and change what is in them under the same authors and then they impose the curriculums on our children to control what they learn. We will not allow that to happen. That is a violation of international law. Israel is disrupting the Palestinian presidential and legislative elections by forbidding Palestinian citizens in Jerusalem to take part in those elections. Israel has done that three times before — in 1996, 2005 and 2006. The Israeli authorities ask us, “Why do you not organize elections?” We are ready. We issued the decrees to organize those elections, and we decided to hold them, but Israel prevented us from holding them.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Everyone here has heard about Shireen Abu Akleh. She was killed with a sniper’s bullets, which means that the sniper targeted her deliberately. Israel has admitted that a sniper killed her. In addition to being Palestinian, she also had American nationality. I dare the United States to prosecute or make accountable those who killed her, because they are Israelis. Israel also commits acts of aggression against our sacred holy sites, both Christian and Islamic, especially in Jerusalem, our eternal capital and crown jewel. I would like to reiterate in that regard our acknowledgement of the Hashemite Custodianship of those holy sites. Israel attacks Muslim and Christian holy sites on a daily basis and without any reason. Israel attacked the funeral procession of Shireen Abu Akleh and her corpse inside the church, a holy place.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“In that context, we call on the international community to put those organizations on the international terrorist lists. That is the only place they deserve to be. In its frantic settlement expansion, Israel has not left us any land on which we can establish our independent State. Where can our people live in freedom and dignity? Where can we build our independent State to live in peace with our neighbours? We want to live in peace with them, with Israel. Where will we establish our independent State to live in peace with them, with Israel? Unfortunately there are now nearly 750,000 settlers, or 25 per cent of the total population, in the West Bank, the remaining Palestinian land after the partition resolution. Israel is killing our people with impunity, as it did with the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Israel is telling the Palestinian people, “Either you demolish your house or I will demolish it myself. But it is better if you demolish your house yourself with your own hands, because if I demolish it, you will have to pay for the demolition.” Can anyone conceive of that? I have to demolish my house or Israel will demolish it and make me pay for it. The Israeli Government has authorized the establishment of racist Jewish terrorist organizations committing acts of terror against our people. It has provided them with protection while they subject Palestinians to aggression and call for them to be expelled from their homes. Foremost among those terrorist organizations are Hilltop Youth, Price Tag, Lehava, the Temple Guardians and many others. Those terrorist organizations are led by members of the Israeli Knesset, the Israeli authority.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“We will therefore deal with Israel as such henceforward, and we call on the international community to do the same. It was not we who made that choice but rather Israel on its own. Israel is launching a frantic campaign to confiscate our lands, build colonial settlements and loot our resources, as if the land was unpopulated and had no owners, just as in 1948. It is giving free rein to the army and the terrorist settlers who are killing our Palestinian people in broad daylight, looting their land and taking their water, burning and demolishing their homes and forcing them to pay for the demolition or to destroy their homes with their own hands and uproot their own trees. All of that is done with official protection. Can anyone imagine such a thing?”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)