Abbas: Israel “falsifies facts and names” and Judaizes Jerusalem
Excerpt from PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ speech about Jerusalem, at the fourth International Islamic Conference which took place in Ramallah:
“[The Palestinian nation] ignited the spark of the just struggle for freedom and independence and it continues its struggle under the banner of the PLO, its only legitimate representative, by all legitimate ways and means, until it will achieve its national goals – liberation, independence, self-determination, establishing an independent state within the June 4, 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, and finding a just solution for the refugee problem, based on UN Resolution 194 and the Arab Peace Initiative. Jerusalem will not die and Jerusalem will not be Judaized, it will remain ours…
We believed in peace and we gave a great deal for it, for peace is one of Allah’s beautiful names and our religion is a religion of peace and love. But true peace cannot be one-sided, because that is submission to which we will not agree and which we do not want. Likewise, peace can only be established willingly and with the cooperation of all sides, with the support, assistance and auspices of the entire international community, since peace is in the interest of the whole world and all of humanity. Everyone understands, or has begun to understand, that the Palestinian issue is not the Palestinians’ and Israelis’ issue. They know very well that the source of peace is here and the source of war is here, therefore they must understand well that without peace here, in the land of peace, there can be no peace anywhere else in the world. That is what you and they see everywhere…
Today, 46 years ago, Jerusalem fell under Israeli occupation and Israel began a rolling plan for changing the geographic and demographic character of the holy city, by demolishing the homes of Jerusalem’s residents, systematically expelling them from their place of birth and preventing the construction of houses or the development of economic interests. At the same time there is the frenzied settling rampage and falsification of facts, names and terrain. They [the Israelis] change names. They think that the signs they put up to change Jerusalem’s, Jericho’s or Nablus’ names also change history. No one can change history. The purpose of all this is to isolate the city from its Palestinian surroundings and to work towards emptying it of its residents or at least towards reducing their numbers to a minimum, so that the majority of the city will become Israeli.
This is a blatant defiance of international law and a denial of the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights. This is an Israeli policy that indicates a mode of action that does not believe in peace, but rather in settlement, occupation and expansion.
Peace and settlement are incompatible. If they plan to settle, there will be no peace. This land is our land and they must uproot their settlements for there to be peace.
However, all these bad years of occupation, settlement, exploitation, frenzied Judaizing schemes and some of our relatives having deserted us (i.e., Arab countries not having provided enough assistance for the Palestinians) did not lessen the Palestinians’ devotion to their eternal capital and did not diminish their determination to struggle or their heroic resolve against the occupation and settlement cancer…
There is no peace without Jerusalem, no state without Jerusalem and no security or stability without Jerusalem…
We emphasize from here, from our religious, historical and political awareness that the responsibility for protecting Jerusalem, restoring it and purifying its holy places, rests not only upon the Palestinians. It rests upon the whole Arab, Islamic and Christian nation…
Jerusalem is calling for help – will anyone respond? I say yes, your presence here is the beginning of the response to Jerusalem’s call for help…
In conclusion, I would like to send a message to our brave prisoners in the occupation’s prisoners: Oh heroes, you are our people’s torches of freedom. There will be no peace without you and no agreement with the Israeli side that will not include the release of all the Palestinian and Arab prisoners.”
“[The Palestinian nation] ignited the spark of the just struggle for freedom and independence and it continues its struggle under the banner of the PLO, its only legitimate representative, by all legitimate ways and means, until it will achieve its national goals – liberation, independence, self-determination, establishing an independent state within the June 4, 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, and finding a just solution for the refugee problem, based on UN Resolution 194 and the Arab Peace Initiative. Jerusalem will not die and Jerusalem will not be Judaized, it will remain ours…
We believed in peace and we gave a great deal for it, for peace is one of Allah’s beautiful names and our religion is a religion of peace and love. But true peace cannot be one-sided, because that is submission to which we will not agree and which we do not want. Likewise, peace can only be established willingly and with the cooperation of all sides, with the support, assistance and auspices of the entire international community, since peace is in the interest of the whole world and all of humanity. Everyone understands, or has begun to understand, that the Palestinian issue is not the Palestinians’ and Israelis’ issue. They know very well that the source of peace is here and the source of war is here, therefore they must understand well that without peace here, in the land of peace, there can be no peace anywhere else in the world. That is what you and they see everywhere…
Today, 46 years ago, Jerusalem fell under Israeli occupation and Israel began a rolling plan for changing the geographic and demographic character of the holy city, by demolishing the homes of Jerusalem’s residents, systematically expelling them from their place of birth and preventing the construction of houses or the development of economic interests. At the same time there is the frenzied settling rampage and falsification of facts, names and terrain. They [the Israelis] change names. They think that the signs they put up to change Jerusalem’s, Jericho’s or Nablus’ names also change history. No one can change history. The purpose of all this is to isolate the city from its Palestinian surroundings and to work towards emptying it of its residents or at least towards reducing their numbers to a minimum, so that the majority of the city will become Israeli.
This is a blatant defiance of international law and a denial of the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights. This is an Israeli policy that indicates a mode of action that does not believe in peace, but rather in settlement, occupation and expansion.
Peace and settlement are incompatible. If they plan to settle, there will be no peace. This land is our land and they must uproot their settlements for there to be peace.
However, all these bad years of occupation, settlement, exploitation, frenzied Judaizing schemes and some of our relatives having deserted us (i.e., Arab countries not having provided enough assistance for the Palestinians) did not lessen the Palestinians’ devotion to their eternal capital and did not diminish their determination to struggle or their heroic resolve against the occupation and settlement cancer…
There is no peace without Jerusalem, no state without Jerusalem and no security or stability without Jerusalem…
We emphasize from here, from our religious, historical and political awareness that the responsibility for protecting Jerusalem, restoring it and purifying its holy places, rests not only upon the Palestinians. It rests upon the whole Arab, Islamic and Christian nation…
Jerusalem is calling for help – will anyone respond? I say yes, your presence here is the beginning of the response to Jerusalem’s call for help…
In conclusion, I would like to send a message to our brave prisoners in the occupation’s prisoners: Oh heroes, you are our people’s torches of freedom. There will be no peace without you and no agreement with the Israeli side that will not include the release of all the Palestinian and Arab prisoners.”