Address of President Arafat on the occasions of the National Day and the New Year RAMALLAH DEC. 31 2002 WAFA – Addressing the Palestinian people on the occasions of the National Day and the New Year, President Arafat expressed his hope that 2003 be a year of work to dispel the specter of war away from the Middle East, and to establish the just, permanent and comprehensive peace in the whole region. Hereby is the full text of the speech: In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, Verily We have granted Thee a manifest Victory: That God may forgive thee Thy faults of the past And those to follow; Fulfill His favor to thee And guide thee On the Straight Way; And that God may help Thee with powerful help. Sisters and Brothers Masses of our fighting and steadfast people in the homeland and in the Diaspora The day of glory and dignity, namely the day of the first of January 1965, is the day when the Palestinian phoenix shook off the ashes of its calamity and catastrophe and soared high in the skies of Palestine, the homeland, announcing to the whole world that Palestine is our sacred land and blessed homeland. It is the First of January, on which our Palestinian people glorify annually our Palestine National Day which coincides with the celebrations held by our people and the peoples of the world on New Year. On this national, pan-Arab and international occasion, I extend my felicitations to our Palestinian people in our homeland, in the Diaspora, and to our heroes in the Israeli detentions and cells. I extend, as well, my felicitations to our militant injured persons in hospital beds, to the noblest of all, to the martyrs of our homeland and our march, to our Arab brothers and to the freedom-loving and noble people the world over. I say to all of them that the march of struggle launched by our people in January 1965 has put for-ever an end to the attempts to forcibly absent our people from the stage of history and life. Our people today are the main figure in the equation of peace, security and stability in the whole Middle East. There will be no security, no peace, and no stability except by ending the Israeli occupation and colonization of our Palestinian land and holy places and by establishing the independent State of Palestine with Holy Jerusalem as its capital, which does indeed form the firm and solid guarantee for security and peace on both the regional and international levels. I convey, as well, the greetings of esteem and gratitude to the spirits of our martyrs and to our injured persons who have fallen while defending and protecting our Christian and Islamic holy places as they are confronting this oppressive Israeli military violence and escalation against our masses and holy places in the blessed Holy Land, the first of the two Qiblas and the third of the three holy mosques, the place of the nocturnal journey of our prophet, Muhammad, God’s blessings be upon him, and the place of nativity and ascension of our lord, Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. Our people will remain in their Jihad and will remain steadfast till the Day of Judgment. I pray to God that security and peace in this new year in this blessed and sacred land will be achieved on the basis of the resolutions of international legality, the agreements, the principle of land for peace, the Saudi Arabian Initiative of His Highness Crown Prince Abdallah adopted by the Arab Summit held in Beirut on establishing the just, comprehensive and permanent peace, the total Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian and Arab territories, the just solution of the issue of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the UN Resolution 194, as well as for our children and for their children. We hope that the Quartet will be quick in sending effective observers to carry out and oversee the protection of the peace process on this land, holy to all believers in the world, and to all freedom – loving and honorable people on this globe. In this New Year, I turn to the international community with the hope that this new year will witness a detente on the international and regional levels, and will adopt political and peaceful means as well as direct negotiations as the way to solve all international issues and conflicts. The specter of war that clouds today the Middle East provides the Government of Israel and its army of occupation with the needed opportunity to carry on with their destructive colonialist war against our Palestinian people and against our Christian and Islamic holy places in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jeningrad, Rafahgrad, Nablus, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Abuud, Ramallah the Gaza Strip – from its north to its south. It also provides them with the needed opportunity to carry on with the crimes of settlers, with the ugly and brutal oppression of the army of occupation, with killing and assassination, with torturing our masses, with intentional destruction of our institutions, infrastructures, factories and farms in order to perpetuate occupation and colonization. It is an increasing cancerous colonization of our Palestinian land that has confiscated 83 thousand dunums of our most fertile agricultural land in Tulkarem, Qalqilya and the west of Jenin for the defensive shield (protective wall) as well as for the “Berlin Wall” around Holy Jerusalem. In Holy Jerusalem they have forbidden those who are under 50 years of age to enter the City even for prayer in the Christian and Islamic holy places, at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and at the Holy Mosque, the Haram Ash-Sharif. They have even destroyed the artesian wells in most of the areas. They continue to bulldoze our agricultural lands, and destroy our green houses, cattle hedges and more than 55% of the olive – and other trees. They even have prohibited the fishermen to fish in the sea of Gaza. It is a very dangerous plan against our people and against the sources of their livelihood and economy. It further seeks to forbid our people from regaining their land and establishing their independent state of Palestine with the Holy Jerusalem as its capital