RAMALLAH, November 24, 2008 (WAFA)- President Mahmoud Abbas was elected, Sunday,  President of the Palestinian State, by the Central Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

The President pledged, in a speech he pronounced, Monday, on this occasion, to continue working with all the Palestinian national forces, institutions and people’s activities, to realize the Palestinian aspiration of establishing their independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He said in his speech that, he feels the greatness of the responsibility to preserve the Palestinian people’s accomplishments, and protecting its unity, and the unity of its only legitimate representative; the PLO. He stressed that the PLO is the safe path to “reserving our national rights, especially the right of return, self-determination and establishing our national state on the territory occupied in 1967.”

The President reiterated that the Palestinians’ rights are based on the Palestinian legitimacy represented by the Declaration of Independence in 1988, and the Arab peace initiative in 2002, and the international legitimacy acknowledging the Palestinians’ right to establishing their independent state and that Palestinian refugees have the right to return according to UN resolution 194.

President Abbas concluded by calling for simultaneous presidential and legislative elections based on proportional representation, and saying, “our hands are stretched out for a Palestinian national dialogue.”