RAMALLAH, Monday, November 14, 2022 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas today stated that the first step towards peace and stability is the recognition of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

Speaking on the 34^th anniversary of declaration of independence, President Mahmoud said that the recognition of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, as enshrined in United Nations resolutions, notably the right to self-determination and the establishment of the independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, marks the first step towards bringing peace and stability.

He described the declaration of independence proclaimed by late President Yasser Arafat before Palestine National Council on November 15^th 1988 as an important juncture in the history of the Palestinian question as it has paved the way for a new phase of struggle based on the acceptance of the United Nations resolutions and the entry of Palestine into the international system as an essential partner in building the international community.

This phase, he pointed, was complemented by diplomatic and legal battle waged by the Palestinian leadership at the international arena as well as by the building of the democratic institutions of the state despite all schemes designed to obliterate the question of Palestine.

“We have gained the recognition of 140 states and the State of Palestine has acceded to scores of international organizations and institutions, enabling the transformation of the declaration of independence into an existing and (internationally-recognized) state, whose existence could not be denied nor ignored,” he added.

He stressed that the Palestinian people who has engaged in a long uphill struggle since the infamous Balfour Declaration would neither give up their national rights nor its fundamental principles to recover their legitimate rights and to establish their independent State on their own land, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

K.F.