President Arafat addressing the Ministerial Meeting of OIC

Full text of the speech of President Arafat to the Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of Islamic Conference in Doha Qatar, [26 May 2001]

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Glory to (God)
Who did take His Servant
For a Journey by night

From the Sacred Mosque,
To the Farthest Mosque,
Whose precincts We did
Bless,- in order that we
Might show him some
Of Our Signs: for He
Is the One Who heareth
And seeth (all things)
Sadaqa Allahu Al Azhim

Your Highness Brother Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani,
President of the Islamic Summit, Prince of the fraternal State of Qatar,
Excellencies the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Peace, Gods mercy and blessings be with you from the Holy Land whose precincts God did bless, from Al Quds Asharif, Holy Jerusalem, the place of the nocturnal journey of our Prophet Muhammad, Gods prayers and peace be upon him, and the place of nativity of our lord Jesus Christ, peace be upon him.

Peace, Gods mercy and blessings be with you from steadfast Palestine and from the people of Palestine, who irrigate with their blood their holy land with Al Aqsa Intifada in defense of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, the Holy Mosque of Jerusalem (Haram Sharif), the Church of Nativity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and all the Christian and Islamic Holy Places. The spark that ignited this aggression against our people and holy sites was the visit made by Sharon, with agreement of Barak, to the Haram Sharif (the Holy Sanctuary). Following Sharons visit, the Israeli army opened fire on the worshipers at the Haram Sharif, despite our calls on Barak not to permit this provecative vist.

Peace be upon you from the land blessed by God, the first of the two Qiblas and the third after the two holy Mosques. It is the land that is being exposed to the conspiracy of judaization, and Zionist settlement with the aim of uprooting our history that goes deep in time and existence. It is the great international conspiracy that made our homeland, territory, history and holy places free to grab in contravention of any human justice or international legitimacy. The masses of our Palestinian people, who are in garrison to the Day of Judgement, as our gracious Prophet had said, are irrigating with their blood the land of Palestine, its plains, mountains, historic and holy places. How many are the heinous massacres perpetrated by the Israeli occupiers at the Holy Al Aqsa Mosque against the worshipers as they were praying in the presence of God during the month Ramadan in which was sent down the Quran, as a guide To mankind, also clear (Signs) For guidance and judgement (Between right and wrong), at the Holy Ibrahimi Mosque, at the Prayer at dawn where the treacherous bullets of the settlers and the Israeli occupation army sawed the souls of innocent people as they were worshiping God to protect their land and holy places. In addition, there are the monstrous massacres against our unarmed people carried out by missiles and bombs shelled from the F-16 war planes, the Apache helicopters, tanks and artillery, their missiles and internationally prohibited bombs, including depleted uranium, poison gases and radioactive material used against our Palestinian people, their institutions and facilities, their homes, farms and factories.

Your Highness Brother Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani,

Excellencies the Ministers of Foreign Affairs,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is the eighth consecutive month of this unjust war of aggression waged by the Government of Israel, its army and settlers against our people, our land, our Palestinian Authority, and its apparatuses, installations and security forces. It is a destructive war of aggression that aims at uprooting our people from their land, and the extirpation of our history and holy places from this Holy Land, whose precincts God did bless. It is an aggressive war aimed at the extermination of our existence from our homeland, the only homeland that we have, and from our lands, the land of the nocturnal journey of Prophet Muhammad, Gods prayers and peace be upon him, and the land of the nativity our lord Jesus Christ, peace upon him. They try by all means to obliterate and destroy our Islamic And Christian holy places, and judaize our Holy Jerusalem.

The Government of Israel lays siege to our people for the eighth consecutive month, bombards cities, bulldozes land, demolishes factories and installations, destroys bridges and residential areas and kills children while they are in the bosoms of their mothers and fathers. Which conscience in this world can remain silent in the face of killing the child Muhammad Durra? Which conscience in this world can remain silent while the shells penetrate the body of four months old child Iman Hijjou as she was sucking the breast of her mother? Did she threaten the Israeli security with her missiles and tank bombs in order to kill her?! as they and their media with the help of some foregn medias spread lies all the time!!.

Yes, indeed, this is a destructive war of aggression aimed at exterminating our people, destroying their existence, entity and holy places without giving due consideration to human rights and international legality. Our people are facing this destructive war and these crimes and massacres perpetrated by the Government of Israel over fifty years. Will the world forget the massacre of Deir Yassin or the massacre of Dawaymeh, of Lod and Ramla in 1948? Will the world forget the massacres of Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps? Will the world forget the massacres at the Holy Al Aqsa Mosque, the Holy Ibrahimi Mosque and the other crimes and massacres? During the last eight months we lost in the blessed Al Aqsa Intifada 600 martyrs and more than 28 thousand injured among them huge numbers of children, women and elderly!

Our Palestinian people, who are in garrison to the Day of Judgement, in Holy Jerusalem and in its precincts, call upon you and upon all brothers, friends and the international community, to stop this destructive Israeli war of aggression which is sawing every day the lives of our children and people. These souls do not find in the international community anyone who stands up in the face of aggressive Ito tell her: Enough killing the Palestinian people, who have the right, as all other peoples in the world, to live in freedom, dignity and independence on the territory of their homeland, in their independent state and in their Holy Jerusalem, the eternal capital of independent Palestine.

Why this absolute incapacity in the UN Security Council in the face of this war of aggression waged by the Government of Israel against our people? Who imposes this complete silence on the UN Security Council? Is it double standards and the total bias in favour of aggression and the aggressors at the cost of international norms and laws and at the cost of the victims of our people, our land and our Christian and Islamic holy places that fall under the Omari concordat, which we are fully commeted to it and respect it?

Your Highness Brother Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani,

Excellencies the Ministers of Foreign Affairs,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The history of these Islamic meetings at the level of the summit and at the level of foreign ministers is connected to this great conspiracy against our people, our homeland, Palestine, Holy Jerusalem and our Christian and Islamic holy places. Despite the important decisions adopted by the recent Islamic summit, convened in the fraternal State of Qatar, to stop the aggression and to protect our holy sites, the Israeli aggressors become more obstinate. They continued their aggression against our people, homeland and holy places because they are not afraid of punishment be imposed on them, be they political or diplomatic or economic, to force them to stop their aggression. Frankly, I say, the Israeli aggressors enjoy complete protection of and total support for their aggression from the dominating and hegemonic forces in the international community. Regrettably, the Israeli aggressors continue to receive the protection even though we have accepted the resolutions of the international legitimacy and agreed that they be the road to achieve just peace which will guarantee for us our national rights, full and complete, in our homeland and holy places and in our holy Jerusalem. The conspiracy however was unmasked and appeared in its most ugly face. The Israelis continued judaizing Holy Jerusalem, especially what they announced recently that Sharon received the architectural designs to build a synagogue in the courtyard of the Haram Sharif as a basis for building the Temple as they claim. In addition, they continued building more settlements and expanding already existing ones in- and outside Holy Jerusalem, instead of vacating them in compliance with the resolutions of international legitimacy which call for the Israeli withdrawal from all our occupied territories, and which consider these settlements as illegal actions.

Our Palestinian people hold fast to their land, holy Jerusalem and their holy places. They will not forsake any iota of dust of their homeland. They will not give up any of the resolutions of international legitimacy. They will not surrender the right of return of the Palestinian refugees which they have in fulfillment of UNGA Resolution 194 which stipulate the right of refugees to return to their homeland and homes from which they were unjustly displaced at the point of the gun.

Your Highness, Brother Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani,

Excellencies, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs,

The issue of Palestine is your issue. The issue of Jerusalem and its holy places are your issue and your holy places. There is no way to save Holy Jerusalem from the dangers of judaization and the cancerous settlements creeping on the Holy City except by your firm, solid and full of faith stand, as an Arab and Islamic nation, in the face of this wicked aggression and dangerous aggressors as well as in the face of those who protect the Israeli aggressors from international legality, and the legality of human rights and the United Nations.

The danger is imminent. It is grave. Henceforth it can not be stopped by statements of denunciation, condemnation and censure. There is no way but to take a firm stand that puts aggression and the aggressors in shackles, and that ensures the right of our people to live in their homeland free from occupation, settlements, racist aggression and military escalation. The Government of Israel is pressing on in these practices because it thinks that by force and omnipotent power and by the most modern weapons of destruction, murder and annihilation it will be able to subdue our people, judaize their Holy Jerusalem and annul their right to independence, sovereignty and a free and dignified life in their homeland. It forgets that our people are omnipotent giants who will not be disparaged or resign, and who will continue their steadfastness and sacrifices until a young boy or girl will be able to hoist the flag of Palestine, on behalf of our nation, on the walls of Jerusalem, the minarets of Jerusalem and the Churches of Jerusalem. They see it far, we see it near. We say the truth. And to enter your Temple As they had entered it before, And to visit with destruction All that fell into their power. (Sadaqa Allahu Al Azhim).

Your Highness, Brother Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani,

Excellencies, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs,

Our steadfast, persevering and mujahid people pin great hopes on you. You are their support. You are the Arab Islamic bulwark on whom they depend in their jihad and sacrifices, in their patience and perseverance in making sacrifices. Our people await an Islamic Arab stand as well as a stand from all believing Christians, the Non-Aligned countries and from all friends the world over. They are awaiting this stand that will give them support, encouragement and solidify their steadfastness in the face of the Israeli war machine, and its ongoing escalation against our people and holy places. They are awaiting a stand that supports their steadfastness in the face of the Israeli actions of destruction caused to our people, to their towns, villages and refugee camps, as well as in the face of bulldozing our green lands, the demolition of our factories and installations and vital facilities, the demolition of our infra- and supra-structures; the economic and financial siege, the holding of our tax revenues, the siege imposed on supplies and medicine and the prohibition of our workers to work whose number exceed 360 thousand workers, and in the face of the other forms of siege and starvation.

Dear Brothers,

We are for a just, full and comprehensive peace in our region and on all Arab tracks. We are for the peace of the brave for the sake of our children and their children. In the wake of these circumstances, dangerous military escalation and the current situation, we do not find what is better than the Egyptian-Jordanian initiative and the recommendations of the Mitchell Commission, particularly its recommendation for a final and complete freeze on settlements. We have agreed to freeze settlements and stop their expansion after the Oslo agreement with our late partner Rabin, who was assassinated by these extremist Zionist forces, who do not want peace or any agreement but want military escalation, and to bring our Palestinian people and our Arab and Islamic nation to their knees, and to judaize the Christian and Islamic holy sites, as they are doing in Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour. There is an international consensus on this initiative and the report of the Mitchell Commission which was established as a result of the Sharm Sheikh meeting in which the USA, the European Union, the Secretary General of the UN, Egypt and Jordan participated. Why do we not follow upon this to put a mechanism of implementation by convening a new conference of Sharm Sheikh in which the Russian Federation, the other co-sponsor of the peace process can participate and in which representatives of the Islamic Summit, the Committee on Jerusalem and other international forces are present. Why do we not exert all international efforts so that they be accepted and implemented by Israel, which tries to rid itself from all agreements and commitmensigned by the various Israeli Governments? The government of Israel continue to evade all resolutions of the international legitimacy. In this attempt, Israel is being covered and protected by the rejection to let the UN Security Council adopt a resolution on international forces or observers to proveide for international protection to our people in the face of this total Israeli aggression against our homeland, people and holy places.

Our people pin great hopes on you and on your stand. They are fully confident that Holy Jerusalem and beloved Palestine are held in trust by you, and that you will not jeopardize this trust that God, Al Mighty, has put in you til the Day of Judgement.

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, We will, without doubt,
Help Our apostles and those
Who believe, (both)
In this worlds life
And on the Day
When the witnesses
Will stand forth,
Sadaga Allahu Al Azhim.