Abbas says his hand “remains extended to peace, but not at any price”

The Palestinian president emphasizes that “peace begins with the right to an independent and sovereign Palestinian State”

Nov. 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has stressed that the Palestinians “will not abandon their search for freedom and independence” and has stressed his hand “remains extended to peace”, although “not at any price”, in a speech on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence.

“We will not deviate, we will not give in and we will not haggle over our rights and national constants,” he said. “Our hand remains extended for peace, but not at any price. Peace begins with our right to an independent and sovereign Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.

Thus, he has stressed that the existence and rights of the Palestinians “cannot be eliminated or ignored”, including the rights of return, self-determination and independence, while emphasizing that “any conversation about protecting the two-state solution “must begin with an immediate cessation of aggression against Gaza and an end to the crimes committed by the occupation forces and settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”

“We will not accept any plan or statement that indicates an expansionist intention,” he noted, after the Israeli Finance Minister, the far-right Bezalel Smotrich, recently defended the possibility of Israel annexing the West Bank in 2025, once the Republican Donald Trump arrives at the White House, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Abbas has also praised the relevance of the 1988 declaration of independence, written by the Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish and proclaimed from Algiers by the then leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Yasir Arafat, and has stressed that “it does not “It was a symbolic gesture.”

“It was a central objective of the Palestinian national struggle,” he noted, while arguing that “the declaration of independence paved the way for the principle of the two-state solution and for a just and comprehensive peace based on International Law.” and in United Nations resolutions”.

In this sense, he has called on the international community to support Palestine’s right to fully integrate into the UN and to recognize the State of Palestine to promote this solution, while applauding those who have taken this step, including Spain. , which announced its decision in May along with Norway and Ireland.