THE PALESTINIAN DELEGATION
OPENING STATEMENT TO THE MULTILATERAL TALKS
MOSCOW
JANUARY 28, 1992
To our gracious host, the government of the Republic of Russia.
The Palestinian delegation is here in Moscow to participate in this
phase of the peace process as a people with a totality of identity and
rights. In this emerging era of the affirmation of principles human
rights, democracy, international legality and empowerment through
cooperation and reconciliation within a universal vision of
interpendence [sic] and joint development we claim a place for
ourselves among the community of nations. On the basis of these
principles, we aim to exercise our right to freedom, self-determination
and statehood. From occupied Jerusalem, the heart and capital of
Palestine, we bring a message of peace and affection to historic Moscow,
the heart and capital of Russia, in a shared authentication of culture
and identity. From the Palestinian to the Russian people, we convey a
message of good will and friendship. To the co-sponsors and organizers,
we convey our appreciation.
Distinguished ministers and colleagues;
The people of Palestine are striving to maintain the integrity of the
peace process and to generate a dynamic for peace which can become
self-perpetuating, driven by a lucid and compelling vision of peace and
an unwavering commitment to justice. The Palestine Liberation
Organization, in its historic peace initiative of November 1988, has
charted a new course for the genuine and peaceful resolution of the
Palestinian-Israeli (hence Arab-Israeli) conflict. It has constantly
supported and advanced the cause of genuine peace based on international
legitimacy and justice. Our participation in these multilateral
negotiations is the direct outcome of its constructive efforts and
resolve.
The Palestinian delegation to Moscow is truly representative and
comprehensive, for it encompasses all of the occupied Palestinian land,
including Jerusalem, as well as representation from the two-thirds of
the Palestinian people in exile. Such representation is essential to the
purposes of these multilateral negotiations which seek to address issues
of regional import, permanent status proposals and concerns pertinent to
the Palestinian people as a whole.
In Madrid, we stood before the world and offered a positive vision of
the future based on mutuality, reciprocity and equality between the
Palestinian and Israeli peoples. We maintain this vision and we believe
these principles are the basis of a new and better order in the Middle
East.
Yet, between Madrid and Moscow falls a shadow which casts darkness on
this assembly of nations in search of peace, prosperity, human dignity,
and the wholeness of nature.
The skies over occupied Palestine are overcast and the Palestinian
people are held captive, a collective hostage to Israeli political
dictates and manipulation, and a human shield before the politics of
dominance and aggression. Israel has voraciously devoured more of our
land and water, encroaching on East Jerusalem, and evicting Palestinian
families of Silwan from East Jerusalem, and evicting Palestinian
families of Silwan from their homes. Peace itself is under siege. Our
people's intifada continues to present the challenge of the human will
in its struggle for authenticity and human assertion in the face of
brute force and state violence. it is the essence of a pledge of peace
and dignity.
Since Madrid, Israel has expanded and escalated its illegal settlement
activities, in an attempt to create a fait accompli and to superimpose a
spurious and illegal Israeli grid and topography on a defenseless land
and an ancient culture. Since Madrid, Israel has imposed prolonged and
cruel curfews on our towns and legalizes settler vigilante violence
against our vulnerable and unsuspecting families. Since Madrid, the
Israeli army has carried out systematic nightly raids on Palestinian
homes, dragging sleepy children and parents from their beds, beating
them mercilessly and scattering their possessions. Many hundreds have
been detained without charge or trial, and prison conditions have become
studies in gratuitous cruelty.
The expulsion orders issued against twelve Palestinians this month
complete a pattern of horror, whereby Palestinian lives and rights are
devalued, Israeli morality distorted, and international legality
flouted.
Despite our baptism by fire, we persist in our quest for peace. We have
engaged in direct bilateral negotiations with our oppressors, and have
brought them to meet us face to face as equals and as people who refuse
to succumb to the forces of mutual dehumanization. We have been positive
and forthcoming, offering concrete and democratic proposals capable of
bridging the abyss between occupation and freedom. They have remained
negative and have held back, prisoners of their occupier mentality of
intimidation and coercion. To them, we say, as in the Holy Koran, "Walk
not proudly in the land, for thou canst not cleave the earth, neither
shall thou equal the mountains in stature." To them we say, relinquish
that which is not yours, restore to us that which is ours, so that we
can jointly enjoy the fruits of peace and of this earth.
Thus we have earnestly sought to make the bilateral talks succeed
despite Israeli intransigence and extremist statements and actions. We
firmly believe that the accomplishments of the bilaterals will pave the
way for the success of the multilateral talks insofar as the former
address the root causes of instability and conflict. The success of the
bilaterals is encapsulated in the basic essential requisite of Israeli
withdrawal from all the occupied territories and a firm and conclusive
end to the Israeli occupation. Without the proper political resolutions,
regional cooperation cannot be initiated or maintained for the
underlying conflicts will constantly undermine whatever regional
agreements are concluded on the shaky premises of unresolved disputes
and unjust conditions.
Before this august assembly we state: our claims and aspirations are
modest and just. As you assess the regional environment, lend a thought
to the tear gas choking our children and clinging to our streets and
homes. Save our trees from uprooting by settler violence or army decree,
for we have put a lot of ourselves into their nurturing. Deflect the
bulldozer from our homes and let it not turn living environments into
unseemly rubble. Restore our land to enable us to thrive with it and on
it. Give us back our water so we can plant and revive our pastures and
orchards.
AS you discuss water, remember our parched earth and dry wells, for 78%
of what is ours is forbidden to us. As you carefully negotiate arms
control, remember our thousands wounded and hundreds killed by army
fire, and let the soldiers withdraw from our towns, villages and camps,
for we are a civilian population. And do not forget that Israeli
warplanes relentlessly rain terror on defenseless Lebanese and
Palestinian civilians. While you wrestle with the nuclear horror in our
midst, with Israel manufacturing and stockpiling weapons of mass
destruction, think also of the weapons of individual destruction aimed
at our children and people for the horror of murder is one, and all
human lives are equal before God and humanity.
When you turn to economic development, cast a glance our way and note
the deliberate deprivation of our people as the occupation pursues its
policy of economic strangulation and regression. Restricted permits and
licenses, exorbitant and illegal taxes, customs and fines, restrictions
on exports, curfews and closed military areas, racist magnetic cards and
green identity cards that ban our workers from their livelihoods all
are manifestations of willful economic destruction.
When you speak of refugees, remember that dispossession and dispersion
are particularly cruel and brutal violations of the collective humanity,
history, culture and future of a whole people. Exile is a negation of
home and homeland, a wrenching of the natural continuum of a nation, and
a violent distortion of identity. A people cannot develop and flourish
when it is severed and divided. The right of return is a just and
legally binding right, guaranteed by the international community and its
institutions. Nevertheless, despite exile and occupation, we remain
whole the nation of Palestine and here we affirm this wholeness,
and we are determined to exercise it in statehood.
In the words of Jesus: " As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine," so are we as a people. Severed from the
stem and roots, we can neither bear fruit, nor survive. The PLO,
representing the entire Palestinian people, is the stem through which
the sap of life flows from the roots deeply embedded in our land and
nourishes the branches of our people both under occupation and in exile.
Jerusalem is the live-giving [sic] sun whose warmth and light give and
preserve life. The organic analogy holds true, for many have paid with
their lives preserving and protecting the living reality of Palestine
and the Palestinians.
Thus we are empowered to thrive and to grow and to join this conference
as one among equals not as a recipient of aims or as defenseless
orphans. If this conference constructs a paradigm of disequilibrium,
then it will incorporate within itself the elements of its own
destruction. If it consecrates the discourse of disproportion, then its
substance is as weak as its most deprived constituent. To this we say:
"... give full measure, when you measure aught, and weigh with a just
balance" (The Holy Koran). For what is in the balance here is not our
material well-being alone, but the fate of human beings, the values
which imbue life with quality and meaning, and the future of peace for
humanity as a whole.
Our tormented region cannot be fragmented, nor can our concerns be
treated as a set of discrete, isolated entities. One standard must be
applied to all and aggression must never be rewarded. In this age of
global interdependence, we make a plea for wholeness so that this may
become an "epoch of expansion" not one of diminished concentration. Let
us look outward beyond the narrow confines of self-interest and the
convulusion [sic] of self-absorption, and reach out in magnanimity and
confidence to encompass others in order to create commonality in
variety.
The Palestinian people recognize that "the harvest is truly great, but
the labourers are few." We have long labored to assert that in the
fullness of time the harvest will be one of peace and prosperity which
are common to all peoples. Such a global vision stems from a recognition
of the fragile nature of life on this long-abused planet.
The Middle East must reclaim its role as the cradle and defender of
civilization, and must not degenerate into a flashpoint of endless
strife. A bridge with strong foundations must be built over the chasm
that threatens the world with the depths of destruction.
We stand here today as builders, with a message of hope and promise. We
pledge ourselves to the enormous tasks which lie ahead, undaunted by the
magnitude of the challenge. The choice belongs to all of us: to
determine whether the Middle East enters the new century under the
shadow of continued violence and injustice or in the light of peace and
progress.