On this day 32 years ago, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat declared from Algiers the independence of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.

"In the name of God and in the name of the Palestinian Arab people, the National Council declares the creation of the State of Palestine on our Palestinian land with noble Jerusalem as its capital," declared Arafat on November 15, 1988 at a meeting of the Palestinian National Council, the Palestinian parliament in exile, which convened in the Algerian capital.

The statement of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence was written by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.

The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and statehood has been universally recognized by the UN in 1947.

This declaration led to the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, and the recognition of the state of Palestine by a number of UN member states.

With this declaration, that was a turning point in the history of the Palestinian national liberation movement, when the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) confirmed Palestinian acceptance of the two-solution for the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Israel had accepted the two-state solution before its obtaining the recognition of its independence from the United Nations.

After 32 years since the declaration of independence, the Palestinians are witnessing serious violations committed by Israel, such as: Settlements and plans to annex the West Bank, the American "Deal of the Century" in which Washington recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and its denial of the rights of Palestinian refugees.

 

Source : Safa