Following is the statement issued by the National and Islamic Forces on March 24, 2001; signatories are: Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fateh); Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas); Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP); Palestinian People’s Party (PPP); Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA); Palestinian Popular Struggle Front; Palestinian Liberation Front; Islamic Jihad Movement; Arab Liberation Front; Palestinian Arab Front; Popular Front—General Command; Islamic National Salvation Party; and Popular Liberation War Pioneers (Sa’iqa):

Our great Palestinian masses
Our Arab and Islamic Masses
Our heroes of the Intifada of the Aqsa, Al-Quds, Independence, and Return

On the occasion of the Hijra Anniversary and the new Hijra Year, the National and Islamic Forces extend congratulations to the Palestinian people and to our Arab and Islamic nation. On this occasion, we call for heading to the Aqsa Mosque for prayers and affirm the right of our Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland and their properties from which they were evicted; we refuse all attempts of resettlement, rehabilitation and compensation, including the temptations to leave the homeland; we cling to the right of return and remain steadfast on the land of Palestine.

The Arab Summit in Amman which will be held on March 27, 2001, will come after the meeting between the slaughterer Sharon and President George Bush and after the revealing of the ugly conspiracy that Sharon wants the US administration to adopt. Sharon demanded exerting pressure on the Arab Summit to refrain from supporting the Intifada and the steadfastness of the Palestinian people; he also demanded from Washington to stop the US military assistance to Egypt.

The National and Islamic Forces condemn the Israeli criminal aggression on the land. The Forces condemn also the US policies that are biased towards the Zionist entity and that support this aggression through supporting the policies of the terrorist Sharon who insists on reaching long-term interim agreements that aim to reinforce the Zionist occupation on our lands through qualitative armament. They are trying to impose Zionist hegemony on our Arab and Islamic nation. They want to continue the oppressive aggression on Iraq and its struggling people; they want to split the Arab solidarity and reinforce division and subordination and transform the summit into a tool of frustration to the nation.

In order to confront the vicious Zionist and Imperialistic assault, the National and Islamic Forces affirm what was mentioned in the open letter directed to the Arab kings and leaders. The letter demand the necessity to impose a total isolation on the government of criminal Sharon and to refuse any negotiations with it and close all Arab capitals in front of its envoys to tighten the international isolation on the government of slaughterers to expedite its departure. The diplomatic and economic ties with the Zionist entity must be severed. The ambassadors of the Zionist entity must be expelled from Arab countries and its embassies closed. The letter also stressed on the reactivation of the Arab boycott system against the Zionist entity until the aggression stops and until the national rights of the Palestinian people are regained.

The National and Islamic Forces stress on demanding from the summit to secure the arrival of economic and financial assistance to the steadfastness of our people and to cancel the bureaucratic impediments and to express the renewal of support and raise it to meet the urgent needs of the people who are confronting the siege imposed on them.

The National and Islamic Forces affirm the need for Arab solidarity and consensus over the cause of our people and the condemnation of the US policy towards Jerusalem and to confirm the severing of ties with any country that decides to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

The National and Islamic Forces stress in the need to have a unified Arab position that supports Iraq and its heroic people and work on its return to the Arab context so as to activate its national role in supporting our just cause and lift the siege imposed on it and denounce the US policy against it.

On the 25th anniversary of the eternal Land Day, the National and Islamic Forces extend to our struggling and steadfast masses inside the Green Line appreciation and declare solidarity with the call of the Higher Follow up Committee on observing a general strike on Friday, March 30, to include all the lands of Palestine from the River to the Sea and from Naqoura till Rafah.

The National and Islamic Forces call upon our masses to participate in the following activities:

1- Tuesday, March 27, 2001, a day of rage and challenge on the occasion of the Arab Summit Conference, demanding the clinging to Arab and Islamic dignity and support the steadfast of our people and their blessed Intifada and Arab solidarity to lift the siege on our people in the brotherly Iraq to be expressed in popular marches in every location and appropriate in every situation towards the breaking of the Israeli oppressive siege.
2- Friday, March 30, 2001, the Land Day, a day of a general strike in solidarity with our people in the lands occupied in 1948, and head towards the land to confront the settlers and plant olive trees and affirm the deep roots of the Palestinian people on their blessed lands.
 
The National and Islamic Forces express their pride in the creative initiatives that were taken by popular and official institutions and federations towards broadening the basis of participation in the blessed Intifada, calling for more creativity and variety in activities; the forces call on the popular conference to support the Intifada in Ramallah District which will start its works on March 27, 2001, to ratify a political document and a societal document and then to participate in the general march at 12: 30 pm with the hope that the this conference be the start of popular conference to support the Intifada all over the homeland.

Long live the blessed Intifada
Glory and eternity for our martyrs
Fast recovery to the injured and freedom for our heroic prisoners
It is an Intifada until victory