Our interest and concern was focused on the importance of mobilizing the broadest international, Arab and Islamic support to achieve this purpose, and this was clear in Sharm Sheikh Summit which witnessed this wide international participation on the land of the brotherly country Egypt under the auspices of President Mubarak and in the presence of US President Bill Clinton, Jordanian King Abdallah II, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Javier Solana who represents the European Union.

During the summit, President Yasser Arafat presented the facts about what the Palestinian people are suffering in terms of aggression, siege and military reinforcements at the entrances of cities, villages, camps and the Palestinian basic facilities. President Arafat stated that the Palestinian people suffered in the past three weeks continuous attacks and shelling from the sea and land and rocket launching, which resulted in the death of 160 martyrs and more than 4,500 wounded.

Our people have remained steadfast in the face of the aggression, thus gaining the respect of the whole world and resulting in the issuing of UN Security Council resolution 1322, which condemned the Israeli aggression and stressed on the need to form an international inquiry commission to show the world the reasons of the aggression and set up the guarantees to protect the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian people affirmed during the summit on the inevitability of stopping the aggression and the end of all exceptional measures, including the end of the siege and the withdrawal of Israeli military troops and the formation of an international inquiry commission and the implementation of the signed agreements and the implementation of international legitimacy resolutions 242 and 338.

The Palestinian Leadership assures that the results in the Sharm Sheikh summit, although they did not meet the expectations of the Palestinian people and the Arab nation, but as President Mubarak said, constitute a basis upon which one can build upon if intentions are true and if there are real desires to achieve peace.

The Leadership stresses that the accurate implementation of the commitments made by Israel in the summit, including the end of the siege and the withdrawal of its troops and the formation of the international inquiry commission, will be the real indicator of the true intentions and the abiding by the commitments.

The whole world realizes the credibility of the leadership in abiding and honoring its commitments and its concern to achieve a just, permanent and comprehensive peace based on the principles of Madrid Conference; the leadership affirms that the our people did not initiate the violence but were a victim of the violence; our people will remain firm on protecting their national cause, legitimate rights, lands, holy sites and the objectives of the blessed Aqsa Intifada that constitutes a peaceful and popular form of expression in confronting the aggression, occupation and terror of the settlers. The Palestinian leadership totally rejects all Israeli claims regarding secret agreements reached at the Sharm Sheikh Summit.

The Palestinian Leadership reaffirms its appreciation and pride in the important role played by the Arab Egyptian Republic under the leadership of President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak; this Egyptian role which culminated in the holding of the Arab summit scheduled on October 21-22; this summit which the Palestinian and Arab masses look forward to with all confidence and hope that this summit will take its central role in supporting the cause of our people and their national legitimate rights and the support of the just and permanent peace on the basis of international legitimacy, including our people's right in return and self determination and the establishment of the independent state with al-Quds al-Shareef and the support of all Arab tracks towards achieving their just goals.

Published on Tuesday - October 17, 2000