In the name of God, the Compassionate and the Merciful,

I looked for an appropriate verse from the Holy Quran and I found the following verse:

(Because of this, we wrote about the sons of Israel that whoever kills a human life or whoever spread corruption on earth, it is as if he killed all human beings and whoever saves one life, it is as if he saved the lives of all human beings)

This verse applies today, what they did against their own people in terms of killing and dispersion and slaughtering and destruction against their own people.

My dear sisters and brothers,

We meet today in the context of the PLO Central Council in its capacity as the highest Palestinian authority in the absence of the Palestinian National Council. This meeting will have a historical role and importance as our national projects is being subjected to a clear attack that aims to destroy it; this project which we laid down its pillars with blood and sacrifices for the last forty years.

It is the project of regaining the unity of the people and homeland through the return of the dispersed people to their homeland and the establishment of a Palestinian independent state with al-Quds al-Shareef as its capital and so that this state can have democratic pillars that allow our people to grow and develop and to keep up with the modern developments and progress in the world and to end ignorance and close-mindedness and to give the next generations a chance to live a free and dignified life.

We have struggled along with the past generations against the occupation and against the dispersion and disunity of our homeland and people. This struggle escalated under our national flag which was raised by the heroes of the 1936 Revolution and who protected this flag with their lives and they defended our right to live in our homeland under the leadership of martyr Abdul Qader al-Husseini in 1948, and this flag was raised by the great leaders and strugglers who fired the first bullet at the start of our contemporary national revolution under the leadership of Yasser Arafat since 1965.

This flag is being trodden under the feet by groups which considered the Palestinian national project that we protected one generation after the other as contradicting with their dark project; they replaced the Palestinian flag with their factional flag which has no connection with the history of our people and their struggle and sacrifices. Then, they moved even further to insult every national symbol of our struggle symbols, including the home of the leader martyr Yasser Arafat and the leader martyr Abu Jihad and they also destroyed the statue of the Anonymous Soldier's Site in the center of Gaza city; this statue which points in its finger towards Jerusalem; this anonymous soldier who is the symbol of the sacrifices of the martyrs and Palestinian strugglers and the unity of the Palestinian, Egyptian and Arab blood.

What can I say to respond to such insults to our national heritage and values; I can only say this verse:

In the name of God, the Compassionate and Merciful,

Don’t be like those who breached their vows and promises

We are one homeland for one people. I tried using all methods, including the continuous dialogue before, during and after Mecca Agreement with patience to solve the internal problems and to prevent the dangers of the civil war and protect the Palestinian blood and institutions so that the democratic process can proceed and so that this homeland wont face another Nakba that can give the occupation another chance to continue with its schemes to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the borders of 1967.

I always remained silent in front of the wounds they caused and I made concessions that many didn’t approve and all of this just because I wanted to avoid reaching a dark future that can threaten our national soil and the future of our national project. We all remember how we worked since the national reconciliation document until we reached to Mecca Agreement in order to find common denominators that can open room for unity to prevail over disunity.

But the scheme of separating Gaza from the West Bank and the establishment of a semi-state consisting of one color controlled by one wing which is known for its fanaticism and extremism. This scheme was prepared for at the military and political levels through the establishment and expansion of an armed militia belonging to this wing alone which was planning to seize the authority in our beloved Gaza Strip.

I preempted this scheme by calling for dissolving the Executive Force because it is illegitimate and because it prevents the security services from performing their duties and because it reflects coup intentions against the PNA institutions, and I used to call for merging this force in our existing security institutions and apparatuses and in further confirmation on our good intentions, I agreed to include the members of the Executive Force in the security services although this was violation to some provisions of the law and I did this to close all doors in front of excuses and to prevent the tension that can lead to the explosion.

During that period, the series of assassinations continued against the cadres and commanders of the security apparatuses and its various institutions and against the leaders and cadres of Fatah Movement in Gaza Strip. We witnessed acts of murder and executions that we have never seen before throughout our history and all of these acts were executed on the basis of accusing others of treason and unfaithfulness and on the basis of exclusion and the operations of hateful incitement and inciting emotions and barbaric instincts.

I worked recently on establishing a joint operations room that included everybody without any exception and we started to conduct changes in the command of the security services to enable them to perform their duties in an efficient manner. But the preplanned scheme which was approved by Hamas leadership inside Palestine and abroad and with regional parties came to block our attempts to prevent the disaster and tragedy. On this occasion, I want to go back in time a little and remind everyone that after we formed the government and we brought a person who claims that he is independent who is Hani al-Qawasmi as Interior Minister and I remember I told him in the presence of the PM: what do you want to do? He said: A security plan to clean up the Strip from the security chaos. I told him in front of everyone: all the security apparatuses are at your disposal, then he set up many demands and I agreed to all of his demands because he was threatening that he would resign. I agreed to all his demands because I wanted matters to move forward and to have real action to fight the security chaos. After we concluded all matters, and he was supposed to start with the operation the next day, he announced his resignation and he said he doesn’t want to work. I said then: the PM will assume the Interior Ministry Portfolio and let work start, but unfortunately work started with assassinations, strikes and killing everywhere to execute their scheme.

And who is saying that we set up the obstacles, we overcome all the obstacles in order for the national unity government to succeed and to give a model that there is a national unity government but they were hiding themselves behind their scheme.

These groups attacked the headquarters of the national security forces, the intelligence apparatus, the preventive security apparatus and the presidential guard forces and atrocities were committed and these acts are strange to our heritage and traditions in terms of the killings and executions in the streets and throwing strugglers from rooftops. They also executed acts of looting against the security institutions and headquarters and against NGOs and against Christian institutions and even churches were attacked; a church was looted and burnt in Gaza and this church is one of the oldest churches in Palestine and this church existed in Palestine even before our presence in Palestine; there were churches and Christians who lived there and they are our brothers, now we discover that they are our enemies and that they have to leave; this explained what happened in the churches and this is the least that we can say: this is disgraceful to the Palestinian people and it is disgraceful for those who committed these acts; it is shameful for those murderers who attacked homes of hundreds of cadres of the Authority and homes of innocent civilians and against the symbols of the national sovereignty, including the Presidential Headquarters and other posts. After they occupied and destroyed the looted the presidential headquarters, some thugs sat in the offices; they said it is possible to hand over al-Muntada to some people; but we say no dialogue with those murderers; I don’t know in our history any force or group that kills its own people and violates their homes and properties and insults their national symbols like these groups did in Gaza during that black week.

Why did all this happen? And under what religion was it committed? God forbid to say that these acts were done in the name of religion; the religion is innocent of such acts and of such people because Islam calls for tolerance and compassion and calls for freedom; this is not Islam. This is strange and far away from Islam; Islam is innocent from such acts or cause or sect. this happened against the courageous and steadfast Gaza and it happened only to satisfy the sick dream of establishing the Emirate of darkness and ignorance and to control by force the lives and thoughts and future of 1.5 million members of our great people in Gaza Hashem.

Those who tried to simplify matters and picture this as a conflict between Fatah and Hamas are wrong. It is a conflict between the national project and the militias' project: between the one homeland project and the project of the Emirate or the semi-state; between a project that aims to impose its conditions by force and to establish their own closed system and a project that depended on democracy, dialogue and national participation as means to solve disputes; between those who resort to assassinations and killings and executions and planning conspiracies to achieve their factional purposes and those who resort to the rule of the law and who show concern and save the unity of the homeland and people.

I pose here to say that one month ago, I received news that Hamas Movement planted a mine in Salah Eddin Street and that when I pass in that area, they will blast the mine and this information is confirmed by the security services but they lacked precise information on the exact location.

But I went to Gaza in my last visit and I am a believer and I don’t care and I traveled there and insisted to go to Gaza and while I was there, a videotape came to me from Hamas, from parties inside Hamas, from one person in Hamas; I saw the tape and I saw in that tape six persons with their faces showing clearly and they wore Hamas signs and they were talking and they were dragging a mine weighing no less than 250kgs and pushing it under the ground; till here, one can say that this was planned for the Israelis and that they want to plant it there as precaution; they were digging and pushing it in the ground and they said in the tape: this is for Abu Mazen; this is for Abu Mazen; this is for Abu Mazen and the next one will be for the Preventive Security Apparatus. This tape had image and sound and the faces are known and the people are known and for those who want to see it, I sent the tape to Khaled Mash'al in Damascus, he denied at first even before he watched the tape and I was sure of the messenger who brought the tape to me and they sent it to Khaled Mash'al so that he can give them the exact time to blast the mine.

This is a case I sent to all Arab countries and non-Arab countries to see the level of criminal acts of this dark groups which aims to execute the coup.

Today, I address our great people in Gaza and I tell them that the coup project wont last long and has no future and will become a painful part in the memory as soon as possible. But we will work with you our people in Gaza so that our people in Gaza can avoid the pain and suffering resulting from this treacherous coup. We will exert all efforts to prevent the economic, financial or humanitarian siege and we will continue to show our commitment towards our people who show concern for the unity of the people and homeland and who refuse to make any compromises on the unity. Don’t feel sad; you will prevail eventually.

Within this context, I affirm our total rejection to any Israeli attempt that aims to exploit the acts committed by that group in Gaza and tighten the siege on our people in Gaza. This group that committed the coup placed their own factional interests as a priority at the expense of the interests of the people and homeland; they offered the best opportunity for all those who want to separate Gaza from the West Bank and they offered this chance for those who are working to punish an entire people because of the stupid and short-sighted acts of one group.

They can spend the funds on themselves just like they did during their government and after that they will leave the people to their own fate and they will do this; many funds arrive from many sources and they use these funds and they say: let the people go to hell. This is not the first time.

We are responsible for our entire people and for the unity of the homeland and for providing food for every individual there. As for those who plant the seeds of blind hatred and bloody splits, we will hold them accountable according to the law which will continue to cling to indefinitely. We will not act like them and we will not march in their dark alleys; we are civilized and democratic; any person who commits a crime will face trial; I will not say like them: "in killing you, I will enter paradise; and in killing your family and children, I will enter paradise". This is not our style and this is not part of our civilization and we will never accept this.

We have reached a new juncture where the previous calls for dialogue became useless; this coup has to end in all its forms, including the dissolution of the Executive Force which is the tool that executed the coup and we announced in a presidential decree that this force is an outlaw. Hamas leadership must apologize to the Palestinian people and to the PLO for the bloody coup crime they committed. They have to hand over all the PA institutions and its centers and headquarters to the new legitimate government of one unified Palestine and to work according to the decisions of this government on the basis of the law with regards to the violations, crimes, executions, looting and other violations that are still happening until this day in Gaza Strip.

I want to affirm at the same time that we are moving in our path towards the future and this group will not obstruct our work and will not succeed in derailing us from working to accomplish the freedom to our people and to ensure the security and safety of our people and their children and to enable them to get rid of the chains of poverty, deprivation, economic deterioration and unemployment.

For this purpose and in order to prevent this group from achieving its goals in disuniting the homeland and in order to stop them from inciting part of the people against another part and to prevent them from planting the seeds of continuous and permanent civil war, we discharged the former government and we declared a state of emergency and we formed a Palestinian national government consisting of independent national competent people headed by my brother Sr. Salam Fayyad so that it can assume its responsibilities in implementing a national program with security of the citizens as its basis and to secure dignified living conditions to the entire people in all parts of the homeland in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.

The formation of this government in this way came to affirm that we reject monopoly of the authority by one faction or group and to demonstrate that our Palestinian society which possesses potentials and qualified people is capable of producing a government that can protect its interests and that can end as soon as possible the crisis, collapse, poverty, famine and sabotage of the institutions.

The new government assuming its security responsibilities and its mission to secure dignified living conditions is the clear response to the coup and it is a proof that our people deserve to establish their independent state on their national soil and to build a new life full of hope and confidence that can provide development, prosperity to our children, men and women.

We affirm that enforcing the law and rule of the law and security will not remain a slogan in all parts of the homeland despite the abnormal situation in Gaza Strip. Our main goal is to prevent moving the internal fighting into the West Bank and the main goal is to implement the security plan and end the era of militias so that we will only have one sole weapon which is the legitimate weapon of the authority and to prevent any aggressions or violations from any party and to deal with the citizens on the basis of abiding by the law and not to punish people according to their affiliations or ideas and to allow people to exercise their individual, political, social and religious rights as long as this is done in accordance with the law.

We must give utmost importance to building and developing the police apparatus in line with building and developing the judiciary apparatus and to enable it to restore respect to the law. This is a vow we make: we will build an advanced independent judicial system as soon as possible.

I want to affirm that the schools, colleges and universities will only be places for education and enlightenment and not centers for ignorance and dark thoughts and nucleus to spread hateful thoughts that disperse and disunite the people and their social fabric. The mosques also need to be supported and developed so that they remain places for worship only and places to pray for God and not become centers for political propaganda and exploitation for any party or a warehouse for weapons of places for interrogating people.

Palestine with its Muslim and Christian people and with its various colors will remain an oasis of pluralism and respect of all ideologies and equality between the citizens in their rights and duties. We live in the country of the Nativity and the Isra' (related to Prophet Mohammed) and no one can derail us from this commitment.

The PNA was established based upon a decision from the Palestinian Central Council which commissioned the PNA to run the affairs of this part of the homeland until accomplishing the independence and the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Shareef as its capital. In front of these dangerous developments that face our national project, your respectful council here is called upon to take the decisions that support its previous decision on establishing the PNA and that can protect it from the threats and dangers.

The Palestinian Central Council is called on to remain in open permanent session so that it can contribute to bear the responsibilities of confronting the coup project and to denounce it from all ranks of our people. Your respectful council is also called on to support the PNA decisions, especially in facing the coup and in preventing it from achieving its goal to disunite the homeland and through supporting the new government and to stress that all the PLO institutions and communities of our people inside the homeland and in the Diaspora will provide this government with all trust and support and national and popular and legal support.

There is a need to discuss the conditions in the PNA institutions, especially the PLC, and to see to what level it is assuming its responsibilities despite the difficult conditions it passed through and despite the fact that Israel arrested a large number of its members.

But this is not excuse for not assuming its role and for obstructing its work for a period more than six months because its speaker house and Hamas members boycott its meetings and prevent it from holding the sessions. It is also necessary to discuss seriously the activation of the role of the PLO Executive Committee and to see that it holds regular meetings and to apply its decisions and to discuss expanding its membership according to its bylaws and to activate and develop the role of the PLO departments, especially towards the refugees' communities inside and outside Palestine.

We must work on reestablishing the Palestinian National Fund Board of Directors and commission the Executive Committee with this task and provide the funds needed so that it can assume its role in developing the performance of the PLO and its institutions.

There is a need for the continuation of the role of the National leadership committee to work on activating the PLO and to prepare to hold a meeting with the participation of the PLO Executive Committee and the representatives of the Palestinian national factions with the exception of Hamas.

We are enemies with nobody and we don’t exclude anyone but these people betrayed the trust and executed their coup against the legitimacy and these not worthy of any dialogue and there we say from here: No dialogue with those regardless of the price.

We have to point out here that we are following up efforts to end the siege imposed on our people and our authority, especially after the formation of the new government and there are positive indicators in this area.

But this is not enough, because ending the financial siege must be accompanied with ending the internal siege and in removing the checkpoints and barriers at the entrance to cities that impede national and economic life; these checkpoints must be removed so that the PNA can execute its security tasks in the best possible manner. This is why we called for implementing the security project that was presented to us by international parties recently to end the internal siege on our people and their cities and villages.

This must be accompanied with complete halt of settlement activities and halt of the construction of the apartheid wall; we reject the wall and we will continue to reject it. We reject the state with temporary borders. We have to talk so that there wont be any miscommunications or vagueness, and let us listen to the projects of Ahmad Yousef who cooked this project in a certain country. He says: The state with temporary borders and we grant Israel a truce between 10 to 15 years and then we can think about ways to Jerusalem and the refugees issue comes later. These are the projects that they are cooking now but our people will not allow them and we will not allow them with such treasons that they started earlier.

What is happening inside al-Quds al-Shareef and around it are violations that exceeded all lines and their consequences will prevent the establishment of the two state solution which enjoys a consensus among all members of the international community.

We called and we affirm today our call for the need to launch negotiations over the final solution and we believe that the current conditions don’t prevent at all the start of such negotiations within the context of an international peace conference.

On the issue of international protection and bringing in international troops and observers, this is under discussion in our circles from all its political and legal aspects and to see to what extent it serves our national interests.

I would like to thank our Arab brothers for their support to the Palestinian legitimacy and the new government wishing under the current conditions to see them contribute to reinforcing the role of legitimacy through honoring the commitments made in the Arab Summit and to stand against all poisonous campaigns and the media campaigns that aim to distort the role of our national authority and its positions and its balanced policies.

I would like also to thank the international community with all its countries and institutions which expressed support to the Palestinian legitimacy and to the government of brother Dr. Salam Fayyad and which affirmed on the end of the siege imposed on our people. We wish that the international community would put all its weight to exert pressure towards the end of the continuous aggression against our people. Today, there were six martyrs in Gaza and Jenin by the occupation troops and this matter threatens with renewal of the cycle of violence.

We also hope that the international community and the international Quartet Committee would contribute in particular to work towards holding an international peace conference so that Palestinian-Israeli negotiations can take place under its umbrella.

My dear sisters and brothers,

We are a people who can rise above the wounds and we will stand tireless in front of the crises and we will protect our independent national decision despite all attempts to attack it and we will continue to defend the interests of rights of our people wherever they are. We affirm to our brothers in the wounded Nahr al-Bared Camp that we will remain loyal to the vow and we will work on rebuilding the camp and prevent their dispersion another time in close cooperation with the brothers in Lebanon and we have we will continue to consider the security of Lebanon as part of our security and we will exert all our efforts to prevent all attempts of using our camps to abuse that security.

It is well known my dear brothers that what happened in Nahr al-Bared and it might happen in other camps and they want to link it with the Palestinians so that they can say that there is a problem between the Palestinians and Lebanese people but the truth was revealed and the problem is not between Palestinians and Lebanese but between Palestinians and Lebanese on one hand against those who attacked and we don’t know where they want to take the security of Lebanon, we reject this phenomenon and our position towards the Lebanese people is unified and we salute the Lebanese people and army who are protecting their lands and their sovereignty.

I appeal to the souls of martyrs and to the wounds of the injured and to their families and the recent martyrs who defended legitimacy against the forces of darkness and coups, I affirm to all of them that the independent Palestine that they dreamt about and they sacrificed for is coming for sure. And we will continue to protect their memories and sacrifices as long as we live.

I also appeal to my brothers in the occupation prisons including leaders and strugglers of the national action factions and the PLC members who are prisoners also and all strugglers expressing pride and appreciation for the position of thousands of prisoners who condemned the bloody coup and who called for the end of all its forms and we will continue to work to free all prisoners regardless of their affiliations and their freedom is coming for sure.

As long as we are in authority we are responsible for the entire people, including those who oppose us and those who support us, even those who fought against us and we are responsible even for those people to prevent them from their darkness and killings based on the law and Islamic Law.

Palestine will remain the homeland for all its people inside and abroad.

We will cling to this slogan: one homeland for one people

Peace be upon you and thank you