The following is an unofficial translation of the speech

My brothers and sisters, the struggling members of the Palestinian people
The people of the Brave
The mothers, fathers, and brothers of martyrs

To you who have offered the dearest to our hearts on the path of freedom and independence, the path of Palestine and al-Quds al-Shareef,

To all prisoners, wounded and detained, who set an unprecedented example of struggle in your steadfastness, wounds, pain, and hope, We have become so close to al-Quds al-Shareef, God willing, the capital of our independent Palestinian state.

My beloved in the cities, villages and camps in Palestine and the in the Diaspora. You created the legend of national struggle and the miracle of steadfastness; you are the first and foremost members of the Palestinian people who maintained and protected our national cause and our national, just, and legitimate goals along with the firm guarantees for achieving those goals.

I greet you from my heart and wish you a Happy Eid,

During these blessed days, I talk to you heart to heart and brain-to-brain about the clear facts as is; let us think together on all matters that concern us and let us rationalize together our decisions and our approaches and I am sure that the Palestinian people " the people of the brave" have an insight and awareness and strong will and steadfastness that can qualify them to overcome the difficulties and challenges towards consolidating their rights and protecting their Christian and Islamic holy sites and the inevitability of the victory of our people on their blessed free soil, the location where Prophet Mohammed moved to - the Haram al-Shareef and the Cradle of Jesus Christ.

Our national unity is the solid ground on which we stand; this national unity has protected our process throughout the past decades in terms of our national Jihad and steadfastness; this national unity provided all components of protection and guarantees for the option of a permanent, just and comprehensive peace; it also provided the elements of diligent progress towards the goals of national consensus without any yielding or giving up and without the absence of sound priorities in decision making and in practice.

Therefore, from my position and on behalf of the Palestinian leadership, I renew and reaffirm on the deep and clear concept of national unity as the unity of all national factions and forces and the unity of popular forces and all sectors of the society on the decision of national consensus which were reflected in our national, legislative and central councils; yes, they were reflected in our national, legislative and central councils.

Because of this, the PLO has been and will remain the basic option of our people in the homeland and in the Diaspora; it remains the body that unites and gathers us and leads our struggle and realizes our legitimacy and talks on our behalf, in addition to our national authority which will remain as desired by the Palestinian people, the solid ground for our Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Shareef God willing, through its elected PLC and all its institutions, including the judicial and leadership institutions and through their undisputed legitimacy which was confirmed by the ballots and through the international consensus on recognizing these institutions and through dealing with these institutions as a model for future dealing with our Palestinian state; I grasp this opportunity to reaffirm our democratic option and readiness to conduct democratic elections in every sector and in every aspect, municipal, legislative and parliamentarian as soon as there are appropriate and safe conditions.

Due to the status of the authority and its current and future meaning, the government of Sharon is launching its vicious war against the authority and against its institutions, installations, members, police, and security services and against the infrastructure that we worked so hard with the help of the brothers and friends to reconstruct, including the olive trees which are witness to the deep roots of these people on this land and in history.

Yes, it is a war against the people and their authority and against their resources and personal security and against their social and economic life and against their dream in building a future without occupation and oppression and humiliation.

From the depth of this suffering and the legendary steadfastness of our people and their institutions, I say that this atrocious war launched by Israel will not succeed in breaking the will and determination, and dignity of the people of the brave; the people who will never be humiliated and history is witness to my speech.

My brothers, I would like to affirm on this occasion that we would not allow anybody to shake our national and great-civilized project or try to set obstacles in its path or try to distort its image or forge its pure national and Arab context.

We will only allow one authority on this land and in this society and homeland; an authority whose decisions must be respected and whose agreements must be honored and whose credibility must be maintained.

Dear brothers, we have announced the state of emergency and have taken a series of arrangements and measures and we will continue to take measures, including declaring the illegal formations which exercise terrorist activities as outlaws. We have taken the initiative of a ceasefire and everybody must honor and abide by this initiative. The Israeli do not honor and do not want a ceasefire, but we have to respect what we commit ourselves to. I am fully aware of the intentions of Sharon in terms of his escalating military aggression and the siege he is imposing on our cities, villages and camps and his occupation of our regions and how he is exploiting the operations that take place against Israeli civilians and which we have condemned and we continue to condemn.

I reaffirm today on complete and immediate halt of all armed operations and I renew the call for a complete halt of any operations and actions, especially the suicide attacks, that we have always condemned and we will hold those who plan these actions accountable, in addition to the launching of mortar rockets that have no goal but give the justification for Israeli attacks against our people, children and women.

Any violation of this decision will be considered harming the higher national interests of our people and our Arab nation; those who violate this decision will be tracked down with firmness.

The goal of this is to reaffirm the credibility of our approach and option in order to restore calm in implementation of the recommendations of Mitchell and the Tenet Understanding and the return to the negotiations that constitute and must constitute the sole means of solving the conflict.

I am sure of the solid national consensus on the goal of freedom and independence and the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Shareef as its capital, in the context of international legitimacy resolutions, including 242, 338, 425, and 194 pertaining to refugees and the land for peace formula.

We are standing on the Holy Land in defending the honor of the nation and defending the dignity of the nation and their Christian and Islamic holy sites.

I extend gratitude and appreciation to all brothers and friends in the world for the political, moral, and financial support, whether at the popular or official level; like any Palestinian, I feel confident when the Arab and Islamic, non-aligned and international forums convene upon a request from us or for our sake.

It is a renewed message to the whole world that Palestinians are not alone and that their Arab nation and their friend in the world are committed to them and to their steadfastness and to their goals and towards protecting their Christian and Islamic sites in the Holy Lands, the Terra Sancta.

Dear sisters and brothers,
We have to be aware of the international situation, especially after the terrorist events in New York and Washington on September 11 and the impact of these events on our cause and rights; we will remain in contacts with all influential forces in this world; we will also remain aware of the fast changing variables in the world and the way to handle them with full awareness, wisdom and balance, in addition to maintaining the international momentum towards our cause and rights at a time when there are increasing instigation against us and there are oppressive attempts to link our legitimate and internationally recognized steadfastness towards ending occupation with terrorism. I can say with all pride and dignity that the steadfastness of our people and their sacrifices and with our full awareness of this complex conflict on all its arenas, we were able to frustrate all attempts to forge our struggle and our noble goals and our unprecedented achievements and record at the international level.

The vision presented by Minister Powell regarding the Palestinian cause, and whose foreword was set by President Bush who announced his commitment to the state of Palestine in front of the UN, and the recent clear and decisive positions by the EU, Russia, the UN and the Arab and Islamic countries and the non-aligned countries and the friendly international community is an effective reinforcement of the justice of our struggle and inevitability of achieving our national and legitimate goals.

Moreover, the solid ties and relations with our friends and alliances with the people and countries of the whole world is further proof on the healthy positions regarding our people and struggle.

Now, our great and brave Palestinian people, I will address on your behalf a very clear message to all Israelis, and I say that we have started with you a dialogue for decades and some of you remember this. We struggled with the forces of peace side by side and in difficult circumstances and we confronted legal and political bans by several Israeli government towards making dialogue a mutual and joint basis of mutual understanding and towards making political negotiations a means to achieve the aspired results of both sides. Through our mutual insistence for dialogue, we reached the stations of Madrid and Oslo and other landmarks towards peace, the peace of the brave for their children and our children.

Now, I renew our policy of renewing dialogue and I call on the government of Israel to give up the illusion of trying to achieve with tanks and planes what should be achieved by understanding and negotiations; we are not asking for the impossible; we do not constitute a threat to the existence of Israel; we want to regain our lands that were occupied in 1967, including al-Quds al-Shareef, and the international legitimacy supports us in this; we want the withdrawal of the Israeli troops from these lands, including the settlements, and the international legitimacy supports us in this too.

We want honest implementation of agreements reached between us and we want to conclude the negotiations over the permanent status without wasting the initial achievements reached in Oslo, Wye River, Camp David, Sharm Sheikh, Paris, Taba, Cairo and others.

With all frankness, we want a real Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Shareef as its capital next to the state of Israel. As for the tanks that are everywhere in our cities and villages and the planes that are shelling in a destructive manner that cannot be accepted by international legitimacy and by any civilized norm or military ethics, and the siege in all its forms executed by the Israeli government and the internationally banned collective punishment, all this will not break the will and determination of the Palestinian people.

I renew my call to the people of Israel and to its political forces and institutions and government to return immediately to the negotiations table and to work immediately to end these inhumane and dangerous measures against our people; these measures that will only lead to more complications and moving away from peace, security and stability in the whole region.

Finally,

To my beloved people of the brave on the homeland and in the Diaspora, I greet you and I support you; let us plant an olive tree near every tomb of our martyrs; with your will and determination and with all pleasant hopes we will rebuild everything that has been destroyed, God willing.

Victory is coming soon.

Peace be Upon You