President Yasser Arafat addresses the Arab Summit via sattelite

Tunis, 22 May 2004 (Tapex)

President Yasser Arafat said the Arab summit is held in a crucial juncture. Addressing today the16th Arab League Summit (22-23 May) in a speech broadcast via sattelite, Arafat said the Palestinian people are convinced that their cause is the central issue of the Arab Nation and that Palestine is always present in the hearts and spirits of the Arab leaders and all the Arab nation, eventhough its president has been prevented by the Israeli occupation authorities from attending such a historical event.

The President of the Palestinian authority said that, by declaring an open and total war on the Palestinian people, by re-occupying the Palestinian territories and building the apartheid wall, the Israeli government demonstrates once again its rejection of the Arab peace plan, of the international resolutions and legality and the signed agreements, including the security council's resolutions and the "Road map'' about which Israel formulated 14 reservations, thus voiding it from all its substance and undermining the quartet's efforts to revive the peace process.

President Yasser Arafat called for an urgent and open meeting of the Al-Quds committee to confront the Israeli judaisation maneuvers, its destruction plans of the holy city and its attacks on holy sites and innocent civilians.

He reiterated the Palestinian commitment to a just, comprehensives and sustainable peace which consecrates the Palestinian people's legitimate rights, through complete withdrawal from the Palestinian and Arab territories occupied since 1967, including the Golan and Southern Lebanon.

President Arafat finally added ''We are ready to accept any Arab or international mechanism for the monitoring and for the reinforcement of this plan with the Israeli government, as we support the idea of sending an international force for the protection of the Palestinian people'', declaring that Palestinian institutions are also entirely willing to implement ''the Road Map".

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