2
O
viedo
| C
ampoamor
T
heatre
| 24
th
N
ovember
1994
Despite all the severe problems and obstacles which the Palestinian National Authority is facing,
especially those involving the reconstruction of the infrastructure which has been completely
destroyed during the occupation, we have been able to set the basis of the National Authority,
and the governmental institutions and ministries, all of which have started carrying out their
duties and responsibilities in regulating and fulfilling the daily needs of the Palestinian citizens,
implementing their future plans and programs, in addition to the enormous efforts in maintaining
security and order for the establishment of a democratic and civic society.
Here we state again that the choice of the Palestinian People is Peace, as a strategic goal.
Furthermore, it reflects its genuine desire of laying the foundation of a just peace, and the
determination of our people towards the self-building process. Ladies and Gentlemen, we look
forward to the future with hearts filled with hope and persistence to make this land, the Holy Land,
an oasis of faith, peace, freedom, stability and prosperity.
One of the most important means towards the reinforcement of the Peace Process, and
guaranteeing its continuation so as to achieve its goals, is by enabling the Palestinian People to
choose their representatives and constituencies, freely, through an honest election process, under
International supervision so as to give those representatives the opportunity to carry out their duties
and responsibilities and to deal with the difficult tasks awaiting them. The electoral due process is
closely linked to the hand-over and the early empowerment of the remaining fields of responsibilities
on the rest of the Palestinian Territories. From that point arises the urgent and the basic need for
the completion and implementation of the DOP and the subsequent Cairo Agreement in order to
deploy the Palestinian National Authority’s apparatus in all the Palestinian territories.
The special and unique status that we hold for Jerusalem, Palestinians, Muslims, Christians,
and Jews alike, urges me to call on all the parties concerned to make this sacred City a city for the
enlightenment of peace, hope and coexistence.
The advancement on the Peace Process must reflect on the daily lives of our People. In addition
to the fact that it is crucial for Palestinian citizens to feel the change in order to increase their faith
in and support for the Peace Process.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we place great hope in the World Bank to take the initiative and to rise
up to their moral, political and human responsibilities towards our people, who have suffered and
still are suffering greatly in severe and cruel living conditions. Furthermore, we call on the World
Bank to increase its efforts in accelerating the fulfilment of our People’s basic needs, to implement
the projects and programs that would insure the reconstruction of the infrastructure for the
sake of insuring a better life for the Palestinian People who aspire to a prosperous, flourishing,
and stable future for the generations to come. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a very basic right for
our people to live in security, like all other World Nations must coexist together on the basis of
justice, democracy, equality and national and human dignity under a genuine peace in the land of
Palestine, the land of peace.
Yaser Arafat
—
Prince of Asturias
Award for International
Cooperation
1994
Yaser Arafat was President of the
Palestinian National Authority from
1996 to 2004. From 2001, he lived
under house arrest.
—
Excerpt from the speech given on
the occasion of receiving the Prince
of Asturias Award for International
Cooperation on 24/11/1994.
