STATEMENT BY THE PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP

25 DECEMBER 1999

Communiqué issued at the outcome of the meeting of the Palestinian Leadership held in Bethlehem on December 25^th, 1999:

The Palestinian leadership expresses its deepest appreciation to His Highness the Patriarch Michel Sabbah, Roman Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Holy Sites for his profound and significant speech, wherein he emphasized that Peace with the Palestinian people remains the heart of the question and a basic condition to achieve peace in the area, and that Holy Jerusalem was the key to any future solution.

The leadership welcomes the visit of his Holiness the Pope to Palestine.

The Palestinian leadership extends the warmest welcome to the visit of His Holiness the Pope to our Palestinian motherland, scheduled for March 22^nd, 2000. It has issued instructions to all the security organs concerned to take all the necessary measures to secure this historical visit of His Holiness the Pope to our motherland, Palestine.

The Palestinian leadership and all the sons and daughters of Palestine feel comforted by the historical visit of His Holiness the Pope to the Holy City of Jerusalem, to Bethlehem, and to all other Palestinian towns His Holiness may visit in our Palestinian motherland.

Meeting in Amman between the President and King Abdallah.

The President, accompanied by a Palestinian delegation, visited Amman, and was received by His Majesty King Abdallah IInd. A meeting took place between the two delegations, Jordanian and Palestinian, to study the strengthening of joint coordination about the peace process and negotiations.

King Abdallah expressed his full conviction that the issue of Palestine was the central issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict and that settlement represented a real threat to the peace-process.

On the second day, His Excellency the President and the delegation accompanying him, met with Mr. Abdel Raouf El Rawabdeh, Head of the Council of Ministers of the Jordanian government, and discussed in depth bilateral relations and cooperation in all fields and at all levels. An agreement was reached to hold bilateral meetings in order to reinforce economic cooperation between the two parties.

UN General Assembly resolution on the right of the Palestinian people to sovereignty on its land and free disposal of its natural resources.

The Palestinian leadership expresses its appreciation and thanks to the UN member-states who have voted, this week, in the General Assembly, an important resolution affirming the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people on its Palestinian land, including Holy Jerusalem, as well as on its natural resources, noting that 142 states had voted in favor of the resolution.

The international resolution asks the Secretary General to present a report to the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly on the implementation of this resolution, and the General Assembly decided to maintain this resolution on its agenda. This important international resolution stresses its unequivocal position against the pursuit of Israeli occupation and continued settlement on our occupied land, and it will constitute an important source to establish that the resolutions of international legitimacy are the only basis on which to achieve a just and permanent settlement guaranteeing the return of the land and the restoration of the national rights of the Palestinian people, in conformity with the resolutions of international legality.

The leadership heard a detailed report about the encounter, which took place in Ramallah, between the President and the Israeli Prime minister Ehud Barak. In the course of the meeting, were discussed the obstacles facing these negotiations, both at the level of the interim arrangements, such as the scheduled redeployment and release of prisoners and at the level of settlement activities which prevent any progress in final-status negotiations.

Settlement must stop !

The leadership heard a detailed report on the pursuit of settlement, and the fact that it does not stop represents an obstacle in the way of all the efforts to preserve and enhance the peace process, and in the path of negotiations. After more than two months of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, no progress has been achieved because of the pursuit of settlement activities, in spite of the Israeli statements about halting them.