6-02-06, 9:20 am
The concluding statement issued by the National Dialogue Conference
In the name of God, the Compassionate and the Merciful
On the second day, the conference moved to the PLC Headquarters in Ramallah and Gaza where the members of the national dialogue conference discussed all national issues with responsibility and positive spirit driven by the need to reinforce our national unity to confront all dangers that face our case and our people at this phase in our national struggle towards independence and freedom. The national dialogue conference issued the following statement at the conclusion of its works:
First: The sanctity of the Palestinian blood
The national dialogue conference stressed that the unity of the Palestinian people and the unity of their factions and national and Islamic forces is the strong shield that has maintained and protected our cause and that has frustrated throughout our contemporary history all our enemies' colonialist and settlements schemes aimed to steal our lands and to disperse our people forever to exile and the Diaspora.
Due to the national awareness and the solidarity and the support of our people, the leading members of our people and their struggling forces were able to maintain, protect and reinforce our national unity at all phases of our national struggle inside the homeland and in the Diaspora. The national dialogue conference stresses today that the various interpretations and positions on the national action arena stem from the care and attention of everyone to our sacred national cause and that the various positions among the members of the same national trench must never be contradictions that are impossible to solve and overcome.
There is no contradiction between the members of our people and their struggling forces. Therefore, the national dialogue conference affirms that all interpretations and disputed issues must find their national solution through democratic dialogue and high national spirit of our people. There is no room for use of arms among the members of the same cause, fate and trench. The Palestinian blood is scared and we are all banned from shedding one drop of Palestinian blood in the wrong place and against the enemy which is occupying our lands and dispersing our people.
The national dialogue conference totally rejects the suspicious calls for internal fighting which will be of no benefit except to our enemy who is threatening our people, homeland and future. The national dialogue conference calls for a national code of honor among the forces and factions to ban internal fighting regardless of the reasons and justifications. The national dialogue conference affirms at the same time that political debate among the members of the same national ranks should find its path for the benefit of our people on the dialogue table and through dialogue and not through weapons and shedding the Palestinian blood.
Second: the political, economic, financial siege imposed on our people The national dialogue conference affirms its total rejection to this oppressive siege imposed on our people for the last three months by the US and Israel after the PLC elections. This siege is collective punishment against our people who are subjected to the Israeli daily occupation, aggression and settlement activities and the apartheid wall. This siege will never serve to achieve security, peace and stability in the Middle East. The current dangerous situation requires Arab and international moves to end the siege and resume offering international assistance to our people, in addition to the revenues seized by the government of Israel for the third month in a row.
The national dialogue conference which condemns the oppressive siege calls on all members of our people and our factions to act and organized unified national activities in all southern and northern districts to make the voice of our people under siege be heard all over the world.
Third: Olmert's unilateral plan, the settlements and the wall
The national dialogue conference which represents all forces of our steadfast people announces its total rejection and confrontation and resistance to Olmert's plan that aims to swallow up our lands and fragment our homeland into ghettos and isolated cantons that run in the Israeli security orbit; the national dialogue conference rejects all Israeli settlement attempts that aim to take away al-Quds al-Shareef and the Jordan Valley area and annex the settlements to the Israeli entity which will lead in case implemented to the seizure of 58% of the West Bank lands.
The national dialogue conference affirms that peace will not be achieved as long as settlements and the wall are in our Palestinian lands; there won't be peace and there won't be security under settlements and the wall.
The national dialogue conference stresses that it is impossible to achieve security and peace without the Israeli comprehensive withdrawal from our Palestinian lands and the Arab lands occupied in the aggression in 1967; the national dialogue conference calls on all Arab and international parties to confront Olmert's settlement and expansion plan; and it calls for activating the legal decree issued by the International Court of Justice at The Hague which announced the illegitimacy of occupation, settlements and the apartheid wall, especially in al-Quds al-Shareef.
The national dialogue conference affirms that our people cling to their lands and to their right in self determination and to their right in return and in establishing their independent Palestinian state with al-Quds as its capital; the national dialogue conference totally rejects Olmert's plan and the state with temporary borders.
Fourth: reinforcing the rule of the law and order and eliminating security chaos
The national dialogue conference affirms that reinforcing the rule of the law and order and independent judiciary are among the first national tasks to be undertaken by all of us. There is no authority in our homeland above the authority and rule of the law which we all accepted to run the affairs of our society and homeland. Therefore, the national dialogue conference affirms that the security chaos phenomenon constitutes a serious threat to the security of the homeland and the citizen and it should be confronted with all firmness. We stress here on full abidance to the Basic Law which organizes the work of all legislative, executive, and judicial authorities in the PNA. We should stress here on the need to reinforce the security services and provide them with all capacities, whether with men or weapons, so that they can put an end to the security chaos which represents a serious phenomenon that threatens the authority of the law and public order and which threatens the security of the homeland and the citizen. The national dialogue conference calls for reforming the judicial apparatus and activating its role and executing and enforcing its sentences under full independence for the judicial authority with all its commissions.
Fifth: activating and developing the PLO
The participants in the national dialogue conference called on brother Abu Mazen, Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee, to call on the Higher Committee that resulted from the Cairo Dialogue, which consists of the Chairman and members of the PLO Executive Committee and the PNC Speaker and the General Secretaries of all Palestinian factions and independent national figures, to convene as soon as possible within a period not to exceed the end of June for the purpose of activating and developing the PLO and consolidating its status as a legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people.
Sixth: resistance is a legitimate right of our Palestinian people
The national dialogue conference affirms that resisting occupation and settlements is a legitimate right granted to our people by the divine and international norms; the national dialogue conference calls on the forces of our people and the popular sectors which stand steadfast in front of the aggression, settlements and the wall to form national unity committees to defend the land and the human being in every village and city.
Seventh: the right of return is a sacred right of the Palestinian refugees
The national dialogue conference stresses that the cause of the Palestinian refugees is a cause of a homeland and a cause of an identity and future; therefore, the national dialogue conference affirms that it fully adheres to International Resolution 194 pertaining to the right of the Palestinian refugees in return to their homes and homeland. The national dialogue conference rejects all attempts that aim to cancel the right of return of refugees and that aims to disperse the refugees in the various countries of the world. The national dialogue conference affirms that the right of refugees is a sacred right in their homeland and it is a collective and individual right that no force in the world can cancel the right of our people and the right of our refugees in their homeland and in their lands and homes.
Eighth: the National Conciliation Document from the Prisoners Movement
The participants in the national dialogue conference praised all initiatives and documents that were presented to the conference, mainly the national conciliation document which was initiated by the leaders of the prisoners' movement and which we consider as a sound basis for national dialogue.
The national dialogue conference affirms that all commissions, forces and potentials are working diligently towards the release of the prisoners and our detainees and calls on all human rights commissions to reinforce their efforts along this direction.
Ninth: the national dialogue committee
The national dialogue conference decided at the conclusion of its works to form a national dialogue committee headed by President Abu Mazen and to include as members representatives of the PNC and the PLC and the PLO Executive Committee and the government and all factions of national and Islamic action and parliament blocs and the private sector and the civil society organizations. The committee shall start its work immediately to be headed by the President to come up with a unified national action program that reinforces the ranks and deepens our national unity.
-- The national dialogue conference convened on May 25-26, 2006 in Ramallah and Gaza sponsored by President Abu Mazen and was held upon an initiative from the PLC and its Speaker. This statement was distributed by the Palestinian People’s Party.
