Visit of Secretary of State Albright to the Middle East

CHAIRMAN ARAFAT (in Arabic, unofficial translation:) President Hosni Mubarak, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, His Majesty King Abdullah, King of Jordan, Mr. Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel, Mrs. Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State of United States of America, ladies and gentlemen of the audience.

At the beginning I would like to thank Mr. Mubarak for hosting this celebration to sign the Understanding between the PLO and Government of Israel. And in this context, we would like to thank and acknowledge the role that is diligent and persistent played by Egypt through Mr. Mubarak and his assistants to support and protect the peace process.

And I would like also to thank His Excellency Mr. Clinton and his Secretary of State for the persistent efforts done by the American administration to guarantee and put back the peace process into its right direction, to achieve its results that has been longed for and, in the context of acknowledging these two vital roles and follow-up and support of Mr. Abdullah, and the support from the European Union - Russian, Norway, China, Japan and all the friendly states and the United Nations - this celebration is now possible, and this signing process is possible.

And on this occasion we remember the role of the late King Hussein, God rest his soul, who played a vital role in achieving the Wye River Agreement and supporting the peace process in the area.

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, signing this memorandum this night represents a beginning of a new stage in the process of peace, struggling to implement all the rights and issues and the items of this agreement would give us a chance to regain the impact of this deal. We need to preserve the peace of the brave.

We confirm that we always respect our obligations, and we will implement all the things required from us. We will continue our steady way that sprang out of our protecting the high interests of the Palestinian people, and we will also give all efforts possible to approach the final status, the permanent status agreement, on the basis of the Security Council resolution 242 and 238, and building the independent state of Palestine with the capital of Jerusalem, according to the the international legal agreements.

Implementing Wye River and what we will witness in the new coming day, the Palestinian Authority will receive new territories and an opening of a secure passage between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and the release of many prisoners. We also confirm that every settlement and confiscation of land should be stopped - things that had been confirmed by the agreements we all signed. To regain trust and confidence in the process of peace is very important, because it would give a good atmosphere to achieve progress in permanent status negotiations.

As we have already mentioned, this can only be achieved through implementing the agreements inspired by the principal agreement done in Oslo. We have achieved through our late partner, Yitzhak Rabin, and Mr. Shimon Peres, after Oslo Agreement, and Taba and Cairo memoranda, we have presented a model of Palestinian-Israeli partnership. This partnership was proved to be necessary and indispensable, to respect the agreements done in the face of all the enemies of peace. We have established an infrastructure for the peace process that puts the peace of the brave in our area.

I want to renew the commitment of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority to the agreements of peace, and we reach out our hands freshly to Mr. Ehud Barak, our new partner in the process of peace, the peace of the brave, and we say to him, we are ready to resume building our Palestinian-Israeli partnership for the sake of peace. And we are ready to cooperate continually to make the peace of the brave a tangible reality. This is our challenge. And we should work together to win this challenge. We should work together to prove our abilities to make peace a genuine component of our day-to-day life.

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, more than three years ago, this charming Egyptian city has witnessed world peak of unique kind, when tens of people from all over the world united to confront terrorism. And this day we meet on this important occasion to reconfirm these great meanings, and reach with peace to its final station to achieve permanent status of peace in our area. In all processes and in all directions and partners including Syria and Lebanese.

Thank you, thank you and thank you.