Address to the 80th UN General Assembly: President Mahmoud Abbas on the Two-State Solution, 22 September 2025
UNITED NATIONS
General Assembly
22 September 2025
Eightieth session
Held at Headquarters, New York, on Monday, 22 September 2025, at 3 p.m.
High-level international conference for the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-State solution
Emmanuel Macron: I thank the president of the general assembly. I now invite his excellency Mahmud Abbas, president of the state of Palestine to deliver a statement via video conference.
Mahmoud Abbas: Thank you. Your Excellency, President Emmanuel Macron. Your Royal Highness, Prince Muhammad bin Salman al-Saud, Your Highness Prince Fisal bin Farhan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Your Excellency Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, distinguished leaders and heads of delegations, peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you on behalf of the state of Palestine, I would like to express my deepest appreciation for the co-presidency, the United Nations, and all participating states, for the historic New York declaration that was issued in during July's conference and adopted by the General Assembly by an overwhelming majority. It marked the beginning of an irreversible path towards ending the human humanitarian catastrophe and ending occupation pursuant to international legitimacy and the Arab peace initiative. It was the embodiment of an independent state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital living side by side with Israel in peace, security, and good neighborliness. The declaration stressed that the war against our people must come to an immediate and durable end.
It noted that the crimes emanating from the siege, the starvation and destruction cannot be a means of achieving security. Therefore, we call for a permanent ceasefire. We need to ensure humanitarian access through the United Nations and Anoa. We need to guarantee the release of hostages, all hostages and prisoners with the withdrawal of the occupation forces from Gaza. We need a start without delay of Gaza and the West Bank reconstruction through the Cairo International Conference.
Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, we would like to commend the Egyptian cutter US mediation that tries to put an end to this war. We also commend the positions of Egypt and Jordan who reject the displacement of Palestinians, a matter rejected by the international community as well. The state of Palestine is the only entity eligible to assume full responsibility for governance and security in Gaza. This comes through an interim administrative committee affiliated to the Palestinian government in the West Bank with Arab and international support and participation.
Hamas will have no role in governing. Hamas and other factions must surrender their weapons to the Palestinian Authority. What we want is one unified state without weapons, a state with one law and one legitimate security forces. We stress our condemnation of the occupation's crimes. We also condemn the killing and detention of civilians, including Hamas's actions, on October the 7th, 2023.
On the other hand, we call for an end to the settlements, the annexation, settlers terrorism, and the attacks against Islamic and Christian holy sites. We condemn the occupation policies that isolate Jerusalem also. We condemn the narrative, the Israeli narrative on greater Israel, which flouts international law. It represents a direct threat to Arab national security and international peace.
In this comes in addition to the brutal aggression against the sovereignty of the brotherly states of Qatar and other Arab countries. This necessitates a firm deterrent international stance.
Ladies and gentlemen, the state of Palestine continues to adopt a comprehensive reform agenda, promoting governance, transparency, the rule of law, and the reform of the financial system. It also works on the reform of educational curriculum in line with the UNESCO standards and this will be achieved within two years. We're establishing a unified social welfare system after the abolition of all previous payments to the families of prisoners and martyrs. This system is currently undergoing international audit by a specialized international firm. We underline our commitment to organize presidential and parliamentary elections.
After the end of the war and within one year, we will draft an interim constitution within three months to ensure the transfer of power from the authority to the state. This will ensure that no party or individual will participate unless they adhere to the political program and the international commitments of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the rules of international legitimacy. The elections will be held under international observance.
Ladies and gentlemen, we desire a modern democratic state based on the rule of law, pluralism, power sharing, equality, justice, and the empowerment of women and youth.
We commend the positions of those countries that recognized the state of Palestine. We call on those who have not yet done so to follow suit. We call for your support so that Palestine become a fullfledged member of the United Nations. We have already recognized the right of Israel to existence in 1988 and in 1993. and we still recognize the state of Israel. In this vein, I would like to thank France, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Belgium in addition to Portugal, Luxembourg, San Marino, and Andor and other countries that have been mentioned by his excellency, the president of France.
And we recall with appreciation all 149 countries who have already recognized the state of Palestine earlier. They have participated in our long struggle. The last of which was Spain, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia and Armenia.
We would also like to commend the important role of the presidency of this conference, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and France as well as Britain in galvanizing more international recognition. would also like to thank all participating countries in this conference for their important role issuing the New York declaration and taking irreversible steps to bring about durable peace based on the two-state solution and based on international legitimacy. We would also like to commend the role of the brotherly and friendly countries that support our Palestinian cause in the international fora. We would like to commend in particular the role of Algeria which is assuming the Arab seat and the security council. We commend the positions of the peoples and organizations that support the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to freedom, independence, and statethood. We reject any confusion, I repeat, any confusion between the solidarity with the Palestinian cause and the issue of anti-semitism.
We reject the latter proceeding from our values and principles.
We would also like to express our readiness to work with the US President Donald Trump, with Saudi Arabia, France and the United Nations and all partners to implement the peace plan adopted uh during this conference within a specific timetable with international guarantees and monitoring.
This would open the gates towards a just peace and comprehensive regional cooperation. In this regard, I call upon Israel to immediately sit on the negotiating table to put an end to this bloodshed and bring about just and comprehensive peace.
And I addressed the Israeli people saying, "Our future and yours banks on peace. Enough violence and war. Our generations deserve to enjoy freedom and security. Let the people in our region live in durable peace and good neighborliness."
And I would like to seize this opportunity to address all the Jews in the world, wishing them a good new year.
And to our patient Palestinian people in their homeland and everywhere, I would like to tell you that the dawn of freedom and liberty is coming. No doubt.
That day, ladies and gentlemen, is the day of the state of Palestine and the start of the peace process in the Middle East. We hope that we will call very soon to an international conference that will bring about this matter. Peace and blessings of God be upon you.
Emmanuel Macron: Merci, I thank the president of the state of Palestine.