Ramallah / PNN / 

President Mahmoud Abbas said today on the 59th anniversary of the founding of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that the organization was founded in 1964 to thwart the plans of the global Zionist movement to obliterate the identity of the Palestinian people, and to be the opposite of the Zionist nationalist project.

“The PLO preserved the independent Palestinian national decision and protected the national project from being lost,” said President Abbas, commemorating the occasion. “The establishment of the PLO and its representation of our people are one of the most important achievements of Palestinian politics.”

The President paid tribute to the first founders of the Organization, on top of whom is late Palestinian leader Ahmad Shukeiri, and all those whose hard efforts helped preserve this key national achievement.

President Abbas pointed out that the PLO has assumed its capacity as sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people through the sacrifices of the martyrs and prisoners, stressing that all suspicious attempts to circumvent it will fail.

“The PLO, throughout its long journey, has gone through very difficult stages, but it remained steadfast in the face of all the conspirators. It has borne the concerns and suffering of our Palestinian people in all places of their presence, as well as their aspirations to achieve freedom and independence like the rest of the peoples of the world,” said the President.