Text of the Declaration by Palestinians
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 17, 2005; 5:29 PM
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44589-2005Mar17.html

[IMRA: " the continuation of the atmosphere of calm in return for Israel's
adherence to stopping all forms of aggression against our land and our
Palestinian people, no matter where they are, as well as the release of all
prisoners and detainees."

It should be noted that the term "aggression" has been used by the
Palestinians to describe everything associated with Israel - from Israeli
return fire on terrorists to Israel's very existence.]

The following is the text of declaration issued by 13 Palestinian groups
issued Thursday at the end of three days of meetings in this satellite city
of Cairo.

The text refers to the "Judaization" of Jerusalem, meaning the settling of
Israelis in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians regard as the capital of
their future state. It also refers to changing the Palestinian election law
to allow for "an equal division (of seats) in a mixed system." This means
the law will changed so that half of the Palestinian assembly is elected on
a constituency basis and half by proportional representation.

Cairo Declaration:

(1) Those gathered confirmed their adherence to Palestinian principles,
without any neglect, and the right of the Palestinian people to resistance
in order to end the occupation, establish a Palestinian state with full
sovereignty with Jerusalem as its capital, and the guaranteeing of the right
of return of refugees to their homes and property.

(2) Those gathered agreed on a program for the year 2005, centered on the
continuation of the atmosphere of calm in return for Israel's adherence to
stopping all forms of aggression against our land and our Palestinian
people, no matter where they are, as well as the release of all prisoners
and detainees.

(3) Those gathered confirmed that the continuation of settlement and the
construction of the wall and the Judaization of Jerusalem are explosive
issues.

(4) Those gathered explored the internal Palestinian situation and agreed on
the necessity of completing total reform in all areas, of supporting the
democratic process in its various aspects and of holding local and
legislative elections at their determined time according to an election law
to be agreed upon. The conference recommends to the Legislative Council that
it take steps to amend the legislative elections law, relying on an equal
division (of seats) in a mixed system, and it recommends that the law for
elections of local councils be amended on the basis of proportional
representation.

(5) Those gathered agreed to develop the Palestine Liberation Organization
on bases that will be settled upon in order to
include all the Palestinian powers and factions, as the organization is the
sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. To do this, it has
been agreed upon to form a committee to define these bases, and the
committee will be made up of the president of the National Council, the
members of the PLO's Executive Committee, the secretaries general of all
Palestinian factions and independent national personalities. The president
of the executive committee will convene this committee.

(6) Those gathered felt unanimously that dialogue is the sole means of
interaction among all the factions, as a support to national unity and the
unity of the Palestinian ranks. They were unanimous in forbidding the use of
weapons in internal disputes, respecting the rights of the Palestinian
citizen and refraining from violating them, and that continuing dialogue
through the coming period is a basic necessity toward unifying our speech
and preserving Palestinian rights.