Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday evening that Israel continues to exercise its aggression against the Palestinian people and refuses international laws.

President Abbas affirmed, during a speech at the United Nations on the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, that organizing this conference represents the UN organization's acknowledgment of the injustice that has afflicted the Palestinian people since 1948.

Abbas emphasized the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, to gain the independence of their state, and the return of refugees, noting that the Palestinian cause has begun to forge its path to the awareness of the peoples of the world. He added: "I am full of confidence and hope in considering May 15 as an international day to commemorate the tragedy of our people."

He continued that Israel continues its attacks on the Palestinian people, denies the Nakba, prevents the return of refugees, and occupies and confiscates Palestinian lands.

He added that "countries have begun to discover the falsehood of the Israeli narrative through the efforts of our people’s sons, and a national memorial is being built to perpetuate the memory of the Nakba, and we issued a Palestinian law to commemorate the Nakba every year."

The Palestinian president demanded the suspension of Israel's membership for failing to implement its commitments before the United Nations, explaining that the UN issued 1000 resolutions, none of which Israel has implemented.

Abbas held Britain responsible for what happened, saying that "Britain must bear its historical responsibilities towards the Palestinian cause, as Britain and the United States in particular bear direct political and moral responsibility for the Nakba of the Palestinian people, yet Britain punished every Palestinian who took up arms to defend himself and his land, and Israel committed more than 50 massacres, destroyed more than 530 villages, and displaced 957,000."

The Palestinian president continued saying: "We lived in Palestine for thousands of years since it was inhabited by our Arab Canaanite ancestors, and Palestine was one of the most civilized areas, rich in cultural and urban development. Palestinians defended their historical homeland despite the scarcity of resources."

He pointed out that "Israel violates the sanctity of Islamic and Christian holy sites and prevents the right to freedom of worship. The ownership of the Western Wall and the Noble Sanctuary exclusively belongs to the Islamic Waqf alone, and major countries stand today with crossed arms in the face of the ongoing aggression against our people and refuse to hold Israel accountable."

President Abbas noted that the Palestinians rose to defend their historical homeland and their existence on their land despite the ongoing scarcity of resources, and our historical homeland Palestine was never a land without a people. Therefore, we officially demand today to oblige Israel to respect the UN resolutions or suspend its membership.

President Abbas said that "the continuation of the occupation of our land and the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip is the real reason for the continued cycle of violence, and if the occupation leaves once and for all, there will be no justification for violence and wars, and Israel repeats false claims to cover up its aggression and crimes and that its wars are defensive."

He added: "The biggest lie is Israel's claim that it is the only democratic state in the Middle East. Palestine was not a desert until the Zionists came and made it flourish, so how can occupation be compatible with democracy? Israel is the one that committed the Nakba."

President Abbas explained that Israel says there is no partner for peace and that Palestinians miss opportunities. Israel denied and retracted from the Aqaba and Sharm El-Sheikh understandings before the ink that wrote them dried, so the most important condition to achieve peace is to acknowledge our people's right to self-determination.

It is worth mentioning that Palestinians commemorate this anniversary in many capitals around the world, including the Canadian capital Ottawa, where the Palestinian Commission distributed Palestinian flags to members of the community and will hold, the day after tomorrow, Wednesday, a gathering to commemorate the anniversary and raise awareness of it and the tragedies that befell the Palestinian people, in the presence of a number of members of the Arab and Palestinian community as well as Arab and foreign ambassadors.

On another note, there will be a commemoration of this anniversary today in the Canadian Parliament building under the sponsorship of the Canadian-Palestinian Parliamentary Friendship Group.