Abbas: Our people ‘will rise from under the rubble to rebuild’

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video at United Nations headquarters, September 25, 2025. (AP/Angelina Katsanis)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video at United Nations headquarters, September 25, 2025. (AP/Angelina Katsanis)

NEW YORK — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wraps up his virtual speech the UN General Assembly by declaring that Palestinians will defiantly remain on their lands, despite Israeli efforts to remove them.

“Our people will remain rooted like the olive trees. Firm as the rocks, we will rise from under the rubble to rebuild,” Abbas says.

“No matter how much our wounds bleed, and no matter how long this suffering lasts, it will not break our will to live and survive,” Abbas asserts.

“We want to live in freedom, security and peace, like all other people on earth, in an independent, sovereign state on the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as our capital in security and peace with our neighbors,” he continues.

“Peace cannot be achieved if justice is not achieved, and there can be no justice if Palestine is not freed,” Abbas continues.

“The time has come for the international community to do right by the Palestinian people, so that they may obtain their legitimate rights to be rid of the occupation and to not remain hostage to the temperament of Israeli politics,” he adds.

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