Today, the Palestinian Authority is celebrating the Declaration of Independence, and the proclamation of a State of Palestinian State, on 15 November 1988 — despite the fact that this State has not yet come into existence, and even though this is a time that, most Palestinians believe, may be one of the lowest points of their history. The holiday, which is being celebrated by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, follows a three-day period of mourning for the eight deaths and nearly 200 injured, victims of violence at Monday’s rally in Gaza City to commemorate the third anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death.
On 1 November 1988, at a meeting in Algiers — i.e., in exile — of the Palestine National Council, the late Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat announced the Declaration of Independence of the Palestinian people. It was also a proclamation of a Palestinian State.
One of the first elements in the Palestinian Declaration of Independence was a denunciation of the “falsehood” that Palestine was “a land without a people” — this had subjected the Palestinians to a “new form of occupation”, it said.
Then, the Declaration stated, the legitimacy of the Palestinian State was based on UN General Assembly Resolution 181, adopted on 29 November 1947, which partitioned the former British Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab.
The Declaration of Independence argued, however,that the Palestinian people had subsequently been deprived of their right to self-determination. It also said that the Palestinian people had been subject to a historical injustice by displacement of so many at the establishment of the Jewish State — Israel.
Here are two slightly different translations from the original Arabic of this important provision:
(1) the translation provided by the Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations in New York, which was circulated three days later as an official document in both the UN Security Council (Document S/20278) and the UN General Assembly (Document A743/827): “Despite the historical injustice done to the Palestinian Arab people in its displacement and in being deprived of the right to self-determination following the adoption of General Assembly resolution 181 (II) of 1947, which partitioned Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish State, that resolution nevertheless continues to attach conditions to international legitimacy that guarantee the Palestinian Arab people the right to sovereignty and national independence”. The Palestine Observer Mission’s translation is here.
A very slightly different translation can be found on the website of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center: “Despite the historical injustice inflicted on the Palestinian Arab people resulting in their dispersion and depriving them of their right to self-determination, following upon UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (1947), which partitioned Palestine into two states, one Arab, one Jewish, yet it is this Resolution that still provides those conditions of international legitimacy that ensure the right of the Palestinian Arab people to sovereignty”. The JMCC translation is posted here.