Yasser Arafat Foundation commemorated the 17th anniversary of the martyrdom of founding leader Yasser Arafat at the Ramallah Cultural Palace, on the evening of 10th of November 2021, with official, diplomatic, and community attendees. The Yasser Arafat Achievement Award for the year 2021, was presented to Popular Resistance Activities: Beita, as a model.

The ceremony began with the Palestinian national anthem.  Sheikh Firas Qazzaz, the main reciter at Al-Aqsa Mosque, chanted verses from the Holy Quran, followed by the speech of President Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine. 
The text of the speech follows:

In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful:
“Among the Believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. Of them, some have completed their vow (to the extreme), and some still wait: but they have never changed (their determination) in the least.”  True are the words of Almighty Allah.
Our great Palestinian people:
Seventeen years have passed since the martyrdom of the founding leader and martyr Yasser Arafat, the man from whose memory we inspire patience and determination to continue the march of our national fight and our giant Palestinian revolution … the revolution through which thousands of our people gave their lives and freedom for the homeland.

It is the revolution of the Palestinian people and their struggle, which was and still is a beacon for all free people throughout the world, who believe in freedom, justice, and living in dignity in a free, secure, and stable homeland.

This anniversary comes when our just national cause is in a very delicate stage, perhaps the most difficult in the history of our struggle. The Israeli occupation authorities drew from their colonial and racist policy and enforced systematic aggression to change the historical status of the city of Jerusalem our eternal capital. Obliterating its identity and its Arab and Islamic character, expelling its residents, and seizing their homes in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, preventing worshipers from reaching the holy sites of Al-Aqsa, the Ibrahimi Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  

This brutal occupation continues with its settlement policies to destroy what remains of opportunities to realize the independence of our Palestinian state and perpetuate the policy of “apartheid,” as well as the unjust siege on the Gaza Strip, and the illegal prayers in the blessed, holy Al-Aqsa Mosque.  This is all in blatant defiance of the resolutions of international legitimacy and international law, which we have accepted and have been committed to implementing, as part of our quest to achieve a just and comprehensive peace and to end the occupation of the land of the State of Palestine.

After 73 years of the Nakba, 54 years of aggression and occupation since 1967, and the reality of occupation, annexation, Israeli racism, and the continuous undermining of the two-state solution, the time has come for the international community to change its way of dealing with the Israeli occupation authorities – by moving from statements of condemnation and denunciation of Israeli violations on our people and our land, to take concrete steps, such as imposing international protections, convening an international conference to end the occupation, recognizing the State of Palestine, preventing Israel from financing weapons that kill children and other innocents, and other practical measures.

In our last speech before the United Nations, we expressed the hopes and aspirations of our people for freedom and liberation from this usurping colonial occupation, by setting a time limit for implementing the vision of the two-state solution, under the auspices of the International Quartet, leading to the demarcation of the 1967 borders as the independent State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.

If the occupation authorities do not respond, the reality on the ground will impose itself, as one state with equal rights for all or by returning to the partition resolution of 1947, which gives the State of Palestine 44% of the land.  It is not reasonable nor acceptable for the occupation to remain on our chests forever, and it is not reasonable to maintain a commitment to agreements to which Israel is not bound.

The martyr leader Yasser Arafat and our people believed in a secure and comprehensive peace that guarantees the establishment of the State of Palestine and protects the sacred right of return for our people in the diaspora camps, who have paid a heavy price because of the occupation.  We will remain committed to the right that enables the refugees to recover their property and compensate them for the damage they have suffered all these years, by the resolutions of international legitimacy, especially UN resolution 194.

The Palestinian people are great people with creative contributions all over the world, as well as in Palestine, despite the occupation; we were able to build the institutions of our national state:  government, local, private, security, military, academic, and others.

We have established a real modern state that lacks nothing but the departure of the occupation, and we will continue to work together with the help of all to make it a state worthy of our people. Through developing and modernizing its laws and laying the foundations for the rule of law, equality, justice, respect for human rights, transparency and accountability, the use of technological and digital means and standards of sustainability in economic development, empowering women and youth, and extending a hand to those in our society who need support.
Our great people, 
On this painful anniversary, the anniversary of the death of the martyred leader Yasser Arafat, we renew our commitment to the unity of our people and the call for the formation of a government of national unity.  All the participating forces adhere to the international legitimacy recognized by the Palestine Liberation Organization, the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people, and the preservation of the independent national decision.  We commend the efforts of our communities abroad to mobilize persistent support for our people and to work with international and local organizations to reject the occupation, racism, and persecution of our people.
I conclude by saying, to my brother and comrade martyr leader Yasser Arafat and all of his comrades, the martyred leaders, the prisoners, and the wounded, that we are walking on the path that you walked, regardless of the difficulties.  The occupation will end, and we will achieve freedom and independence in our independent and sovereign Palestinian state on our national soil.  This patient, steadfast people are holding on to their constant principles; they are the ones who wrote the stories of success and struggle and created a narrative of hope and life from the impossible, able by God’s command to do so. We pledge to you, our people, that we will remain on the covenant, in fulfillment of our national cause and our constant principles.  To our wounded and imprisoned who we will not abandon no matter the pressure.  We salute our people in the homeland and throughout the diaspora.  We salute the steadfastness of our people in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, stressing that victory is inevitable, and the sun of freedom will shine on our holy Palestinian land.
Dr. Mamdouh Al-Abadi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Yasser Arafat Foundation, delivered a speech on behalf of the Foundation:
Dr. Mohamed Shtayyeh, Prime Minister
Honorable attendees,
May God bless you with all the best.  First, it is my pleasure to remind you, and myself, that the issue is not just about an institution bearing the name of a leader who has been for decades in the heart of his people and his nation.  It is related to a heritage and a national system befitting the name of a leader of the stature and capability of our late martyr Yasser Arafat, may God have mercy on him.  It also represents, in the same way, the characteristics of a heritage linked to the struggle and the fight of our great Palestinian people.
Honorable audience, it is difficult for any of us to invoke the Palestinian cause and not invoke its primary symbols, and if these symbols have shared memory, Arafat has a position that no one can dispute, especially since he took for himself the appropriate place in the journey of the Palestinian cause . . . “Martyrdom” was a national autonomy decision, when he was surrounded by Israeli tanks in the Ramallah district, and famously proclaimed his last message to his people, his nation, and the world, “A martyr, a martyr, a martyr.”  This step brings us together today in majestic Ramallah and on the banks of the immortal Jordan River, again under the name of Palestine, always and forever, its leaders, its symbols, and the legitimacy of its institutions.
Honorable gentlemen...
I will not rush to talk about the goals of the Yasser Arafat Foundation. I would like to thank in advance, and later, all who laid a stone at the foundation of this Arab Palestinian national institution, by shedding light on the heritage of our late symbol; encouraging hard work through the Yasser Arafat Award for Achievement; establishing, developing, and managing the museum of the Palestinian contemporary national memory; and commemorating the anniversary of the departure of the martyred president, and preservation of his shrine, his possessions, and his heritage.
We may not add anything to the truth when we affirm that we celebrate today the memory of someone who deserves to be honored, as Arafat was martyred and his soul rested from his dedication to Palestine and its people, its concerns, and torments. He remains a witness to the era of conflict over the past fifty years ... as a political negotiator par excellence when doors closed in the face of the symbols of the Palestinian cause.  Residing in the capitals of non-Arab and Arab nations until our martyr returned to the heart of Palestine, and after the treacherous hand reached for him, was buried, temporarily, in its soil, meters from here, until the occupied Palestinian people inter him in Arab Jerusalem after its liberation.
I met our martyr, may God bless him, dozens of times.  I knew him, and I knew about him and how he fought fiercely and holds the arms of death, and how he established in politics a creed that does not accept bargaining or proposition. I knew as well, how he would bravely adopt a position, even for part of the land; his ascetic lifestyle; and his establishment of a Palestinian national project that is capable of growth and endurance regardless of what is said here and there.
Ladies and Gentlemen...
I come to you from a partnership of blood and destiny.  From Amman, the soulmate of Jerusalem … celebrating with you the memory of a dear and outstanding leader; remembering the path, starting with Al-Karamah, where Jordanian and Palestinian blood united; to Lebanon, Tunisia, and Yemen, and then departing due to conspiracies that are renewed every day and have no end. The creative Palestinian people ignited an intifada with a stone … The world, led by Israel, was forced to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization … Then the negotiations phase began … Through which Abu Ammar returned to his homeland, to “Ghazzat Hashem” and Ramallah … he managed the affairs of the authority and the homeland himself through thick and thin, then supervised the migration in the opposite direction, from east to west … a migration that occurred for the first time in the history of the conflict in Palestine, returning hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to their homeland.
Arafat struggled, negotiated, maneuvered, fought, and passed away as a great leader and as he fought, with resistance … he remained rebellious and intractable and did not falter or surrender. He maintained his principles and departed therefrom.
And here, our great Palestinian people are fighting their battles one after another.  Their authority and its institutions are steadfast in the face of siege and persecution.  All the sectors of the Palestinian people have just turned a new bright page in dignity and pride in confronting those challenges that were recently imposed on all by fighting the “Sword of Jerusalem,” the last battles of our people with their various components, but not the last in the conflict.
A struggle after a struggle and the popular resistance of empty stomachs waged by our heroic prisoners until now.  Our people are resisting with bullets, stones, and spoons.  We are gathered in memory of a good man and immortal leader who, with a cadre of comrades, founded the first of the bullets and the first of the stones, and his children’s march continues in every part of historical Palestine.
Dear ones,
It is fitting for you to celebrate your leader. As President of Yasser Arafat Foundation, an honor bestowed by the trust of your leadership and institutions, I promise to ensure that the lamp of this foundation remains on the shrine of the great late President, to draw from the sacred oil of Palestine and shine the light on his good memory forever.
I do not need to remind you that the issue of Palestine is the priority for Jordan – the Jordanian leadership and people.  On this occasion, as I stand before you on this pure soil, I remember the martyrs of the Jordanian people on the land of Palestine and the Arab martyrs of the Egyptian and Iraqi armies, whose blood flowed until the moment the Palestinian national liberation project was launched in 1965.  He, whose memory we are celebrating today, was the head of this launch.
Finally, thanks go to all colleagues, brothers and sisters on the boards of trustees and directors of Yasser Arafat Foundation, and all colleagues and staff.
Thanks go to President Mahmoud Abbas, who has remained faithful to his comrades in arms.  He has not delayed and since the first moment of the establishment of this institution, has provided financial and moral support, may God reward him with all the best.
Peace, mercy, and the blessings of God
In a speech on behalf of the people of the town of Beita, Hisham Dweikat said: ”We come from Jabal Al-Arma and Jabal Sbaih in memory of our martyr, leader Yasser Arafat, to draw from his memory what we learned in the schools of the Palestinian revolution of the arts of resistance, steadfastness, and defiance.”
He added: “We come from the town of Beita, and we bring to you the greetings of the families of the ten martyrs who rose on Mount Al-Arma and Jabal Sbaih to tell the occupier that this mountain is ours and we will not leave it, and you will leave it by force.”
He said, “President Mahmoud Abbas launched the call of popular resistance from the podium of the United Nations, so Al-Aqsa, Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Beita, Bab Al-Amoud, Kafr Qaddoum, Masafer Yatta, Beit Dajan, Hamsa, and all the sites of engagement responded to tell the whole world that the land is our land and we will not leave it, and the thugs of the hills will leave Jabal Sbaih, Jabal Al-Arma, and all the mountains of Palestine.”
The ceremony included the screening of a documentary film produced by the Foundation about the martyred president “Abu Ammar” and a medley of patriotic songs by the Palestinian artist, Nora Abu Madi.
The commemoration was attended by Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, His Eminence Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the Grand Mufti; members of the Executive Committees of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Fatah Central Committee, members of the Revolutionary Council of the [Fatah] movement, ministers, ambassadors, and other representatives of the diplomatic corps in the State of Palestine, and head of the Jordanian Wehdat Club, Fahd Al-Bayari.
A short documentary film produced and directed by the Foundation about popular resistance in Palestine was also screened.
Dr. Ola Awad, Chair of the Award Committee and member of the Board of Directors of the Yasser Arafat Foundation, presented the 2021 Yasser Arafat Achievement Award to the town of Beita as a model of popular resistance, noting that [Beita] wrote the narratives of heroism in defending our land and our rights, demonstrating persistence in the face of challenge.
Dr. Awad added, “We do not forget all the sites of the popular resistance, especially the town of Silwan and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, and the two siblings Muhammad and Mona al-Kurd, who conveyed the suffering of our people to the whole world.”
Awad explained that the award aims to preserve the legacy of the leader and to remember his struggle.  Since its establishment in 2007, the Foundation has presented this award annually in appreciation of the efforts made by individuals, institutions, and national teamwork in several fields.
Awad explained that the 15 contestants who were submitted for the award were studied and evaluated, and 11 contestants who met the conditions and criteria were selected.  Four applicants qualified for the final competition, namely the Association for Culture and Free Thought in Khan Yunis, the writer Fida Jeries from Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority for Media and Activating the Role of Youth “Byalara” from Ramallah, and the Yasmeen Charitable Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of People with Disabilities from Ramallah, noting that the committee considers every work submitted for the award is an achievement worthy of appreciation.
Prime Minister Dr. Muhammad Shtayyeh, Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, Dr. Mamdouh Al-Abadi, and Chair of the Prize Committee, Dr. Ola Awad presented the award and a check for twenty-five thousand dollars to the representatives of the people, events, personalities and the municipality of Beita:  Amal Bani Shamsa, Munawar Bani Shamsa, Musa Hamayel, and Hisham Dweikat.

Alaa Karajah was the host of the ceremony.

The ceremony included the screening of a documentary film about the popular resistance in Palestine, produced by the Foundation, and Palestinian artist Nora Abu Madi, accompanied by musician Khaled Aramin and a group of artists, presented three committed patriotic songs produced by the Yasser Arafat Foundation.