"Our political objective is the ending of the occupation that has started in 1967, an independent sovereign Palestinian State and to find a just and agreed upon solution for the issue of the refugees and our strategic orientation and decision is that it is the negotiated solution that we are pursuing.

What we demand from the Israeli side, and what we expect from the Israeli side, is the cessation of aggression against our Palestinian people, and this necessitates the return to stability and order and security and we will fulfil all our commitments to achieve this purpose, and we expect from the Israeli side to stop the building of the wall, to stop the expansion of the settlements, and to release political Palestinian prisoners. All those steps would encourage the Palestinian people to pursue supporting progress on that level."

• Elected President of the Palestinian Authority, and sworn in on 15 January 2005
• Elected Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
• Named first Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, March 2003
  Resigned September 6, 2003
• Signed the Oslo Interim Peace Agreement, 1995
• Signed the Oslo Declaration of Principles, 1993
• Headed the PLO Department for National and International Relations, since 1980
• Member, Fatah Central Committee, 1964-2003

• Founding member of Fatah, 1957