Pres. Arafat addresses the 21st Socialist International in Paris, stressing that peace starts with recognizing the independent and sovereign Palestinian state and that all settlement activities must be halted: “The principle of a just peace contradicts the continued existence of settlements erected in order to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian State, and to undermine the geographical integrity of the Palestinian territory. Is there any country in the world in which there are settlements not under its sovereignty? (...) Nothing except the logic of injustice can legitimize the continued existence of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.”