August 12 , If God Wills it

(AFP)12 August 2005
GAZA CITY - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas vowed on Friday the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip marked a huge step in his people’s quest for an independent state, with a capital in Jerusalem.
“Today Gaza and tomorrow Jerusalem if God wills it,” Abbas told a demonstration, attended by thousands, on Gaza City’s Mediterranean coastline.
“Today, our march to freedom begins. Tomorrow, it will be Jenin’s turn and after that Jerusalem,” Abbas told the crowd at the gathering, called “the Festival of Victory and Freedom.”
The crowd roared back Abbas’ popular name: “Abu Mazen, Abu Mazen”.
Abbas said the departure of the Israelis from Gaza offered the Palestinian people “a point of departure for the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital”.
In his address delivered at a small fishing port in Gaza City, he said: “Today we are beginning the march of the fishermen towards freedom. Soon you will be able to fish along the whole coast of Palestine.”
During a speech earlier this week before the parliament, Abbas urged the Palestinian people to ensure the pullout took place free of violence in order to bolster their case for independence.