Party congresses are known for two important things: formulating policies and strategies, and electing a new leadership. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dispensed with the leadership issue by getting elected by acclamation and without opposition on the first day of Fatah’s seventh congress, which opened Nov. 29, and then went on to lay out his political views for the way forward.

Abbas’ Nov. 30 three-hour speech laid out the priorities of Fatah and Palestinians and will no doubt become the guiding principles for the movement, as it tries to accelerate the reconciliation efforts with Hamas, hold a Palestinian National Council meeting, appoint a national unity government, and hold presidential and parliamentary elections.

The liberation of Palestine was the top topic in Abbas’ speech. Abbas mentioned Palestine 150 times. He also laid out a series of Palestinian accomplishments in economics, banking, education, health, information technology, commerce, sports, science, housing and various other fields. In outlining the political accomplishments, Abbas stressed that the term “Palestinian Authority” has been scrapped and replaced by the “State of Palestine” after the UN vote. “In 2012, the UN General Assembly voted to recognize Palestine as an observer state with 138 nations voting in favor of Palestine,” Abbas proudly stated. He added that this recognition made it possible for the State of Palestine to join some 522 international agencies: “We have joined 44 organizations, including UNESCO and the International Criminal Court.”

Israel was mentioned 31 times in the president’s speech, mostly in terms connected to its occupation (25 times) and settlement (six times) policies. Abbas referred to the 1993 letters of mutual recognition exchanged between the PLO and Israel, but Abbas cautioned the latter not to take them for granted. Palestinian recognition of Israel is not free of charge, he argued in his speech. “We keep repeating that our recognition of Israel is not free and must be reciprocated with a similar recognition. We also call on countries that have recognized the two-state solution to recognize both states and not one.”