Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas inaugurated Friday afternoon the celebrations on the Israeli evacuation from the Gaza Strip and northern parts of the West Bank.
"The march of freedom and democracy begins today. We need the occupation to leave us forever," President Abbas said in a festival organized at Gaza fishingport, by the Civil Support and Protection Commission.
He added that the Palestinian people are celebrating on the liberation of Gaza and "tomorrow" will celebrate the liberation of Jenin and the occupied East Jerusalem.
Abbas added that the Palestinian people are eager to give the occupation the opportunity to be ended. "From this point, our people begin building the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," he stressed, according to WAFA.
President was talking from a small tent, installed on the port, where tens of thousands gathered together carrying the flags of Palestine and T-shirts holding the slogan "Today Gaza and Tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem."
The fishermen decorated their boats with flags of Palestine and set out across the sea.
Earlier, the Islamic Jihad Movement called on its supporters to attend a demonstration on Friday in northern Gaza Strip under the motto "Opening of Victory Festivals". The movement said, according to RNA, that "this demonstration comes on the occasion of the Israeli expulsion from Gaza Strip."
