From
Times of Israel today:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rang in the New Year Monday night by declaring that 2013 would be the year that saw Palestinian independence.
April, 2010:
Citing Mahatma Gandhi, Palestinian Premier Salam Fayyad has said his people would not tolerate injustice after enduring decades of Israeli occupation and predicted an independent Palestinian state by August 2011.
December 31, 2001:
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has predicted that 2002 will bring independence to the Palestinians.
Mr Arafat delivered his year-end speech on Palestinian television after thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip took to the streets to hold rallies and to bury those killed a day earlier in confrontations with Israeli troops.
The Palestinian leader has made similar forecasts for the past several years, when ongoing peace negotiations with Israel offered the prospect of a resolution to decades of conflict in the Middle East.
May, 1996:
Arafat also predicted that an independent Palestinian state would be created by the end of this century, saying, "It is coming. No one can hide the sun with his fingers."