President Yasser Arafat said today Palestinians would continue their struggle for an independent state and insisted on the right of refugees to return to what is now Israel.
President Arafat's speech was his first official reaction after US President George W. Bush's statement of support for Israel keeping parts of the West Bank under any future peace deal and ruling out a return for the refugees.
Palestinians are outraged at Mr Bush's pledges, which broke with decades of US policy.
Mr Arafat, evidently angry, did not refer to Mr Bush directly in a statement broadcast on Palestinian television but said: "The fanatical Israeli rulers are wrong and so are those who support them and you know who I mean.
"The Palestinian people will not give up seeking their freedom and independence and a state with Jerusalem as its capital whether they like it or not," Mr Arafat said.
"Our fate is that we are the defenders of our land and our holy shrines and our rights and the right of the refugees to return to their homeland."