Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today marked the 40th anniversary of the Arabs' "great defeat" by Israel in the "Six Day War" and promised statehood was within reach.
Palestinians gathered in Ramallah's main square in the occupied West Bank for a rally to mark the "naksa" or setback of 1967.
"We enter another year, four decades after the June war, in which the rest of the land of Palestine was occupied, in addition to key Egyptian and Syrian lands," Mr Abbas said.
"On the internal front, the cause of everybody's concern is what is called the security chaos, or more precisely, standing on the brink of a civil war," Mr Abbas said in a televised speech.
There has been new fighting between his secular Fatah faction and Islamist Hamas fighters, and Mr Abbas has so far failed to secure a ceasefire between Palestinian militants and Israel.
The 1967 war, which began on June 5th with Israeli air raids that destroyed the bulk of the Egyptian air force, ended with Israel in control of the West Bank - including Arab East Jerusalem - the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai desert.
"Since that black date, our people and nation are paying a dear price for a great defeat that . . . added complications to the Israeli-Arab conflict, at the heart of which is the Palestinian problem and the rights of our people," Mr Abbas said.
"Despite all the difficulties, we are taking steps towards statehood, a target that is getting closer," he said.