BICOM

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas criticised the US for undermining the two-state solution in his speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday.

Abbas said US President Donald Trump’s plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks contradicted decisions made by his administration since taking office. “It’s really ironic that the American administration still talk about what they call the deal of the century, but what is left for this administration to give to the Palestinian people? Only humanitarian solutions?” He called on President Trump to “walk back his decisions” to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and cut funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Abbas said “Jerusalem is not for sale,” adding “the Palestinian people’s rights are not up for bargaining”. He also reiterated his call to convene a UN Security Council-led international peace conference “based on the relevant UN resolutions and the internationally-endorsed terms of reference and parameters” for a two-state solution. “We will also not accept sole American mediation in the peace process,” he said, accusing the Trump administration of being “biased” towards Israel since taking office in January 2017.

Abbas told the UN he has been tasked by the Palestinian National Council to review all agreements with Israel, approach the International Criminal Court over Israel’s military occupation and suspend Palestinian recognition of Israel “until Israel recognises in its turn the State of Palestine”. Abbas also called the recently passed Israeli Nation-State Law “a racist law that crossed all the red lines,” and said the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar would “destroy the unity of the West Bank”.

He also praised Egypt’s mediation role with Hamas in Gaza, before blaming Hamas for failing to fulfil its obligations under the Egyptian-backed agreement last year. Hamas said Abbas’s speech “is a declaration of the failure of his policy and recognition of the end of reconciliation talks. The situation the Palestinian people currently find themselves in is a result of mistakes that Abbas has made despite the warnings of the Palestinian factions”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response to Abbas: “Your Palestinian Authority imposes death sentences on Palestinians for selling land to Jews. Did you hear that? If a Jew buys an apartment, a piece of land anywhere in the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian who sold him that land is executed. That’s what the law says.  President Abbas, you proudly pay Palestinian terrorists who murder Jews. In fact, the more they slay, the more you pay. That’s in their law too. And you condemn Israel’s morality? You call Israel racist?”