Palestinian leader calls for ‘genuine’ peace process
JERUSALEM— Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called for an international conference early next year to launch a “genuine peace process” while criticizing the recent decision of two Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel.
Abbas seemed to acknowledge the growing international weariness with the decades-old conflict as he delivered the latest in a long series of addresses to the U.N. General Assembly.
“I wondered while preparing this statement what more could I tell you, after all that I have said in previous statements,” he said in the video address from his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The Palestinians have rejected President DonaldTrump’sproposal to end the conflict, which overwhelmingly favors Israel, and have officially cut off contacts with both the U.S. and Israel. Arguing that Washington is no longer an honest broker, they have called for a multilateral peace process based on U.N. resolutions and past agreements.
They have also rejected the decision of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize ties with Israel, viewing it as a betrayal of the longstanding Arab consensus that recognition of Israel should only come in exchange for territorial concessions.
Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, responded with a video statement calling Abbas’ speech a collection of “lies and incitement against Israel” andarguing that the Palestinian leader was “desperate” because of the agreements Israel reached with Bahrain and the UAE.
For more than three decades, the Palestinians have sought an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories seizedby Israel in the1967war.
There have been no substantive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was first elected more than a decade ago.
The Palestinians insist that the core Middle East conflict will not be resolved until they realize their aspirations for independence.
“Wewill not kneel or surrender, and we will not deviate from our fundamental positions, and we shall overcome,” Abbas said, speaking behind a plaque that read “State of Palestine.”