UN must try to end Israeli occupation 'within set timeframe': Abbas
Abbas warns that if two-state solution were to be destroyed, Palestinians would have no choice but to 'continue the struggle...'
Mahmoud
Abbas, President of the State of Palestine, addresses the United
Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, 20 September, 2017 in New
York City (AFP)
Wednesday 20 September 2017
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United Nations on
Wednesday to pursue efforts to "bring an end to Israeli occupation of
the state of Palestine within a set timeframe".
Abbas, addressing the United Nations General Assembly, warned that if
the two-state solution were to be destroyed, Palestinians would have no
choice but to "continue the struggle and demand full rights for all
inhabitants of historic Palestine".
He urged the UN to end what he described as an "apartheid" regime imposed by Israel in the Palestinian territories.
"We are entrusted and you are entrusted to end apartheid in Palestine,"
Abbas told the UN General Assembly in a nearly 45-minute address.
"Can the world accept an apartheid regime in the 21st century?" he asked.
Taking the podium a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
Abbas slammed Israel over the construction of new settlements
"everywhere", saying they were putting the two-state solution in
jeopardy.
"There is no place left for the state of Palestine and this is not acceptable," he said.
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The United Nations considers settlements illegal under international law
and the Security Council in December adopted a resolution demanding an
end to the expansion of the Jewish outposts on the West Bank and east
Jerusalem.
The resolution passed after the United States under the previous
administration of Barack Obama declined to use its veto and instead
abstained.
The Palestinian leader vowed to push for full recognition of Palestinian
statehood at the United Nations, a move that would require approval
from the Security Council where the United States, Israel's key ally,
holds veto power.
Abbas spoke at the assembly after meeting US President Donald Trump who
said he was "working very hard with everybody involved toward peace" but
offered little detail.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported that four Palestinian rights groups
submitted a 700-page document to the International Criminal Court,
alleging that senior Israeli officials have committed crimes against
humanity.
"This communication, which is based on factual information collected by
the four organisations, covers the following crimes against humanity in
accordance with the Rome Statute: murder, deportation or transfer of
population, persecution, apartheid," an al-Haq representative, which is
one of the groups that submitted the document, told Al Jazeera.
