Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Friday delivered a fiery speech in Ramallah, in which he reiterated his plan to ask the UN to set a deadline for Israel to “end the occupation”.
At the same time, Abbas said he was against violence and condemned recent terrorist attacks against Israelis.
“We are being shut down from all directions, we are forbidden to use sixty percent of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria -ed.),” Abbas claimed in his speech, according to Channel 2 News.
“We will not go, we will stay in our country,” he declared, adding, “I’m going to ask the UN to set a deadline for the occupation, to say when it ends.”
Alongside his harsh criticism of Israel’s policies, Abbas condemned the recent wave of terrorist attacks, saying, “We are opposed to murder, we seek peace and want security. We do not want the death of innocent people on either side.”
Abbas and his aides have more than once announced that they intend to turn to the Security Council with a resolution setting a deadline for Israel to “end the occupation”, a unilateral move that is in violation of the Oslo Accords.
The move has been accompanied by threats, with Abbas having recently threatened to cut ties with Israel if his latest unilateral move at the UN fails.
“If all efforts fail, we will end relations with Israel and I will tell Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, ‘Come and take over’. However, I will not dismantle the Palestinian Authority and I will submit a request to join all the organizations belonging to the UN,” he declared.
Fatah leader Nabil Shaath recently threatened Israel with a “political war” if there is a negative response to Abbas’s steps at the United Nations.
The United States, which has indicated several times that it objects to Abbas’s UN move, has the power to veto the resolution at the Security Council and will likely do so.
Earlier this week it reported that Secretary of State John Kerry had threatened Abbas with sanctions if the PA goes ahead with unilateral moves.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
