Mahmoud Abbas
Photo: AP
President Bush
Photo: AP
Abbas hopeful US-sponsored Mideast conference will lead to Palestinian state
'We hope conference called for by Bush will produce practical, palpable results to enable our people to exercise their right to self-determination,' Palestinian president says
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he hoped for palpable results toward the creation of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital at a US-sponsored Mideast peace conference in November.
Preparing for Peace Conference
(Video) Israel, Palestinian Authority to try to come to mutual understanding prior to scheduled peace conference in Washington
In a speech read to a conference on the rights of Palestinians, Abbas warned the seizure of the Gaza Strip by Islamic Hamas militants in June should not be an excuse for the international community to abandon the peace process.
"We hope that the conference called for by President George W. Bush will produce practical and palpable results to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination and the creation of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," he said.
The speech was delivered on behalf of Abbas by the Palestinian envoy to the European Union. Abbas was not at the conference in Brussels.
Anti-Israeli agenda
At a summit Tuesday, Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert talked for the first time about the core issues that have scuttled decades of peace efforts - Palestinian refugees, final borders and the fate of Jerusalem. It was the first time Olmert and Abbas addressed the issues in depth and it represented an important building block for the November's peace conference.
Before the meeting with Olmert, Abbas had warned the November conference would be a "waste of time" if the big three issues were glossed over.
Bush proposed the conference this fall after bloody infighting split the Palestinian leadership into two rival governments. His administration sees the bitter internal split as an opportunity to push for a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
The two-day conference on Palestinians' rights started Thursday at the European Parliament amid protests by Israel and some EU lawmakers, who said the event organizer - the UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People - has an anti-Israeli agenda.
The UN Committee, established in 1975, is chaired by Senegal. It has 22 member and 26 observer states.
