Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday told U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that Washington must halt Israeli “escalation” before "it is too late."
The two officials discussed Israeli-Palestinian relations during their meeting in Ramallah. Abbas warned Sullivan that the U.S. should intervene “immediately.”
“We cannot accept the continuation of the Israeli crimes,” Abbas told Sullivan.
“We will confront these measures and defend the rights of our people and our lands and holy sites,” he added.
According to Abbas, Israeli actions in the West Bank threatened regional stability and could destroy the two-state solution. He urged Sullivan, who earlier on Thursday met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to put pressure on the Israeli government “to halt its policies, measures and escalation.”
Abbas also warned of repercussions of Israel’s “settlement construction, daily killings, incursions into Palestinian cities and towns, as well as violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites,” according to a statement issued by Abbas’s office. Earlier this month, Israel placed sanctions on the Palestinian Authority following the vote at the UN General Assembly asking the International Court of Justice to seek an opinion on the "Israeli occupation." Washington said the move would "only serve to increase tensions."