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Photo: AP
PA President Abbas
Photo: AP

Abbas to urge international involvement in peace process at the UN

With peace negotiations at a stand-still and with the belief the US no longer serves as an unbiased mediator, PA President Abbas sets out to urge the UN Security Council to be more involved in the Palestinians' struggle.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will urge world powers at the UN Security Council on Tuesday to stand up to the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and establish a revamped peace process.

 

 

President Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem infuriated the Palestinians who declared that the United States could no longer play a role as lead mediator in the Middle East peace process.

 

The stage will be set for a tense face-off with US Ambassador Nikki Haley, just weeks after she launched a scathing attack on Abbas and accused him of lacking the courage needed for peace.

 

PA President Abbas (Photo: AP)
PA President Abbas (Photo: AP)

Addressing the council for the first time since 2009, Abbas will call for a new collective approach in a bid to salvage the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour.

 

Abbas "will say that after the 6th of December with regard to Jerusalem, that now is the time for a collective approach," Mansour told AFP.

 

This could lead to a stepped up role for the other four permanent council members—Britain, France, China and Russia—or an expanded diplomatic quartet with Arab countries and others.

 

The Middle East Quartet currently is made up of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

 

Mansour said the Security Council—as the highest authority on matters of international peace and security—should come up with a new multilateral initiative and said the United States would not be sidelined.

 

In this new approach, the United States "will not have the only control. They will be part of the collective process for sure," said Mansour.

 

"The bottom line is we want a new active process," he said.

 

Israel, which often accuses the European Union and the United Nations of bias against it, would be reluctant to accept any other mediator than the United States.

 

Sources in the Israeli government believe Abbas may present the council with a timetable for advancing peace negotiations, threatening to turn to unilateral steps against Israel in UN institutions if it is not met.

 

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon, who will also address the council, sent a letter last week to the ambassadors of the Security Council ahead of the Palestinian leader's speech, in which he stressed to them that while the Abbas will talk about his commitment to negotiations and peace, "this is not what he says to his people and to his Arab-speaking audience."

 

Ambassadors Danon (L) and Haley (Photo: Evan Schneider)
Ambassadors Danon (L) and Haley (Photo: Evan Schneider)

 

Danon made a point to note Abbas' previous anti-Semitic rhetoric to disparage his future speech.

 

"About a month ago, Abbass said in a speech to the PLO conference in Ramallah that 'Israel is a colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism,' that the connection between the Jewish people and Israel consists of 'ancient slogans invented when the Jews were brought here by the Europeans' to promote Zionism," he recounted.

 

"In September 2015, Abbas said that 'the Jews have no right to dirty the Temple Mount with their filthy feet' and that he 'welcomes every drop of blood spilled for Jerusalem.'

 

"These are the words of incitement he says to the Palestinian public and the Arab world.

 

"Abbas leads an institutionalized policy to finance and glorify terrorism against Israelis. He names sites and institutions after murderers and organizes celebrations for them.

 

"If you and the Security Council are truly committed to a peaceful solution, you must make it clear to Abbas that you will no longer allow dangerous incitement, financing terror and boycotting the negotiations."

 

New phase of struggle

Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told state media that a "new phase of struggle has started" as the Palestinians seek to protect their claim to Jerusalem.

 

The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and UN resolutions call on countries to refrain from moving their embassies to the city until its status is resolved in an Israeli-Palestinian deal.

 

In December, the General Assembly voted 128-9, with 35 abstentions, to reject the US decision to recognize Jerusalem.

 

That vote in the 193-nation assembly came after 14 of the 15 council members voted in favour of a similar measure. The United States vetoed that draft resolution.

 

Abbas' address to the council comes as the Trump administration is preparing a new peace plan even though chances for agreement appear dim.

 

Tensions have also flared over the US decision to cut funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

 

Trump has accused the Palestinians of "disrespecting" the United States when Abbas refused to meet US Vice President Mike Pence during his visit to the region last month.

 

"We give them hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and support," Trump said, before warning "that money's not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace."

 

US President Trump (Photo: AP)
US President Trump (Photo: AP)

 

Abbas will also meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres but no separate meeting is planned with Haley, who has energetically defended the US decisions on Jerusalem and the funding cuts.

 

Haley told the council last month that peace will not be achieved "without leaders with courage" and warned the United States "will not chase after a Palestinian leadership that lacks what is needed to achieve peace."

 

The United Nations granted Palestine the status of a non-member observer state in 1992, but an upgrade to full membership would require unanimous backing from the Security Council.

 

Diplomats said Abbas hase no plans for the time being to seek full UN membership, a move that would certainly face a US veto.

 

Elior Levy, Itamar Eichner and Moran Azulay contributed to this report.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.20.18, 09:09
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