Abbas takes the stage at UN General Assembly
Abbas opened his speech by immediately saying that Palestinians will not exit Gaza.
“We will not leave. We will not leave. We will not leave,” he said. “Palestine is our homeland. It is the land of our fathers, our grandfathers. It will remain ours.” “And if anyone were to leave, it would be the occupying usurpers.”
Abbas accused Netanyahu of lying when he told US Congress in July that “practically” no children had been killed in Gaza.
“I ask you by God, who is it then that killed more than 15,000 children?” he said. “Stop this crime. Stop it now. Stop killing children and women. Stop the genocide. Stop sending weapons to Israel.”
“This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening to our people in Gaza and the West Bank.”
Mahmoud Abbas also said that people in Lebanon are being subjected to a “war of genocide”.
“We condemn this aggression, and we demand that it stops immediately,” said Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.
Abbas slams settlers as ‘terrorism gangs’
Mahmoud Abbas criticised Israeli forces under the leadership of PM Benjamin Netanyahu for supporting “terrorism gangs of settlers” as they destroy hundreds of houses in the occupied Palestinian territories and take land.
“They’re building everywhere in Palestine,” the Palestinian leader said of the settlers.
Abbas calls on international community to impose sanctions on Israel
Israeli forces have destroyed most of Gaza’s buildings and infrastructure, Mahmoud Abbas says, calling on the international community to impose sanctions on Israel.
“Anybody who goes to Gaza, who’d known it before, would not recognise it anymore,” the Palestinian Authority leader said. “It’s no longer there. Seventy-five percent of everything in Gaza has been fully destroyed.”
“The international community must immediately impose sanctions on Israel.”
Abbas says he doesn’t understand why the United States “insists on opposing” Palestinians.
“We regret that the United States, the largest democracy in the world, obstructed three times draft resolutions of the Security Council demanding Israel to observe a ceasefire,” said the Palestinian Authority president. “The US alone stood and said, ‘No, the fighting is going to continue.'”
He added that this only encouraged Israel to continue the war. “As long as the US is supporting it, then why not keep going?”
Abbas give 12-point proposal to UNGA
Abbas laid out a 12-point proposal to the UNGA for what needs to be done the day after the war ends.
- A comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the military aggressions and attacks by terrorist settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
- Humanitarian aid must be delivered urgently, in an organised manner and in sufficient quantities because there’s nothing in Gaza, and they need everything. This humanitarian aid must be delivered throughout Gaza.
- A full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. We refuse the establishment of buffer zones or taking any part from Gaza. We demand that we stop the forced displacement inside the Gaza Strip or outside the Gaza Strip. We demand the return of those displaced to their homes and to have housing provided to them.
- We demand the protection of UNRWA and humanitarian organisations from Israel’s actions and to provide political and financial support to these organisations so that they can perform their role and offer their services to the Palestinians.
- We demand international protection for the Palestinians on the lands of their occupied land. We want protection. We are not fighting Israel. We cannot fight Israel, and we don’t want to fight.
- The State of Palestine must shoulder its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip and impose its full mandate and jurisdiction on it, including the border checkpoints, especially the Rafa international border between Egypt and Palestine, as part of a comprehensive plan.
- The authority of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian government and the PLO, the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people, will have authority on all Palestinian territories in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem, as has been stipulated for us by international law. We are not asking for more, but we will not accept any less.
- We will continue to mobilise the largest possible international support so that the State of Palestine can achieve full membership in the United Nations as soon as possible. We like to be sitting among you.
- The full implementation of the General Assembly resolution on the advisory opinion that we mentioned, issued by the International Court of Justice, in a manner that would lead to the end of the occupation in 12 months.
- Hold an international peace conference under the auspices of the United Nations within a year to apply the two-state solution. So we hold this international conference so that we would resolve all the problems that remain between us and Israel. By the way, we recognise the state of Israel, but Israel doesn’t recognise us.
- Adopt international peacekeeping forces by virtue of a Security Council resolution between the states of Palestine and Israel to guarantee the security of both countries. We call for guaranteeing the security of both countries.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ‘has been missing in action’
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, says the first half of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech at the UN General Assembly was “quite argumentative”, calling out the US for refusing a permanent ceasefire earlier in the war on Gaza, refusing to recognise the state of Palestine, and turning a blind eye to Israeli aggression.
“However, overall Abbas seems to me like a statesman who never changed. For the past 50 years, he’s been repeating the same arguments, making the same points – again and again,” Bishara said.
“Over the past year, as Israel was carrying out its genocide in Gaza and its war crimes in the occupied West Bank, Abbas has been missing in action. With the exception of a few appearances here and there and international forums, Abbas is nowhere to be seen in Palestine, speaking on behalf of or defending the people of Gaza.”
While Abbas offers “strong arguments” against “occupation and apartheid”, he is still making “the same gestures towards Israel, speaking about peace and security”, said Bishara.
