PA accuses Israel of trying to 'bully' UN

Abbas says international community can no longer tolerate Israel's 'arrogance' and 'disrespect' for international laws.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Abbas311 reuters (photo credit: reuters)
Abbas311 reuters
(photo credit: reuters)
The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday accused Israel of trying to “bully” the United Nations following reports that the Israeli government had threatened to take unilateral steps if the UN recognizes a Palestinian state.
The PA leadership in the West Bank also dismissed as unacceptable Israeli threats to cut off ties with the PA if Hamas is joins a Palestinian unity government.
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The PA has said that it would ask the United Nations Security Council or General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines in September.
Nimer Hammad, political advisor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of practicing “political thuggery” against the UN.
He said that the international community could no longer tolerate Israel’s “arrogance” and “disrespect” for international laws.
Hammad said that there was a worldwide consensus regarding the need to “end occupation and establish a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.”
Also Tuesday, the PA rejected statements by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu regarding efforts to achieve unity between Hamas and Fatah.
Netanyahu said that the Palestinian Authority “is thinking of unification with Hamas and peace agreements with Hamas. I have one thing to say to them – you can’t have a peace agreement with Israel and the Hamas.”
Netanyahu added that the PA would have to choose between the two – “chose peace with Israel, abandon the Hamas.”
Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, dismissed the threat as unacceptable and accused Israel of intervening in an internal Palestinian affair. He said that Palestinian national unity was a “red line” for the PA.
Abu Rudeineh claimed that Netanyahu was searching for excuses to avoid conducting peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
The spokesman also brushed aside Israeli warnings about a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by the UN.
He said that the number of countries that recognize Palestine is bigger than those who don’t. He added that all West bank settlements would be dismantled “sooner or later” as they were in the Gaza Strip.