The Palestinian Authority has decided to beef up security around PA President
Mahmoud Abbas out of concern for his life following his speech at the UN General
Assembly, Palestinian security sources said Tuesday.
Nimer Hammad,
political advisor to Abbas, confirmed that tight security measures have been
taken to ensure the PA president's safety.
Hammad said the new measures
were taken following Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman's recent attacks on Abbas.
He claimed that
Israel was planning to get rid of Abbas and called on the US to intervene to
stop the alleged scheme.
“We are really concerned for his life because
the Americans and Israelis intend to replace him,” the sources told the
London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
The sources said that the PA
leadership would not “succumb to Israeli pressure and threats against President
Abbas” after he announced his intention to ask the General Assembly to upgrade
the status of a Palestinian state to non-member in the UN.
According to
the sources, the PA has demanded that the UN “protect” Abbas in light of the
“threats and pressure.”
The PA Foreign Ministry in Ramallah said it holds
Israel responsible for statements made by Liberman last
week to the effect that Abbas would “pay the price” for his statehood
bid.
The ministry called on the Quartet members – the US, UN, EU and
Russia – to also hold Israel responsible for threats to “assassinate”
Abbas.
Meanwhile, Abbas reiterated Tuesday his determination to pursue
the PA statehood bid at the UN.
The PA president predicted that that the
General Assembly would hold a vote on the application “within the next few
weeks.”
Addressing Palestinian students in his office, Abbas said, “We
recently went to the UN with a request to recognize a state and we will achieve
this, God willing, as soon as possible.”
Abbas said that approving the
application would mean that a Palestinian state would be under occupation by
another country.
“We have no problem with this because then we will have
a state and not a disputed land,” he said. “This land is ours. It is occupied
land, no matter how many settlements there are and how much they
grow.”
Abbas said that Palestinians will not accept the presence of any
settlers on their lands.
“The settlements and settlers must leave,” he
continued.
“This land and Jerusalem belong to us. There will never be a
Palestinian state without Jerusalem as its capital.”