Abbas tells Arab League: Israel election results prove it doesn't want peace

The Palestinian leader also welcomed the Joint Arab List’s performance in the recent parliamentary elections.

By YASSER OKBI/ MAARIV HASHAVUA
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas gestures as he speaks during a meeting for the Central Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Ramallah (photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas gestures as he speaks during a meeting for the Central Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Ramallah
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the Arab League summit meeting in Sharm e-Sheikh on Saturday that the election results in Israel indicate that it has no desire to reach a final-status accord.
“Israel always claims that our joining international organizations is acting unilaterally,” he said. “What about the settlements? We are demanding international protection for the Palestinian people, because Israel continues to destroy mosques and churches while uprooting olive trees on a daily basis.
“Israel wants to turn a political conflict into a religious one by going up to Al-Aksa Mosque, and this is liable to lead to an explosion in the region,” Abbas said. “Since the Oslo Accords, Israel has violated agreements. Once it ceases to violate these agreements, we will also go back to the agreements.”
The Palestinian leader also welcomed the Joint List’s performance in the recent parliamentary elections.
“I want to congratulate the Arabs in Israel, who united for the first time and received 13 seats,” the Palestinian leader said. “This is a positive and important development which we support, despite the fact that we do not intervene in Israeli elections.”
Abbas added that the Palestinians were in the process of “reevaluating economic, political and security ties with Israel.” He vowed to hold Palestinian Authority elections “as soon as possible” in order to initiate the process of rebuilding the Gaza Strip.