Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday again held the Israeli government responsible for the escalation of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
He also accused Israel of undermining the two-state solution and violating the signed agreements with the Palestinians.
Abbas’s latest allegations came during a meeting in Ramallah with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
A senior Palestinian official said after the meeting that Blinken did not carry any new suggestions from Washington. “We didn’t hear new ideas or proposals,” the official said. “We also didn’t hear anything new about our demand that the US administration fulfill its promises to the Palestinians.”
Abbas lamented the absence of US and international pressure on Israel “to dismantle the occupation and end settlements.”
The PA president said the continued opposition by the US and other parties to the Palestinians’ diplomatic offensive against Israel in international forums and courts encourages Jerusalem “to commit more crimes and violate international law.”
Abbas blames the international community
Abbas took the international community to task for turning a blind eye to Israel’s “unilateral measures, including settlements, the de facto annexation of lands, settler terrorism, invasions of Palestinian areas, killings, house demolitions, displacing the Palestinians, altering the identity of Jerusalem, violating the historical status quo at al-Aqsa Mosque compound (Temple Mount) and seizing Palestinian tax funds, as well as ethnic cleansing and apartheid.”
Referring to the recent decision to end security coordination with Israel, Abbas said: “We have taken a number of decisions, which we began to implement in order to protect the interests of our people, after we exhausted all means with Israel to stop its violations.”
The PA president said Israel must completely halt its unilateral actions to pave the way “for restoring the political horizon and ending the occupation and achieving peace, stability and security for all.”
According to Abbas, the Palestinians have always “shown commitment to renouncing violence and terrorism and honoring the agreements” with Israel.
“We are now ready to work with the American administration and the international community to restore political dialogue in order to end the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Abbas added. “Our people won’t accept the continuation of the occupation forever.”
Prior to the meeting with Blinken, Abbas held talks in Ramallah with the heads of the Egyptian and Jordanian intelligence agencies, Abbas Kamel and Ahmed Husni.
Arriving in Ramallah unexpectedly, they relayed the support of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II for Abbas and the Palestinian people, the PA’s official news agency Wafa reported.
Palestinian sources said the two Arab intelligence chiefs have been working toward de-escalating tensions between the Palestinians and Israel.