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Palestine’s Abbas pursues two-state solution at UN speech

28 September 2012 17:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Palestinians on Friday considered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech he addressed the UN General Assembly on Thursday a warning to the International Community as peace is stalled, while Israel considered it a provocative one, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

In his speech, Abbas announced that the Palestinian efforts to gain a non-member Palestinian state in the UN General Assembly are going on to reinforce the opportunities of achieving peace, adding "We started intensive consultations with the international parties to fain the recognition."

"Within our efforts we are not seeking to grab the legitimacy of an existing state like Israel but to devote the principle of the two-state solution and establish the other state which is called Palestine. Israel is always trying to grab our legal right of having our independence," Abbas told the UN.

He called on the international community "to obstruct the occurrence of a new Nakba," referring to the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, when Israel violently expelled 750,000 Palestinians out of their towns. He also called on the world to recognize now the free and independent state of Palestine before time runs.

Bassam Salhi, secretary general of the Palestinian left-wing People’s Party, told Xinhua that Abbas’ speech "was a strong warning message to the UN before a new Nakba happens to the Palestinians due to the Israeli measures on the ground, like the expansion of Jewish settlements and building up the wall."

Wassel Abu Yousef, a member in Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee, told Xinhua that President Abbas stressed on the Palestinian merits and the steadfastness of the Palestinians on their lands when he said "we don’t have a homeland except the land of Palestine."

"It is a message to the international community’s leaders telling them that the Palestinians reject considering any alternative solution on the lands of Palestine except the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 with east Jerusalem as its capital," Abu Yousef said.

Qais Abdel Karim, the senior leader in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), told Xinhua that Abbas warned the world of the real situation in the Palestinian territories mainly the ongoing military occupation and the expansion of settlements.

"The International Community must listen carefully to every word in Abbas’ speech because he warned that the Israeli occupation’s measures and the expansion of settlements would lead to dissolving the Palestinian Authority and make the implementation of the interim peace accords impossible," he said.

The United States and Israel oppose the Palestinian bid to the UN for a non-member state of Palestine. Last September, the United States voted against the bid presented to the UN Security Council to recognize the state of Palestine as a member state in the general assembly.

Mustafa al-Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, told Xinhua that President Abbas reminded the world that the Palestinians condemn violence and terrorism, "but insisted on the peaceful and popular resistance of the Israeli occupation."

Ahmed majdalani, secretary general of the Popular Struggle Front, said Abbas’ speech had two messages to the world and to the United States. He called on the world to play a more active role and vote for the state of Palestine and told the United States that "there are no talks without a clear reference to peace."

Abbas Fatah Party also said in a press statement that it backs his speech he addressed to the UN, while its rival Islamic Hamas movement which rules the Gaza Strip slammed the speech and its leaders said that the speech was passionate, a jump in the air and does not carry anything new.

Fayez Abu Eitta, Fatah movement spokesman in Gaza, said in a press statement that Abbas addressed his speech to the world and made the world responsible towards the Palestinian people, warning of the world’s silence towards the ongoing crimes of the Israeli occupation.

Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said in a press statement emailed to reporters in comment to Abbas’ speech, where he asked for the recognition of a Palestinian state that this step "wasn’t agreed upon or consulted by the entire Palestinians."

Abu Zuhri said Abbas’ bid to the UN is related to the Palestinian people’s fate "but Abbas made an unaccompanied step," adding that "it is just a jump in the air that won’t have any political implication on the ground." Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said there is "nothing new in the speech."

Meanwhile, Israel Radio on Friday quoted its Foreign Minister Avigdore Lieberman as saying that Abbas’ speech was provocative, adding that "everyone listened to the speech understood that this man (Abbas) can never be a peace partner with Israel."