Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas appealed on Friday to the United Nations for an international conference on the Middle East in 2021, hoping for a new start after US elections and the milestone of Gulf Arabs’ recognition of Israel.
In an address to the General Assembly, Abbas asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene the meeting on the Palestinian issue “early next year” and bring in “all relevant parties.”
“The conference should have full authority to launch a genuine peace process based on international law,” Abbas told the virtual General Assembly in a recorded address.
“It should aim to end the occupation and grant the Palestinian people their freedom and independence in their own state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and settle final-status issues, notably the refugee question,” he said.
Abbas made his appeal amid concerns among Palestinians of dwindling support in the Arab world for their decades-long campaign for an independent state.
Abbas said: “It is delusional to think that the Palestinian people could be sidelined.”
“You should all know that there can be no peace, no security, no stability or coexistence in our region without an end to the occupation and without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian question,” he said. Trump’s “America First” ideology.
“At present we are witnessing an erosion of multilateralism, which is all the more serious in light of the development of new forms of military technology,” he said in his video address.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
