Abbas urges stronger action and unified Palestinian governance at UN
In a prerecorded address, the Palestinian president called for a two-state solution and said Israeli policies threatened Palestinians’ “life and existence”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged stronger international action against Israel and renewed his call for a two-state solution in a prerecorded address to the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
Speaking from Ramallah, Abbas said Israeli policies threatened Palestinians’ “life and existence” and warned of a new Nakba. He also said Palestinians would remain “on their land”.
Abbas spoke by video after the United States denied visas to him and other senior Palestinian officials for the second year in a row, France 24 reported. The source did not give the US government’s explanation for the denials.
He called on countries to speak out against Israel and questioned the continued supply of weapons, citing the cost of the war in Gaza and the situation in the West Bank.
Abbas said Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank should be governed by “one state, one government, one law and one legitimate entity authorised to bear arms”. This was a proposal for future governance; the Palestinian Authority has been largely sidelined from negotiations over Gaza’s postwar arrangements.
The Palestinian Authority administers semiautonomous areas of the West Bank. Hamas took control of Gaza after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006.
