PARIS, December 22, 2017 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated Friday that the US has proven to be a dishonest mediator in the peace process following its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“The US has proven to be a dishonest mediator in the peace process and we will no longer accept any plan put forward by the US due to its bias ]towards Israel[,” stated Abbas in a press conference with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
underlining the US threat to cut funding to countries ahead of the UN General Assembly’s vote on Thursday, Abbas said: “I hope that the others will learn the lesson and understand that you cannot impose positions by using money and trying to buy off countries.”
The UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) voted in favor of a draft resolution rejecting US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital with 128 member states voting in favor, nine opposing and 35 abstaining.
Highlighting France and EU’s efforts and support to Palestinian state building, Abbas expressed his hopes that these efforts would not be destroyed and be in vain as a result of ongoing Israeli settlement construction.
He stressed that under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel, the occupying power, is prohibited from moving population into the Palestinian territories it has occupied since June 1967.
Abbas urged France and EU countries to recognize the State of Palestine.
“We call upon countries that did not recognize the State of Palestine to do so to preserve the two-state solution before it is too late,” he said.
“Recognition of the State of Palestine is an investment in peace. It is also an investment in a stable and secure future for the entire region and ]contributes to[ banishing the specter of violence, extremism, terrorism and wars from our region,” he added.
Abbas condemned Israeli forces’ excessive use of force in quelling peaceful demonstrations and said Palestinians continue to hold peaceful protests against Israeli occupation practices.
He referred to the case of killing of Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, a disabled man from Gaza, who was killed by Israeli forces during a peaceful protest near the border fence with Gaza and the detention of 17-year-old teen Ahed Tamimi.
Abbas stressed his sincere quest to make peace with Israel, stating: “We are one of the main parties that fight violence and terrorism . . . We spread the culture of peace.”
He emphasized that he would continue his diplomatic efforts in the international arena to secure recognition of an independent Palestinian state.
Abbas indicated his willingness to negotiate with Israel if it accepts the two-state solution based on 1967 borders and recognize East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital.
On his part, Macron reportedly said “The Americans have marginalized themselves and I am trying not to do the same thing.”
He reaffirmed his rejection of Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and recalled that he met with the Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month and urged him to make “courageous gestures” to help revive the long-stalled peace process, including freezing settlement construction.
Macron expressed his support of Jerusalem being a capital of two states, Israel and Palestine, and expressed hopes that reconciliation efforts would succeed.
He unveiled that he would visit the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel in 2018 in a renewd push for peace.
K.F.
