Israel’s policies threaten ‘very existence’ of Palestinians, Abbas tells UN

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has ⁠warned the United Nations General Assembly that Israel’s policies go beyond undermining a two-state solution and now threaten the “very life and existence” of Palestinians.

Abbas’s prerecorded remarks from his office in Ramallah were broadcast before the assembly on Thursday after the United States denied visas to a Palestinian delegation to attend the gathering for the second year in a row.

Abbas said Palestinians were living through one of the “most dangerous periods” of their history, citing “killing, destruction, starvation, attempts at displacement, as well as a genocidal war that has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.

He said Israeli forces were erasing Palestinian lives in Gaza.

“Neighbourhoods, cities, refugee camps, institutions, schools, universities, hospitals, mosques, and churches have been destroyed. Every foundation of life, and the future of entire generations, has been targeted.”

He called Israeli activities in the occupied West Bank a “malicious colonial plan” and said Palestinians were being pushed into forced displacement, with “realities on the ground” changing every day in reference to Israeli settlements being built on Palestinian land, a practice that is illegal under international law.

Abbas urged the international community to implement the two-state solution on the basis of international law to guarantee security.

“Saving the solution begins with preserving the land on which the Palestinian state is to be established” and protecting the people who live on it, he said, adding that Palestinians could live “alongside the state of Israel”.

Abbas said any transitional period must lead to the reunification of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank under one Palestinian state with a single legitimate armed force.

Domestically, Abbas said, the Palestinian Authority plans to hold legislative elections ⁠on November 28, the first such vote in 20 years, despite doubts it will go ahead.

Palestinians have not held legislative or presidential elections since 2005-2006, when Hamas took control of Gaza.

“We have completed the national reform programme to which we committed ourselves before our people and the international community,” Abbas said.

Hamas ready to implement Gaza roadmap

Abbas’s comments came as Hamas accused Israel on Thursday of trying to derail a “ceasefire” and a process by the US-backed Board of Peace to end the war in Gaza.

Hamas agreed to a 15-point roadmap that included the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian factions, the transfer of Gaza’s administration to a Palestinian national committee, and a phased Israeli withdrawal.

In a statement, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the group was “fully ready to implement the roadmap agreed with the Board of Peace concerning the peace plan in the Gaza Strip”, and had taken the measures necessary to comply with the deal.

Qassem said Israel was refusing to meet its commitments of the ceasefire deal and the Gaza roadmap while escalating attacks on Palestinians.

He added that the Board of Peace and its high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, had failed to compel Israel to implement the deal.

With both processes to end conflict in Gaza and the occupied West Bank uncertain, a two-state solution seems to be slipping further away.