Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) delivered a speech on Sunday, July 1, in the occupied West Bank district of Ramallah concerning the Palestinian cause. The speech, which was delivered before representatives of the African Union, was made on behalf of the Palestinian Minister for Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: Wafa)
The Palestinian Maan news agency reported that in his speech Abbas noted how, during the past two decades, the Palestinian National Authority (PA) has continuously worked on a solution to achieve peace in attempt to guarantee the realization of the most basic human rights of the Palestinian people which are daily being undermined by Israel.
Abbas called upon the states of the African Union to review their relations with other states and racist political regimes. He indicated that he recognizes the comradeship between the African Union and the Palestinian people, the latter of whom have taken a consistent stand for the equality, justice and freedom of the peoples of the African continent.
Abbas said that the Palestinian cause, which has been and will remain an essential key to achieving international peace and security is capable, given its political momentum and international solidarity, of preventing any schemes being fomented which oppose human rights.
Abbas stressed that the United States, which has consistently remained outside the international consensus on the means to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, has by unilaterally declaring its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in fact revealed its intention of legitimizing the Israeli occupation over East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
In doing so, President Abbas added, the US administration has displayed a total lack of respect for the Palestinian people who are struggling for their independence, self-determination, and basic human rights. Therefore, he concluded, the United States is both morally and politically unqualified to impose a “peace” solution or to attempt to advance any deal between the parties.
During his address before the United Nations General Assembly in September 2017, Abbas emphasized the need for a two-state solution, noting that Israel’s rejection of this paradigm risked “entrenching a system of apartheid” in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
