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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has urged the United Nations General Assembly to hold Israel accountable and take steps to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution.
Speaking in a pre-recorded address to world leaders in New York on Thursday, Abbas questioned the international community’s response to the ongoing conflict and called for an end to the Israeli occupation.
“What is the international community waiting for in order to protect the Palestinian people, ensure their continued presence on their land, end the Israeli occupation and implement the two-state solution on the basis of international legitimacy?” Abbas asked in a pre-recorded speech.
He said Palestinians were going through “one of the most dangerous times” in their history, following three years of war in Gaza.
“In the Gaza Strip, our people are being subjected at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces to killing, destruction, starvation, attempts at displacement as well as a genocidal war that has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” Abbas said.
Abbas delivered his address remotely from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank after the Trump administration denied him and his delegation entry into the United States for the General Assembly.
The Palestinian leader spoke a day after a “high-level” meeting of the Trump-led Board of Peace, which estimated that rebuilding Gaza would cost $71.4 billion over the next decade.
The board also presented a six-month plan to begin reconstruction, while acknowledging that implementation could only start “the moment funding and access allow.”
Under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan, introduced last October, a reformed Palestinian Authority is expected to take over the administration of Gaza in the future.
However, the United States has had limited public engagement with the Palestinian Authority since the agreement was reached 11 months ago.
Abbas urged the Trump administration to “lift these sanctions” and “return to dialogue and mutual respect,” while criticising Washington’s decision to prevent Palestinian officials from attending the UN meetings in person.
He described the visa restrictions as “unlawful punitive measures” and said the Palestinian delegation had been denied access to the annual gathering for the second consecutive year.
Abbas told world leaders that the delegation was “denied the entry visas required to reach New York and participate in the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly in person.”
“We reject these unlawful punitive measures, and we reject the accusations and justifications on which they were based,” he said.
He further argued that the decision violated the United States’ responsibilities as the host country of the UN headquarters.
“Denying the Palestinian delegation access to the UN headquarters is a violation of the United States’ obligations as the host country. Therefore, we call upon the American administration to lift these sanctions and restrictions.”
