Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday warned the international community against allowing “another Nakba” and called for faster implementation of the US-led peace plan for Gaza.
Addressing the UN General Assembly in a pre-recorded speech, Mr Abbas said Palestinians were facing “one of the most dangerous times” in their history, citing decades of displacement, occupation and the denial of their right to self-determination, freedom and independence.
He accused Israeli forces of killing, destruction, starvation and attempts to displace Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, saying the conflict had created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
“Do not allow terrorist gangs protected by the Israeli occupation forces to burn Palestinian homes while their occupants are sleeping inside them,” Mr Abbas said. “Do not allow our children to live afraid and threatened.”
He noted that, nearly a year after the establishment of US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, the next stage of the Gaza peace plan was yet to be implemented.
“We call for accelerating the implementation of the second phase rather than wasting any more time,” he said, adding that the transitional period, which is due to end in 2027, “must not be allowed to become a permanent or open-ended situation”.
Settler violence
Mr Abbas accused Israel of accelerating settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and said settler violence was increasing under the protection of Israeli forces. He also cited land confiscation, home demolitions, checkpoints and raids.
“We warn you today: do not allow another Nakba to occur,” Mr Abbas said, referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 war. “Do not allow further massacres like those that occurred in 1948.”
He said the war had destroyed homes and infrastructure including schools, universities and hospitals.
Mr Abbas said Israeli policies, including the proposed E1 settlement, were no longer limited to undermining the establishment of a Palestinian state but threatened “the very life and existence of the Palestinian people on their homeland”.
He called on the international community to protect Palestinians, ensure their continued presence on their land, end the Israeli occupation and implement a two-state solution based on international resolutions.
He also questioned why some countries continued to remain silent or supply Israel with weapons, saying the international community had witnessed the “tremendous cost” of the conflict in Gaza and the West Bank.
Mr Abbas accused Israeli “extremism” of seeking to expand a colonial project towards establishing “Greater Israel” and “completely erasing Palestinian presence”.
The Palestinian leader had to give his speech via video because the US denied visas to him and other Palestinian officials to travel to New York, saying they had failed to live up to peace process commitments.
“We have fulfilled our obligations, carried out a comprehensive national reform programme, and upheld our commitment to international law, to shunning violence and terrorism, and to the two-state solution and to peace,” Mr Abbas said.
He urged the US administration to “return to dialogue and mutual respect” and work with the Palestinians and the international community to implement a two-state solution based on international legitimacy.
His speech concluded with a short round of applause from General Assembly delegates but there were no ovations.
– Amr Mostafa contributed to this report
