At UN, Abbas decries Israel’s recent Al-Aqsa incursions

NEW YORK

In a speech delivered at the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel to stop its systematic incursions into occupied East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, while also suggesting that his Palestinian Authority had given up on the 1993 Oslo peace accords.

“I call on the Israeli government to stop its use of brutal force to impose its plan to undermine Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy places, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” he said.

“Such actions,” Abbas warned, “risk changing the conflict from a political to a religious one.”

He also decried recent events in East Jerusalem, where, he said, “extremist Israeli groups are committing systematic incursions into Al-Aqsa aimed at dividing [the mosque compound] on a temporal basis to allow extremists -- under the protection of Israeli occupation forces and accompanied by government ministers and Knesset members -- to enter Al-Aqsa at certain times while barring Muslim worshipers from entering the holy precinct.”

Abbas went on to assert that Israel's actions were in direct contravention of the status quo maintained at Al-Aqsa since Israel occupied the area in 1967.

“The Palestinian people will not allow the implementation of this illegal scheme, which is an affront to the sensitivities of Palestinians and Muslims everywhere,” he said.

Abbas added: “Our people have placed their hopes on the countries of this organization [i.e., the UN] to help them win their freedom, independence and sovereignty, so that their wish for -- and right to -- a state of their own might be achieved, along with a just solution to the Palestinian refugee issue in line with UN General Assembly Resolution 194 and the [2002] Arab peace initiative.”

He also stated that Palestine, which currently holds observer status at the UN, “deserves full recognition and full membership” in the world body.

“Israel refuses to commit to the agreements signed with us, which renders us an authority [i.e., not a state] without real powers, while refusing to cease its settlement-building activities,” Abbas said in an apparent reference to the 1993 Oslo Accords.

He added: “We therefore declare that we cannot continue to be bound by these agreements and that Israel must assume all its responsibilities as an occupying power, because the situation as it currently stands can’t go on.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Abbas' speech, calling it "deceitful".

In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu said, "[Abbas'] speech was deceitful and encourages incitement and lawlessness in the Middle East."

"In contrast to the Palestinians, Israel is strictly maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount," he said. Netanyahu added that Israel was committed to preserve the status quo in accordance with the agreements it has with Jordanian and Egyptian authorities. He further called on Abbas to enter into direct negotiations with Israel "without preconditions".