Palestinian Authority ready to enter Gaza and fulfill Trump's new plan, Abbas tells UN
Palestinian Authority ready to enter Gaza and fulfill Trump's new plan, Abbas tells UN
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas slammed Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip and said his government was ready to implement a plan unveiled this week by US President Donald Trump for the besieged enclave, as he spoke by video to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday.
Abbas and his Palestinian delegation had been denied visas by the Trump administration and so was forced to address the annual UN summit remotely.
Abbas refrained from criticising the US, and instead said the Palestinian Authority was ready to govern Gaza and work with Trump on his new peace plan.
“I speak to you today after almost two years of which our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip have been facing a war of genocide, destruction, starvation, and displacement,” Abbas said.
His speech comes as Israel is escalating its genocide in Gaza with unconditional US support. Israel has launched a ferocious assault on Gaza City, where Middle East Eye has reported a “dystopian” level of destruction.
“What Israel is carrying out is not merely an aggression. It is a war crime and a crime against humanity,” Abbas said, “[that] will be recorded in history books… as one of the most horrific chapters of humanitarian tragedy.”
Abbas spent much of his speech rehashing the 1990s Oslo Peace Process under which the Palestinian Liberation Organization recognised Israel and abandoned armed resistance. In return, the Palestinian Authority was established and given a limited degree of self-governance in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The PA’s seat of power is the occupied West Bank. Israel has rapidly been expanding settlements and threatening a full scale annexation there, while the Israeli military supports settler attacks on Palestinians.
'Terrorism of settlers'
“The terrorism of settlers increases,” Abbas said, adding that “The extremist Israeli government continues to implement its settlement policies through illegal settlement expansion.”
The PA is deeply unpopular in the occupied West Bank, where it is viewed by most Palestinians as a corrupt vehicle of the Israeli occupation.
Abbas specifically addressed Israel’s so-called E1 plan for settlements that would split the occupied West Bank in half, severing East Jerusalem’s connection with the occupied territory's hinterland.
Abbas said the plan is designed to “undermine the option of the two-state solution in a blatant violation of international law”.
Israeli officials threatened to formally annex the West Bank in response to the decision of several UN member states to recognise a Palestinian state. Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has also grabbed territory in Lebanon and Syria.
“The Israeli prime minister announced a plan for what he calls Greater Israel, which we reject and completely deplore,” Abbas said.
Israel escalated its military activity in the region earlier this month with an attack on Hamas political officials in Qatar.
Abbas called the attack “a blatant violation of international law” and called for “decisive intervention” by Arab states.
'Hamas will have no role in Gaza governance'
The PA has long been at odds with Hamas since the latter took control of the Gaza Strip after winning elections almost two decades ago.
Abbas denounced the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel, which he said “does not represent the Palestinian people”.
The PA envisions the occupied West Bank and Gaza as the future cradle of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital alongside Israel.
Israel is opposed to the PA’s return to Gaza and has instead lobbied to enact the so-called “Trump Riviera” plan which most experts say greenwashes the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.
Abbas called the destroyed enclave “an integral part of the state of Palestine,” and called on Hamas to submit to the PA.
“We are ready to bare full responsibility for governance and security” in Gaza, he said, where “Hamas will not have a role to play in governance”.
Abbas demanded Hamas hand over its weapons to the “Palestinian National Authority” and said “we do not want an armed state”.
Ready to work with Trump
The Trump administration has oscillated on Gaza. Earlier this year, Trump floated his “Riviera” plan, but he discussed another proposal with the leaders of Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia along with senior officials from other Arab and Muslim states on Tuesday.
An Arab official confirmed to MEE that the plan supports an international peacekeeping force in Gaza that includes members of the Palestinian Authority.
The 89-year-old Abbas appeared to reference this plan, although he referenced a different date.
“We are ready to work with US President Donald Trump and with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and France…to implement the peace plan that was approved in the conference that was held on the 22nd of September,” he said.
Abbas also thanked France and Saudi Arabia for hosting a conference earlier this week that saw France, Belgium, Monaco, Luxembourg and Malta recognise a Palestinian state. Denmark and the Netherlands also pledged to recognise Palesine albeit with some preconditions.
The UK, Canada, Portugal and Australia have also now recognised Palestine.
“On behalf of the Palestinian people I want to express our gratitude and appreciation to all the states that recently recognized the state of Palestine,” Abbas said.
“Our people will not forget this noble position.”
